5-RING CIRCUS ALERT: The House just voted to create a special committee to investigate Planned Parenthood despite the lack of any evidence of wrongdoing.
Republican leadership has apparently become obsessed with Planned Parenthood, to the detriment of almost any other legislation: Today, the House voted to create a special committee to investigate Planned Parenthood. This marks the fifth committee investigating Planned Parenthood based on false claims that have been totally discredited. And it happened in the sixth legislative week in a row that Congress has focused on attacking Planned Parenthood and women’s health instead of the priorities they once said they had.
All Those Things Congress Hasn’t Done While Focusing on Planned Parenthood…
At the beginning of 2015, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell laid out their plan for Congress in a Wall Street Journal op-ed — priorities that they’ve obviously let drop while getting caught up in the fishing expedition against Planned Parenthood:
Measures authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline;
The Hire More Heroes Act, legislation encouraging employers to hire more of our nation’s veterans;
A proposal to restore the traditional 40-hour definition of full-time employment;
Legislation to help protect and expand America’s emerging energy boom;
Legislation to support innovative charter schools around the country;
Addressing the “insanely complex” tax code that they stated “is driving American jobs overseas”;
Addressing a “savage global terrorist threat that seeks to wage war on every American”;
Addressing “excessive regulations and frivolous lawsuits” that they said are “driving up costs for families and preventing the economy from growing”; and finally
Addressing a ” national debt that has Americans stealing from their children and grandchildren, robbing them of benefits that they will never see and leaving them with burdens that will be nearly impossible to repay.”
Few of these priorities have been addressed. Instead, congressional leadership has been obsessing over women’s access to basic health care, making our country pay the price. Here’s are just some examples of how:
The 9/11 first responder health care bill to continue care for first responders who risked their lives on September 11 expired just last week.
Perkins student loans, the nation’s oldest student loan program, expired.
The 50-year old Land Water Conservation Fund expired.
The Export-Import bank remains shut down for the first time in its 81-year history.
Attacks on Planned Parenthood Were Motivated By Politics — and Are Now Embarrassing to Congress
This focus on Planned Parenthood and restricting women’s health care has already proven to be an embarrassment for congressional leadership. In the last hearing. reporters noted that Republican leaders interrupted Cecile Richards at least 44 times, not letting her speak throughout the hearing.
These attacks are unabashedly political. In other words, “Let’s Make Planned Parenthood the Next Benghazi:” GOP leaders proclaimed they will continue to investigate Planned Parenthood — despite multiple investigations showing no wrongdoing. What’s more, House Majority Leader and possible candidate for Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) revealed the blatantly political nature of the attacks on Planned Parenthood, threatening to do to the organization what he claims to have done to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with the Benghazi special committee.
Bottom Line: Congress Should Stop Wasting Time Attacking Reproductive Health
Americans don’t want their members of Congress focused on restricting reproductive health care. It’s time for Congress to give up this obsession, and get back to work.
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