ICYMI: House Will NOT Vote on Agriculture Appropriations Bill Because of Abortion Dispute

Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, Politico’s Alice Ollstein and Meredith Lee Hill reported on the GOP controlled House of Representatives no longer voting on a government funding bill because some members of the Republican caucus are scared to vote for a bill with additional abortion restrictions. Anti-abortion rights House members included language in the bill that would reapply the burdensome, medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone that the FDA lifted earlier this year after extensive, evidence-based review.

The House initially postponed the floor vote on this bill in July because of dissent over the anti-abortion language. More than 100 advocacy organizations led by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Physicians for Reproductive Health signed a letter urging House members to oppose the attacks on medication abortion in the spending bill.

With Congress facing a deadline of September 30 to fund the government, unpopular attacks on abortion access across House bills are threatening the prospects for must-pass funding legislation.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund released the following statement:

“Once again, anti-abortion politicians are scared to add another vote to their long records of voting to take away our sexual and reproductive rights. Poll after poll shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t want politicians interfering with their personal medical decisions or making it harder for people to get access to care. They know that voters are paying attention.”

Politico: A House GOP attempt to advance abortion measure backfires in funding fight

• “House GOP leaders have abandoned efforts to pass an agriculture funding bill amid an intraparty row over abortion policy.”
• “House GOP leaders had hoped that inserting abortion policy into every major piece of their government spending plans would help win over conservative members and placate influential outside groups agitating for more aggressive action on the issue. But so far, the move has helped to seal the demise of what is usually among the easiest appropriations bills for Congress to pass, drawing fierce and rare pushback from more than a dozen moderate Republicans.”
• “At the center of the battle: a GOP provision in the agriculture funding bill to ban mail delivery of abortion pills nationwide.”
• “Now, Republican leaders have no plans to bring the bill to the floor vote amid the time crunch, the three people familiar with the talks confirmed.”
• “‘It’s dead, dead,’ one of the people familiar with the talks…” 
• “Those GOP moderates are eager to see controversial abortion provisions and other divisive provisions included the House’s other spending bills tossed out as House GOP leaders turn to crafting a larger funding package and reconciling it with the Senate.”
• “The House’s Defense spending bill, which recently drew a veto threat from the White House over its anti-abortion provisions among other measures, is also in trouble. A floor vote on the GOP bill, which would block funding for service members to travel for an abortion if they’re stationed in a state where the procedure is banned, is now in jeopardy.” 
• “Democrats have predicted for months that this push to attach anti-abortion riders to virtually every spending bill would backfire on Republicans politically and practically, making it impossible to pass the spending bills out of the House and giving the Senate the upper hand in the eventual negotiations.”   

Read more at Politico.

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Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy, and limited electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.