Sunday, March 05, 2017

Republicans dividing over linking Planned Parenthood defunding and Obamacare repeal

By Joan McCarter  
Friday Mar 03, 2017 · 1:26 PM EST

House Speaker Paul Ryan thinks he's going to ram Obamacare repeal through the House this month. While his latest plan is supposedly top-secret, it's pretty certain that it still contains Planned Parenthood defunding because that's been a big priority for him and leadership. But it's a growing problem for other Republicans.

"I don't think it makes sense to have the defunding of Planned Parenthood linked to this issue at all," said Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine who voted against the repeal effort in 2015 because it included language defunding Planned Parenthood.
"If the House Republicans want to bring it up, it should be in a separate bill. I would oppose that bill, but it further complicates the negotiations to have it included in this bill." […]
"I think we should also separate out the Planned Parenthood issue from the broader healthcare issue. I think healthcare reform is controversial and complex enough without Planned Parenthood. Why put it in? It makes this whole exercise more difficult," said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican from Alaska, has already said definitively she won't support repeal if it includes Planned Parenthood language.  

"I, for one, do not believe that Planned Parenthood has any place in our deliberations on the Affordable Care Act," she said to Alaska state lawmakers last week.
It wouldn't take a lot for Ryan's plans for repeal to collapse, something Mitch McConnell seems to get. He says they aren't ready to go, regardless of Ryan's confidence. There's opposition coming from both the moderate and right flanks that could easily foil Ryan again.

The opposition from the moderates, by the way, is in no small part thanks to the massive resistance Republicans are facing back home. So keep it up.

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