Bryan Fischer
The vote to defund Planned Parenthood was an empty show vote
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on AFR Talk, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
Don't let them lie to you. Monday's vote on a bill to defund Planned Parenthood was an empty, meaningless show vote, and anybody who's being honest knows it.
The real vote to defund Planned Parenthood took place the day before, and the "pro-life" Republican senators were nowhere to be found.
On Sunday, the Senate was voting on a transportation bill that is near and dear to President Obama's heart. It's the Holy Grail for him.
Thus an amendment to the transportation bill which defunded Planned Parenthood actually would have had some teeth, because it would have forced Obama to choose between his precious infrastructure projects and killing unborn babies.
If he signed a transportation bill with a defund-Planned-Parenthood amendment, he would get his asphalt but Planned Parenthood would be forced forfeit its $528.4 million dollar taxpayer subsidy. If he were to veto the highway bill in order to continue funding the custom slaughterhouses of America's largest abortion provider, he'd lose his precious bridges.
So the vote to attach a pro-life amendment to the transportation bill was THE pro-life vote of the week. The stand-alone Monday bill, everybody knew, was DOA. If it didn't get the 60 votes needed to advance – and it didn't – it would certainly be vetoed by President Obama and everybody knew for an absolute fact that there would be no way to get 67 votes to override.
So the pro-life vote that actually mattered took place on Sunday, not on Monday. Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee sought to add an amendment to the transportation bill that would have defunded Planned Parenthood, and they couldn't get enough senators even for a second to their motion. The only other senator to join forces with them was Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho.
The other GOPers in the Senate chamber, almost all of whom fancy themselves champions of life, were absent without leave. They were silent. Their voices and their votes were nowhere to be found. Sen. Joni Ernst, who sponsored Monday's meaningless bill, was silent. Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. James Lankford, the other members of Sen. Ernst's group working on Monday's bill, were likewise silent.
In the end, 51 Republican senators decided that bridges were more important than babies.
Self-proclaimed pro-life senators thumped their chests and talked loudly on Monday about the horrific barbarity and soulless inhumanity of Planned Parenthood.
They are hoping you won't find out that the day for those speeches and those votes was on Sunday, when it might have made a difference. A pro-life vote on Sunday was risky. A pro-life vote on Monday was totally risk free.
Bottom line: they want to campaign as pro-life without actually being pro-life when it counts.
On Sunday, when it mattered, they were silent. On Monday, their eloquent speeches were nothing more than sound and fury, signifying nothing. Shame on them.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
August 6, 2015
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Host of "Focal Point" on AFR Talk, 1-3pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
Don't let them lie to you. Monday's vote on a bill to defund Planned Parenthood was an empty, meaningless show vote, and anybody who's being honest knows it.
The real vote to defund Planned Parenthood took place the day before, and the "pro-life" Republican senators were nowhere to be found.
On Sunday, the Senate was voting on a transportation bill that is near and dear to President Obama's heart. It's the Holy Grail for him.
Thus an amendment to the transportation bill which defunded Planned Parenthood actually would have had some teeth, because it would have forced Obama to choose between his precious infrastructure projects and killing unborn babies.
If he signed a transportation bill with a defund-Planned-Parenthood amendment, he would get his asphalt but Planned Parenthood would be forced forfeit its $528.4 million dollar taxpayer subsidy. If he were to veto the highway bill in order to continue funding the custom slaughterhouses of America's largest abortion provider, he'd lose his precious bridges.
So the vote to attach a pro-life amendment to the transportation bill was THE pro-life vote of the week. The stand-alone Monday bill, everybody knew, was DOA. If it didn't get the 60 votes needed to advance – and it didn't – it would certainly be vetoed by President Obama and everybody knew for an absolute fact that there would be no way to get 67 votes to override.
So the pro-life vote that actually mattered took place on Sunday, not on Monday. Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee sought to add an amendment to the transportation bill that would have defunded Planned Parenthood, and they couldn't get enough senators even for a second to their motion. The only other senator to join forces with them was Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho.
The other GOPers in the Senate chamber, almost all of whom fancy themselves champions of life, were absent without leave. They were silent. Their voices and their votes were nowhere to be found. Sen. Joni Ernst, who sponsored Monday's meaningless bill, was silent. Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. James Lankford, the other members of Sen. Ernst's group working on Monday's bill, were likewise silent.
In the end, 51 Republican senators decided that bridges were more important than babies.
Self-proclaimed pro-life senators thumped their chests and talked loudly on Monday about the horrific barbarity and soulless inhumanity of Planned Parenthood.
They are hoping you won't find out that the day for those speeches and those votes was on Sunday, when it might have made a difference. A pro-life vote on Sunday was risky. A pro-life vote on Monday was totally risk free.
Bottom line: they want to campaign as pro-life without actually being pro-life when it counts.
On Sunday, when it mattered, they were silent. On Monday, their eloquent speeches were nothing more than sound and fury, signifying nothing. Shame on them.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
