Houston, Texas – September 29, 2015: Yesterday evening, Senator Ted Cruz spoke to the U.S. Senate about an impending vote to confirm a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal budget. The continuing resolution, if passed, will fund one hundred percent of Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer-funded initiatives, as well as the Iran nuclear deal strongly opposed by Republican elected officials. Senator Cruz has endeavored to amend the CR, calling funding to Planned Parenthood and Iran issues of “defending Life,” as both programs put countless Lives at risk of horrific and inhumane deaths.
While the majority of Republican leadership and the entire Democratic Party remain complicit with Barack Obama’s plan to fund Planned Parenthood “or shut down the entire government,” Sen. Cruz remains a lone voice insisting that no measure is too drastic in the face of the radical threat to Life imposed by Planned Parenthood and Iran funding. In his comments to the U.S. Senate, Senator Cruz stated:
Barack Obama – this will surprise no one – says, ‘fund one hundred percent of Planned Parenthood with taxpayer money.’ Mind you, Planned Parenthood is a private organization; it’s not even part of the government but it happens to be politically favored by President Obama and the Democrats – Planned Parenthood is also the subject of multiple criminal investigations for being caught on tape apparently carrying out a pattern of ongoing felonies. In ordinary times, the proposition that we should not be sending your and my federal taxpayer money to funding a private organization under multiple criminal investigations? That ought to be a one hundred to nothing vote… So what does he say? ‘If you don’t fund this one private organization that’s not part of the government, that’s under multiple criminal investigations, I, Barack Obama, will veto funding for the entire federal government and shut it down.’
Cruz lamented that instead of pursuing the many avenues to defund Planned Parenthood once and for all, some Senate leaders capitulated early in the fight. “We will fund Planned Parenthood.” At Texas Right to Life, we believe that the horrific and inhumane extremism of Planned Parenthood demands any and all possible action to put an end to taxpayer funding of the organization. Although there are many political strategies and budget maneuvers through which Planned Parenthood could be defunded, Senator Cruz shares Texas Right to Life’s frustration that compromise and negotiation are yielding no results.
There is no doubt we face an uphill struggle, even battling against those who promise every election year to stand for life. It should be a simple matter for our leadership to safeguard innocent life and to say we will not send taxpayer money to a private organization that is undergoing criminal investigations. Nevertheless, I will continue to lead the fight in the Senate to defund Planned Parenthood…Funding the federal government does not require funding Planned Parenthood. Basic decency and our commitment to life requires that we stop taxpayer funding of a group that negotiates the profits of children’s body parts.
There are many avenues to defunding PP; all of them should be tried. Anti-Life extremism calls for immediate action, and the time for playing defense is over. The time for holding career politicians and the President of the United States accountable has come.