Obama Signs Stopgap Spending Bill To Fund Gov’t Through Dec. 11
On Wednesday, President Obama signed a stopgap spending bill that will not defund Planned Parenthood, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The measure will keep the government funded through Dec. 11 (Mascaro, Los Angeles Times, 9/30).
Background
Following the release of a series of secretly recorded videos targeting Planned Parenthood, some conservatives have called for Congress to defund the organization. Further, some said they would not support any government spending measure that includes funding for the organization.
The government would have shut down after Sept. 30 if lawmakers had not passed and President Obama had not signed the spending bill (California Healthline, 9/21).
Vote Details
According to the Times, the House and Senate on Wednesday each voted to advance the bill. The House passed the bill in a 277-151 vote, while the Senate voted 78-20 to approve the measure (Los Angeles Times, 9/30).
The House had voted 241-185 to add language that would have defunded the Planned Parenthood, though Senate was able to ignore the resolution (Haberkorn, Politico Pro, 9/30).
Defunding Effort Through Reconciliation Advances
In related news, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday voted 28-23 to pass legislation that would defund Planned Parenthood by using the budget reconciliation process, Politico Pro reports.
Through budget reconciliation, certain legislation can advance in the Senate with a simple majority vote (Haberkorn/Ehley, Politico Pro, 10/1). The Energy and Commerce measure would eventually be combined with other portions of a broader budget reconciliation package (Ehley/Pradhan, Politico Pro, 9/30).
The Energy and Commerce measure that advanced Wednesday would strip Planned Parenthood of the funding it receives through Medicaid. According to the Congressional Budget Office, that amounts to about $390 million annually. Meanwhile, the measure would add $235 million in funding for community health centers, The Hill reports (Sullivan, The Hill, 9/30).
According to Politico Pro, Obama "would certainly veto" the measure if it reaches the White House (Haberkorn/Ehley, Politico Pro, 10/1).
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