Congress Betrays Its Most Vulnerable Constituents With Lethal Inclusion in Spending Bill
Despite his misgivings and a threat to veto, President Donald Trump signed a “ridiculous” $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill to keep the federal government funded and avoid a shutdown on Friday, according to The Washington Post.
Trump decried the wasteful spending and Democrat priorities included in the spending bill, but signed it anyway because “My highest duty is to keep America safe. We need to take care of our military.” The bill contained ample funding for new military equipment and a pay raise for troops.
However, the president stated, “I say to Congress, I will never sign another bill like this again.” He also called for a return of the line-item veto — ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court — and added that he “very seriously” considered use of his veto power because “There are a lot of things that I’m unhappy about in this bill.”
One thing included in the spending bill that left a sizable portion of his base very unhappy is the fact that it retained full federal funding from previous years for notorious abortion provider Planned Parenthood, according to CNS News.
Yes, in spite of repeated promises from the likes of Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and other conservative politicians that Planned Parenthood would be defunded of taxpayer money once Republicans were in charge, the funding remained.
In fact, the spending bill provided funding for Planned Parenthood in line with what they have received over at least the past six years, which has ranged from as low as $528 million in 2013-14 to as much as $554 million in 2015-16. They reportedly received $543 million for the past fiscal year that ended in 2017.
During that same time span, Planned Parenthood performed more than a million abortions of unborn babies, on average around 325,000 per year.
Trump and Pence promised pro-life leaders during the 2016 campaign that they were fully committed to “Defunding Planned Parenthood as long as they continue to perform abortions, and reallocating their funding to community health centers that provide comprehensive health care for women.”
Since taking office, Trump has also signed executive orders to limit funding for abortion where he could, and personally addressed the most recent March For Life in Washington, D.C.
CNS pointed out that the Republican-controlled House and Senate have had opportunities to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the omnibus bills and continuing resolutions they use to fund government affairs, but noted cynically that it appears the establishment politicians who control the GOP have no intentions of doing so.
The Daily Wire reported on the travesty of Planned Parenthood retaining their funding in the spending bill — as well as a doomed from the start last minute effort in the House to introduce an amendment which would strip their funding — and declared “Enough!”
Writer Paul Bois stated, “If the GOP continues compromising with Democrats on this without a substantial fight, they can no longer call themselves pro-life.”
“If the Democrats threaten a shutdown over Planned Parenthood,” he added, “then the Republicans should gird their loins and force them to defend an organization that butchers babies and sells their aborted parts to the highest bidder.”
We couldn’t agree more, and are incredibly disappointed in yet another failure on the part of the Republican Party to make good on one of their most repeated campaign pledges.
Furthermore, this utter betrayal of not just the conservative base, but the most vulnerable human beings among us — unborn babies — could very well result in catastrophic consequences for the GOP in terms of their fundraising and 2018 midterm election efforts, as they just left a substantial portion of their voting base disillusioned and demoralized.
Should Republicans lose control of Congress to the Democrats in the midterm — and Democrats then make good on their own promise to impeach President Trump — the GOP will have nobody to blame but themselves and their failure to live up to their word on protecting life.
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