From a colleague on Capitol Hill, good news from the US House of Representatives:
The House passed Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act (H.R. 3762) by a vote of 240-189. 239 Republicans and 1 Democrat (Peterson) voted in favor, and 182 Democrats and 7 Republicans (Buck, Dold, Hanna, Jones, Meadows, Salmon, Walker) voted against. 5 Members were absent. The roll call can be viewed here.
In addition to overturning certain provisions of Obamacare, H.R. 3762 contains a one year moratorium on mandatory funding for “prohibited entities” that received over $350 million in Medicaid funding in FY2014. Prohibited entities are defined as non-profit essential community providers who provide elective abortions. Significantly, this would stop mandatory funding to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
A GAO report issued earlier this year showed that in the most recent year covered by the report (2012), Planned Parenthood received $507.5 million from federal programs. $400.6 million, or 79% of those funds, were mandatory funding through the Medicaid program alone.
The abortion provider funding moratorium in H.R. 3762 would also apply to other mandatory funding programs like Title V and Title XX block grants.
Listen here to Rep. Diane Black's speech on defunding Planned Parenthood.
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