Senator Rand Paul’s recently introduced amendment that would defund Planned Parenthood in the Senate appropriations package for Defense, Health, Human Services, and Education is being blocked by Republicans, he claims.
“Planned Parenthood ends the lives of 320,000 babies each year,” Paul said on the Senate floor Thursday. “That’s about 900 babies every day. Planned Parenthood receives over $400,000,000 of taxpayer money.”
“The government with a wink and a nod tells us that Planned Parenthood doesn’t spend the money on abortions, but everybody knows that the taxpayers really are cross-subsidizing Planned Parenthood’s abortions bills,” he added.
Paul’s amendment, which he said is already included in the House version, is “now being blocked by Republicans.”
“The Republican Leadership has filled the amendment tree to block my defund Planned Parenthood amendment,” he said. “But how could that be? Surely Republican Leadership does not favor abortion funding.”
Paul claimed that the Republican leadership is blocking the amendment because they favor “bloated government spending more than they care about Planned Parenthood.” He criticized the appropriations bill that exceeds spending caps by $100 billion. Paul asserted, “Big-spending Republicans fear that blocking funding from Planned Parenthood would derail their plans to greatly expand the welfare-warfare state.”
On Monday, Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) claimed the amendment “could be a spoiler” and told reporters that the bill will go up for a vote without “poison pills” that may trigger a filibuster from Democrats.
Watch the videos from Paul’s speech on the Senate floor below: