SENATE REPUBLICANS: ‘FUND WOMEN’S HEALTH, NOT PLANNED PARENTHOOD’

With their legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and redirect those federal funds to women’s health care facilities that don’t provide abortions, Senate Republicans say they are sending the message that their proposal is not about politics, but about the “moral fabric” of the nation.

At a news conference Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader 

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

52%

 said the videos of Planned Parenthood medical officials engaged in harvesting the body parts of aborted babies for sale “shock the conscience.”

Referring to the GOP bill as one that will “ensure taxpayer dollars that are supposed to be spent on women’s health are, in fact, spent on women’s health.” McConnell said taxpayer funding should not be subsidizing “some scandal-plagued organization.”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)

60%

, who introduced the legislation, said, “The recent footage depicting Planned Parenthood’s role in the harvesting of organs—heart, liver, kidneys—of unborn babies is morally reprehensible and vile.”

“The American people—Republicans and Democrats alike—are horrified at the utter lack of compassion shown by Planned Parenthood for these women and their babies,” she continued. “In fact, now, Hillary Clinton is calling these Planned Parenthood images ‘disturbing,’ and I agree.”

Asserting that the videos hit at the “moral fabric of our society,” Ernst said the issue at hand is “human life.” She stressed the legislation proposed would defund Planned Parenthood but make that funding available to other women’s health care facilities—such as community health centers and hospitals—that do not provide abortions.

“I want to make clear that there will be no reduction in overall federal funding available to support women’s health,” Ernst said.

Adding that, while the images and conversations seen in the videos have caused Americans to be “horrified” and “appalled,” 

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE)

56%

 said what is particularly shocking is the “lack of compassion towards women and unborn children” on display by Planned Parenthood medical officials. Fischer echoed that the GOP legislation “targets funding for centers that truly prioritize and place that priority on women’s health.”

Via: Breitbart

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Unabashed Cruz in Iowa defends self on ObamaCare fight, against GOP establishment

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is charging ahead with his argument that attempts to dismantle ObamaCare needed to be part of the recent Washington budget negotiations and is firing back at the GOP establishment and others who say his tactics led to an unnecessary, partial government shutdown.

Cruz, who appears poised for a president bid, told hundreds at a GOP fundraiser in Iowa on Friday that efforts he led to “defund” ObamaCare will carry the fight through the 2014 congressional and 2016 White House races.

"One of the things we accomplished in the fight over ObamaCare is we elevated the national debate over what a disaster, what a train wreck, how much ObamaCare is hurting millions of Americans across this country," Cruz said at the Iowa GOP's annual fundraising dinner in Des Moines. “Senate Republicans didn't stand together. Had we stuck together, the outcome might be very different. The House does now, but I'm confident that the U.S. senate will in time listen to the American people.”

The Tea Party-backed, first-term senator appeared to further define his political future, saying he will continue to focus on grassroots efforts, like the town hall-style meetings he helped lead this summer to garner support to defund ObamaCare.

“For everyone who says we need to think about winning elections in 2014, nothing energizes [voters] more than a grassroots election,” he said. “We got our clock cleaned in ’06, ’08 and ’12. But we had grassroots in [2010.] Republican strategist say let's go back to ’06, ’08 and ’12. They say keep your head down. That's how you win -- what complete poppycock.

Via: Fox News

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Jason Furman: Senate GOP plan is another ‘ransom’ demand

Top White House economics adviser Jason Furman on Thursday dismissed elements of a potential budget offer by Senate Republicans as “another form of ransom.”

He also questioned why House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would push ahead with a plan to raise the debt limit but not reopen the government, although he added that the White House has yet to see any legislation.

“There is just no reason to do that,” Furman said at a breakfast hosted by the Center for American Progress. “Every day the shutdown goes on, the effects get worse. I don’t know why you’d want to deal with one of them and not deal with the other.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been gauging support within the GOP conference to temporarily raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government in return for a handful of policy proposals, such as a repeal of the medical device tax in the health care law.

But Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, repeated the White House’s hard line against negotiating until the government shutdown ends and country’s borrowing authority is extended.

“If every six weeks you have some other thing that you are adding and trying to extract in exchange for just doing your basic business of keeping the government funded — and by the way, just at sequester level for six weeks — and not defaulting for six weeks, that is not a remotely tenable way to function,” Furman said.

Via: Politico

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Filibuster the House CR? Cruz, Other Conservatives Say ‘Yes’ (Updated)

Updated 1:20 p.m. | Sen. Ted Cruz said Friday that Republican senators should, in effect, filibuster the House-passed continuing resolution in the Senate.

The Texas Republican is calling on his colleagues to oppose limiting debate on it, warning against what he calls procedural trickery.

“Step two is the Senate, where all accounts suggest Harry Reid plans to use procedural gimmicks to try to add funding back in for Obamacare,” Cruz said. “If Reid pursues this plan — if he insists on using a 50-vote threshold to fund Obamacare with a partisan vote of only Democrats — then I hope that every Senate Republican will stand together and oppose cloture on the bill in order to keep the House bill intact and not let Harry Reid add Obamacare funding back in.”

“Now is a time for party unity; Senate Republicans should stand side-by-side with courageous House Republicans,” Cruz said.

The statement underscores the unwinnable procedural hand faced by conservative senators, however. They know that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will move to strike out the Obamacare defunding language after getting the 60 votes needed to limit debate, but they can’t stop him without effectively endorsing a government shutdown.

The Nevada Democrat’s move is completely in keeping with long-standing Senate rules. Pending germane amendments and motions, such as a motion to strike, are allowed simple-majority votes after debate’s been limited.

“Republicans are simply postponing for a few days the inevitable choice they must face: pass a clean bill to fund the government, or force a shutdown. I have said it before but it seems to bear repeating: The Senate will not pass any bill that defunds or delays Obamacare,” Reid said in a Friday statement.

Cruz’s latest move appeared to be a reaction to criticism from House Republicans for seeming to admit defeat before they had even sent the Senate the CR.

Cruz’s statement also came shortly after the head of the Senate Conservatives Fund said likewise.

Via: Roll Call

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Lawmakers huddle as options dwindle for tackling fiscal crisis

President Obama and congressional leaders were facing a rapidly shrinking set of options for averting the fiscal crisis as they met Friday afternoon, with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warning they are "running out of time." 

Just a few weeks ago, lawmakers had high hopes for a "grand bargain" that would narrow the deficit, overhaul the tax code and set the country on a course to curb its entitlement spending -- all while averting massive tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit Jan. 1. 

Having squandered that time, lawmakers -- and taxpayers -- will now be lucky if they can just avert the tax hikes.

Obama and the top four congressional leaders were meeting Friday afternoon at the White House, along with Vice President Biden and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. At the meeting, Obama was expected to pitch a "Plan C" that's essentially a version of the scaled-back proposal he floated a week ago before leaving for Hawaii. 

Under the proposal, lawmakers would extend the current tax rates for the "middle class." What income level defines middle class remains up for debate -- Obama had previously pushed for tax hikes on families making over $250,000 and later upped that threshold to $400,000. House Speaker John Boehner, in a proposal that died in the House last week, called for tax hikes only on those making over $1 million. 

Beyond the tax rate issue, Obama wants to extend long-term jobless benefits for 2 million people set to lose them at the end of the year, and perhaps agree to some spending cuts that could short-circuit the automatic spending cuts scheduled to hit the Pentagon next month. 

Via: Fox News

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