Pressure is on the GOP-controlled House of Representatives to act after Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted with Democrats in the latest overnight “vote-a-rama” to shoot down a reconciliation bill amendment that would cut off Planned Parenthood’s flow of Medicaid taxpayer dollars.
Despite its history of allegedly flouting federal law and wasting tax dollars, Planned Parenthood raked in $832 million in taxpayer funds from hard-working Americans in the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Not only is the abortion giant killing more babies than ever, but it’s also dispensing castrating drugs to confused minors.
Dozens of pro-life organizations led by Live Action sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday, urging Congress to deprive abortion and “gender transition intervention” businesses like Planned Parenthood of taxpayer funding for the 10 years permitted under budget reconciliation limits.
The April 22 letter emphasized that Congress previously prohibited federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year in 2025 using the budget reconciliation process, a move that Collins and Murkowski also opposed. The groups also noted that halting funding again “would represent one of the most meaningful pro-taxpayer reforms Congress can enact,” a hint that the GOP can still bolster what some polling says is floundering motivation among Republican voters ahead of the midterms.
That same day, Sen. Josh Hawley followed through on his promise to file an amendment to ban federal funding for the abortion giant.
“Taxpayer dollars should never fund Planned Parenthood’s abortions or gender transition insanity,” Hawley wrote.
In his speech about the amendment, Hawley asked his colleagues a “simple and direct question.”
“Should we use federal tax dollars to pay for transgender surgeries and treatments for minor children? More specifically, should we divert money from Medicaid, a program that is dedicated to the most needy among us, and use it instead to pay for risky, dangerous, irreversible transgender drugs and surgeries for minor children because, Madam President, that’s what’s been happening,” the Republican warned.
Collins and Murkowski’s answer to that question was apparently a resounding yes.
“Last night, the Senate rejected my amendment to ban federal funding for Planned Parenthood. In doing so, they greenlit billions of taxpayer dollars to fund transgender experimentation on our kids,” Hawley told The Federalist in a statement.
Now, all eyes are on House Republicans, who are expected to vote on the reconciliation legislation as early as next week, to see whether they will intervene and stop the flow of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood with their own amendment.
It was House Republicans’ version of the Big Beautiful Bill last year, after all, that promised that no Medicaid dollars “shall be used to make payments to a prohibited entity for items and services furnished during [a] 10-year period.” The GOP Senate was ultimately responsible for cutting the provision down to a mere 12-month ban on taxpayer funding for abortion and castration businesses like Planned Parenthood.
The Federalist asked Speaker Mike Johnson if he was aware of any such amendment and whether he would promote its inclusion in the package, but did not receive a response.
“This cannot go on. The House must act to stop this abomination once and for all,” Hawley urged.
