White House Promises Obama Will Veto Republican Bill To Defund Planned Parenthood

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President Obama is standing by Planned Parenthood as the White House confirmed that he will veto the Republican bill to defund the organization.

According to The Hill:

The White House on Friday threatened a veto on any bill that defunds Planned Parenthood.

A budget measure that strips funding from the organization “is certainly something that would draw a presidential veto,” press secretary Josh Earnest said.

“We have routinely opposed the inclusion of ideologically driven riders” in budget bills, Earnest added.

This veto threat is larger than most because Ted Cruz and House Republicans are threatening to shut down the government if Planned Parenthood is not defunded. Cruz is set to deploy the same tactics that he used in 2013 to shut down the government when he attempted to defund Obamacare.

The 2013 shutdown was a complete disaster, and House and Senate Republicans will be under the same kind of pressure to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood. The Obama veto threat is the first shot in what could be an ugly showdown in September. This White House is opposed to ideological add-ons in budget bills. That means that when Cruz and his House conservative allies pressure Boehner and McConnell into adding a provision that defunds Planned Parenthood to the budget bills, Republicans will be putting the wheels in motion for a government shutdown.

Republicans in Congress have been trying this same failed stunt for years. Republicans always convince themselves that they have found the golden ticket to make Obama blink, but the President has stood his ground and not batted an eye. In the end, Republicans always cave under the pressure of the crisis that they created bring down the President.

Nothing has changed. Republicans are going to fail again because the White House has made it clear that President Obama is not going to be intimidated.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association