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Author Topic: Congress Passes Historic Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood  (Read 191 times)

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Offline Geremia

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  • Quote from: LifeNews.com
    Congress Passes Historic Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood
    National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 3, 2025   |   2:33PM   |   Washington, DC

    In a historic victory for pro-life Americans, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” on Thursday, a sweeping reconciliation measure that includes provisions to defund Planned Parenthood, Once President Trump signs the bill into law it will be the first time that the radical  Planned Parenthood abortion business has been defunded.

    The vote was 218-214 with Republican Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a fiscal hawk, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a centrist, joining all Democrats in voting against it.

    The new law will redirect hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to community-based, pro-life healthcare providers and away from Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion.

    The bill, known as H.R. 1, marks a significant step in the pro-life movement’s long-standing effort to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, a radical organization that kills over 400,000 babies in abortions annually while receiving more than $700 million in government funds.

    The defunding provision, outlined in Section 44126 of the bill, effectively terminates Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood, closing a loophole that has allowed the organization to access federal funds despite the Hyde Amendment’s ban on direct taxpayer funding for abortions. Pro-life leaders hailed the move as a fulfillment of decades-long promises to prioritize women’s health without supporting abortion.

    HELP LIFENEWS SAVE BABIES FROM ABORTION! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation!

    Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, told LifeNews she was delighted by the news:

        We applaud pro-life members in Congress and pro-life leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, for keeping their promises to the American people and delivering a bill that prevents taxpayer funds from subsidizing the abortion industry.

        For decades, Americans have made it clear that they do not want their tax dollars funding abortion. Today, Congress delivered.

        Women deserve compassionate, life-affirming care that upholds the dignity of both the mother and the baby. This legislation sends the message that we can—and should—foster a culture that cherishes both lives.

        The pro-life measure would also raise from $2,000 to $2,200 per child and enshrine it permanently in the tax code — replacing the temporary expansion set to expire after 2025.

    “The American people should not have to continue subsidizing the abortion industry – and now, thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, they won’t be,” said Jennie Bradley Lichter, President of March for Life Action. “We joyfully anticipate President Trump signing this landmark legislation, which ensures that Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars are not being used to prop up an industry whose business model is built on ending human lives, misleading pregnant women into thinking that abortion is their only option, and delivering substandard healthcare that they then charge to the government.

    “For years the majority of Americans have said they reject this status quo. Women deserve better – America deserves better – and we thank President Trump, Speaker of the House Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader Thune, as well as all of the other pro-life champions in Congress who brought this bill across the finish line.”

    SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser celebrated the news, saying:

        “Defunding the abortion industry, led by Planned Parenthood, marks the greatest pro-life victory since the Dobbs decision. For the first time in history, Congress is halting forced taxpayer funding of Big Abortion in the Medicaid program for one year. This will save lives and strip over $500 million from Big Abortion’s coffers. Combined with last week’s Supreme Court decision empowering states to do the same, this represents tremendous progress toward achieving a decades-long goal that has long proved elusive.

        “For decades, Big Abortion has siphoned off billions in tax dollars to prop up a scandal-ridden industry built on abortion and partisan politics. Planned Parenthood alone commits over 400,000 abortions a year while services like cancer screenings continue to plummet — all while pocketing over $2 million every day from taxpayers.

        “Women are far better served at federally qualified health centers, which outnumber Planned Parenthood locations 15 to 1 nationwide and provide comprehensive, accessible care to Medicaid recipients and families in need. This victory is a decisive step toward ending the abortion industry’s grip on our tax dollars and redirecting resources to places that truly serve women and their families.

    “The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers a historic win on a critical priority: stopping forced taxpayer funding of the abortion industry. We congratulate Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune, Chairmen Guthrie, Crapo, Graham, and Arrington, and our allies in Congress for their tireless efforts to make this victory possible, and we look forward to President Trump signing it into law.”

    Previously, the Senate had passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, which will defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Vice President J.D. Vance broke a 50-50 tie to get the measure approved.

    Vance had to break the tie after three Republican senators voted no on the measure: Sens. Rand Paul, Thom Tillis, and Susan Collins. All Democrats joined them.

    According to Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report, the organization killed more than babies in 400,000 abortions in 2023 and 2024 and received nearly $800 million from taxpayers.

    The Hyde Amendment already prohibits federal funds from directly paying for abortions. However, Planned Parenthood receives approximately $700 million annually through Medicaid reimbursements and Title X grants. Pro-life leaders argue this funding frees up resources for Planned Parenthood’s abortion operations.

    Before the Senate vote, Democrats tried and lost a vote to remove the defunding provision. The final vote was 51-49 against the pro-abortion amendment with all Republicans exception Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting against the Demcorats’ amendment to stop defunding.

    Democrats, including Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), decried the parliamentarian’s ruling.

    Every Senate Democrat voted no after radical pro-abortion senator Chuck Schumer promised all pro-abortion Democrats would vote in lockstep.

    Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina voted no as well. They are pro-life but object to the bill over other fiscal concerns even though it would result in defunding Planned Parenthood for the first time ever. Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly worked with Vice President JD Vance for three hours to get these Republican lawmakers on board with opening debate.

    Reconciliation bills in 2015 and 2017 included a provision to stop funneling American tax dollars to Big Abortion for one year. The Supreme Court ruled this week in Medina that states are also allowed to defund Big Abortion. This year, Congress can finally stop funding for Big Abortion – an industry that harms women and girls, destroys unborn babies’ lives and is a terrible investment for taxpayers.
    LifeSiteNews.com's analogue of this article doesn't mention defunding Planned Parenthood at all. Does the "Big Beautiful Bill" Defund Planned Parenthood?
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    Offline Geremia

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    Massie says BBB won't defund Planned Parenthood for 10 years
    « Reply #1 on: Yesterday at 03:31:12 PM »
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  • Thomas Massie wrote on June 29:
    Quote from: via Telegram
    You were promised the Big Beautiful Bill would do these things but it does NOT:

    ❌ Prohibit welfare for illegal aliens

    ❌ Stop funding sex changes for kids

    ❌ End registration of suppressors

    ❌ Defund planned parenthood 10 yrs

    ❌ Implement REINS Act

    ❌ Reduce the deficit

    @RepThomasMassie
    The text of the bill doesn't explicitly mention Planned Parenthood.
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    Offline Geremia

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    BBB house vs. senate versions
    « Reply #2 on: Yesterday at 03:40:47 PM »
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    Offline Geremia

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    BBB does seem to defund Planned Barrenhood
    « Reply #3 on: Yesterday at 03:45:21 PM »
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  • from the bill's full-text:
    Quote
    (Sec. 44126) This section prohibits federal Medicaid payment for 10 years to nonprofit health care providers that serve predominantly low-income, medically underserved individuals (i.e., essential community providers) if the provider (1) primarily furnishes family planning services, reproductive health, and related care; (2) offers abortions in cases other than that of rape, incest, or life-threatening conditions for the woman; and (3) in FY2024, received federal and state Medicaid payments totaling more than $1 million.
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    Offline Geremia

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    Offline Geremia

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    Quote from: LifeNews.com
    Congress Defunding Planned Parenthood for the First Time Ever is Worth Celebrating
     National   |   Ben Johnson   |   Jul 4, 2025   |   2:37PM   |   Washington, DC

    Congress has delivered President Donald Trump’s signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill, but not without hours of mean-spirited Democratic delay and principled conservative negotiations that secured “major” commitments of executive action and future legislation to promote the pro-life, pro-family cause.

    The House of Representatives passed President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) by a 218-214 vote on Thursday afternoon. All House Democrats voted no, joined by two Republicans: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Massie, a libertarian-leaning Republican, opposes the bill’s high deficit and spending levels, while Fitzpatrick accused the White House of “withholding critical defense material” from Ukraine.

    The bill narrowly passed the Senate Tuesday, when Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) voted against the bill. It now goes to President Trump’s desk.

    Democrats in both chambers tried, and failed, to prevent the bill from passing Congress by President Trump’s July 4 deadline. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) forced the Senate to read the full text of the 940-page bill aloud, which lasted nearly 16 hours. Schumer also poked at the president with a procedural motion to strip the act of its formal title, “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) stalled proceedings further on Thursday morning with an eight-hour, 44-minute-long filibuster that began at 4:53 a.m. Jeffries all-but admitted he aimed to slow the bill’s passage as a procedural irritant, saying numerous times throughout his speech, “I am going to take my sweet time,” followed by a sustained standing ovation from the small gaggle of Democratic hangers-on who stayed to listen.

    “It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the simple truth,” replied House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a brief rejoinder to Jeffries’s record-breaking speech. “Scripture has been cited a lot this morning — I think mostly out of context.”

    “Today was about performance for some of them,” said Johnson. “Democrats deliver performances, and Republicans deliver results.”

    The narrow passage reflected the concern of pro-life conservatives, who withheld their support until obtaining promises from GOP leaders to address the pro-life, pro-family provisions stripped out by the Senate.

    As fiscal conservatives, border security conservatives, and national security hawks celebrated the passage of President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill, pro-life and pro-family leaders wonder aloud why their concerns got eliminated or minimized by the legislation. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said the debate’s primary focus on taxes “reminds me of Bill Clinton back in his 1992 campaign: ‘It’s the economy, Stupid.’ It’s not the economy; it is the moral foundation of a nation that matters.” Some conservatives went as far as to call the watered-down Senate version of the bill “morally bankrupt.”

    The revised Senate version of the bill “does not defund transgender surgery for minors. That is a moral issue. It only cuts funding for abortion services for one year, not the 10 in the House bill. That’s morally bankrupt,” Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) told “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Wednesday night.

    While many pro-life advocates — including SBA Pro-Life America and Americans United for Life — called the bill’s one-year defunding of Planned Parenthood a step forward, some former insiders say the deep-pocketed abortion industry has the resources to wait it out. “While any taxpayer money diverted away from Planned Parenthood is a good thing, defunding our nation’s largest abortion provider for just one year is not the win many of us who believe abortion is abhorrent wanted it to be,” said former Planned Parenthood director and founder of And Then There Were None, Abby Johnson, in a statement emailed to The Washington Stand. “A year is enough time for many Planned Parenthood facilities to hold out to be re-funded. Some will close, but Planned Parenthood as an organization has millions of dollars, wealthy donors, and could support those clinics if they choose.”

    Planned Parenthood, which received $792.2 million in taxpayer funding in 2024, reported total net assets of $2.52 billion. “Bottom line: it’s not enough and Republicans should permanently defund the abortion giant, not just for a paltry 12 months,” said Johnson.

    “A one-year defunding of Planned Parenthood is no victory; it’s a disheartening concession,” Katie Brown Xavios, national director of American Life League, told TWS. “To receive only a token punishment for those who harm women and kill the innocent is unacceptable.”

    Quena González, senior director of Government Affairs at Family Research Council, called the one-year interruption “just a very short pause on defunding” on Wednesday, noting that under the revised bill, “taxpayers will still be forced to underwrite experimental gender transition procedures.”

    Family Research Council backed the House version of the bill and reserved the right to score against the Senate version. Ultimately, it reconsidered after House conservatives wrung several promises out of the Trump administration and Hill leadership.

    “Last night, we facilitated negotiations and conservations on key policy issues that had been removed or modified from the House version,” announced FRC President Tony Perkins on Thursday morning. “[W]e believe we will see policy outcomes that offset the changes made by the Senate.”

    House Conservatives: ‘We Gained, America Gained’

    Leaders of the House Freedom Caucus quickly confirmed they had obtained promises for future executive action and legislation to defund abortion and transgender procedures, as well as other policy priorities. “We got significant commitments on spending reductions outside the framework of the bill,” Rep. Andy hαɾɾιs (R-Md.) told “This Week on Capitol Hill.” “We said, ‘Let’s talk about some offsets elsewhere. Let’s talk about some things the executive can do to mitigate some of the concerns about what the Senate did with our House bill,’” hαɾɾιs told Perkins.

    “We got a major commitment, a serious commitment on spending reduction,” as well as “a large commitment on social issues. We got an agreement that the administration will add adults to their transgender funding limitation. And we’re going to have a discussion with the administration on the egregious, cross-state trafficking in mifepristone,” he said. “We talked about looking at program integrity in food stamps and in Medicaid,” where improper payments and fraud cost “tens of billions of dollars a year.” And “on the Green New Deal/Green New Scam provisions, the administration has a pretty fair leeway to interpret some of the Senate changes” to provisions of the Biden administration’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act.

    hαɾɾιs also revealed the House Freedom Caucus extracted a promise from the speaker of the House to address the nation’s ever-expanding national debt. “The speaker has agreed to have another vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment, because the last one we had was in November of 2011, trillions of dollars of deficits ago,” he said.

    The House Freedom Caucus left the negotiations satisfied. “Everything we did was perfectly in line with the president’s agenda. So he went along with it,” said hαɾɾιs. “We gained, America gained.”

    In a statement sent to The Washington Stand shortly after the vote, Rep. Self confirmed the House Freedom Caucus “moved the bill dramatically to the right on almost every front and at every stage of the process, including overnight, as a small group of us continued working with the White House to address critical policy and spending issues.”

    The bill threatened to further divide the Republican Party, as many Republicans reluctantly embraced the bill as the best alternative capable of passing Congress. “People with the same principles, looking at the same facts can actually apply and analyze those facts a little bit differently and reach a little bit different conclusion,” Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) told “Washington Watch” later on Wednesday. “This is not the end-all, be-all decision for every moral matter that we have to deal with in Congress. This is, at its core, a bill about taxes and liberty.”

    Social conservatives have long seen taxes and defense spending prioritized, while promises of pro-life or pro-family action do not come to fruition. However, President Trump has repeatedly said he will govern by the motto, “Promises made, promises kept.”

    In part, social conservatives in the Trump administration may be wary of submitting legislation for fear liberal Republicans will exercise their collective muscle in negotiations. hαɾɾιs noted the Trump administration “didn’t want to have to send this bill back to the Senate,” where senators such as abortion-supporting Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) could assure the bill “would actually get worse.”

    What Is in the One Big Beautiful Bill?

    As The Washington Stand reported, the surviving provisions largely carry out President Trump’s legislative agenda:

    • The revised bill increases the child tax credit to $2,200, indexed for inflation, down from $2,500 in the House bill. Without action, the child tax credit would have returned its pre-Trump level of $1,000.
    • The bill creates “TRUMP” savings accounts for children, indexed to the stock market like a 401(k), with a $1,000 deposit from U.S. taxpayers upon the birth of each child. The bill also furthers school choice by expanding educational savings accounts.
    • The bill makes permanent tax advantages from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including expanded personal exemptions and incentives for business research and development. “For working families, The One, Big, Beautiful Bill prevents a looming $1,700 tax hike and instead puts more money in Americans’ pockets — including upwards of $1,300 for tipped workers and $1,400 for hourly workers working overtime. Families will see a nearly $11,000 boost in take-home pay,” House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) told TWS. “Households making under $100,000 will see a 12% tax cut compared to what they pay today. The average family of four will see nearly $11,000 more in their pockets each year. Real wages for workers will rise by as much as $7,200 a year,” Smith added on the House floor. The final bill gives qualifying senior citizens a $6,000 deduction, which the White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates will assure that 88% of seniors on Social Security have no federal income tax liability. It eliminates federal income taxes on tips up to the first $25,000, phasing out for those who earn $150,000 a year (or couples making $300,000). Taxpayers may also deduct up to $12,500 of overtime pay under the same condition; it lapses in 2028. The bill also lets people who buy cars made in America write off up to $10,000 in interest on the car’s loan.
    • Enhancing border security. “This bill gives President Trump the tools he needs to finish securing the border by providing $175 billion in new funding. It will allow for completion of the border wall, fund ICE deportation efforts, and hire and train new border patrol agents,” agreed Rep. Mark hαɾɾιs (R-N.C.) in a statement sent to TWS. It also taxes remittances to foreign countries. “It secures our border, funds the largest mass deportation operation in American history, and delivers the tax relief working families deserve,” Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) told TWS.
    • Securing national defense. The bill increases defense spending by roughly $160 billion, including $25 billion for a domestic “Iron Dome” missile defense system.
    • Student loan reform. The bill imposes a $257,500 lifetime cap on student loan borrowing and reduces provisions that allow borrowers to delay paying back their students loans.
    • Underwriting high-tax states and cities. The Senate version of the bill increases the state and local tax (SALT) deduction to $40,000 for the next five years.
    • Slowing our exit from the Green New Deal. The Senate bill ends tax credits or subsidies for green energy projects, such as wind and solar power favored by the Biden administration, for projects constructed within a year of the bill’s passage and that go into service by the end of 2027. But the latest bill removed a proposed excise tax on companies in those industries that use more than a specified amount of components (such as solar panels or batteries) made in China. The Senate version generally slows down the GOP’s efforts to phase out the Left’s cherished credits.
    • Slowing SNAP reform. The Senate bill delayed reforms to the much-abused Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, program in certain states.
    • Reforming Medicaid. Medicaid recipients capable of work and who do not have a child at home must spend 80 hours a month in paid work, community service, or schooling/vocational training. The work requirements would save taxpayers an estimated $325 billion over the next 10 years. The bill also reduces the Medicaid provider tax from 6% to 3.5% starting in the 2028 fiscal year.

    Despite some well-received economic news, conservatives say the bill still spends too much money and raises the debt ceiling to $5 trillion.

    Rep. Mark hαɾɾιs warned, “if Washington’s overspending addiction continues, the opportunity to put our country back on a path to a sound financial future is in jeopardy. In the coming months, Republicans must use every tool at our disposal to rein in government spending. This is not the end of our work.” (Emphasis in original.) Still, he said, “The country is much better off today than it was a few days ago. There’s certainty in the average working man and woman’s pocketbook that they’re not going to get a tax increase next year” — and greater faith “that the president is watching out for them.”

    Nonetheless, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) promised TWS that conservatives would not rest long before collecting the policy commitments they earned in exchange for supporting the amended legislation.

    “Celebrate today,” said Roy. “Fight again tomorrow.”

    LifeNews Note: Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.
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