Kentucky Senator and Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul argued that if there is a shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding “it would be the Democrats shutting down government” on Tuesday’s “America’s Newsroom” on the Fox News Channel.
Rand said, “I’ve always voted to defund Planned Parenthood, and will continue to do so. I think the power of the purse is something we should use. In fact, that’s a Congressional prerogative. and the problem is, we haven’t really tried hard enough. So, I’ll keep pressing on. We’ll try to attach it to appropriation bills. The thing is that it is the responsibility, it’s not unusual for Congress to give rules to the president on how to spend money. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”
Rand was then asked, “Would you shut down the government over this, if it comes to that come the fall?” He answered, “Well, I think that’s a matter of perspective. I don’t want to shut down the government, but I do want to give instructions to the president on how to spend money, not just on Planned Parenthood, but on a thousand different items. I don’t want to fund still Obamacare. I still don’t want to fund all the massive regulations that he’s putting forward. So, really the choice is is the president willing to shut down government? But there’s a lot of other complicated factors. We have to decide, can we get anything out of the Senate? To get anything out of the Senate requires six Democrats to vote it. So far, the Democrats are stonewalling every appropriation bills. It looks as if the Democrats want a showdown, and they may well want a shutdown. But they always play it to their advantage, they say, ‘Oh, the Republicans did it.’ And my point is, I don’t want to shut down. I think it would be the Democrats shutting down government if they’re unwilling to accept a Republican majority’s instructions on how to spend the money.”
Rand added that the funding battle over Planned Parenthood is “a bigger issue than just abortion. This is about taxpayer funding of a gruesome procedure, not just any old abortion, but a abortion of a fully formed baby, where the baby’s being manipulated and turned around to harvest the baby’s organs. I think it’s particularly horrific. And I really think everybody should have voted against funding for this. And I’ll continue to fight against this funding. There’s no reason in the world we have to fund Planned Parenthood at all. And “we have doubled amount of money we put into women’s healthcare through government. And so, you know, it’s just an absurd argument to say that we needed Planned Parenthood. It’s only about abortion.”
Rand continued, “Most of the stuff Planned Parenthood says they do, they really don’t do anyway. They end up referring you to real doctor. They refer you to community health center. Mammograms aren’t really done there. Exams are self-exams. If you want a doctor’s exam, go to a doctor. So really, Planned Parenthood’s about abortion. And now we find out it’s about the grisly sale of baby’s organs.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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