ICYMI: Senator Murray Statement on Ruling Allowing Republicans to Defund Planned Parenthood in Budget Reconciliation Bill
ICYMI: In Senate Floor Speech, Murray Rails Against Republican Bill That Will Rip Away Health Care, Nutrition Assistance, Abortion Access & Balloon National Debt to Fund Tax Cuts for Billionaires
In Murray-led forum for Dobbs anniversary, Senator Murray laid out how defunding Planned Parenthood is part of Republicans’ strategy for a Backdoor Nationwide Abortion Ban
***VIDEO HERE of Senator Murray speaking on her amendment***
Washington, D.C. — Today on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, put forward an amendment to Senate Republicans’ reconciliation bill to fully strike Section 71115 of Republicans’ reconciliation bill, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Section 71115 would achieve anti-abortion extremists’ long-sought goal of “defunding” Planned Parenthood by cutting off Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving federal Medicaid funding for the care they provide for millions of low-income women across the country—including birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and wellness exams.
Section 71115 is estimated to cost taxpayers $52 million over the next 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The revised data comes after Senate Republicans put forth new bill text late Friday night that changes the “defund” Planned Parenthood provision from 10 years to one year.
Defunding Planned Parenthood will put at least 200 health centers across the country at risk of closure— 90 percent of them in states where abortion is legal—and rip away health care for more than 1.1 million people, many of whom might not be able to get care anywhere else. Recent research from the Guttmacher Institute found that, contrary to Republicans’ claims, Federally Qualified Health Centers do not have the capacity to readily serve the millions of people who currently rely on Planned Parenthood for care.
Republicans blocked Senator Murray’s amendment, 51-49.
MURRAY AMENDMENT #2771: Senator Murray offered an amendment to strike Section 71115 of the reconciliation bill, “Federal Payments to Prohibited Entities,” which would cut off Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving federal Medicaid funding for one year.
Senator Murray said on the Senate floor when offering her amendment, #2771:
“Mr. President, my amendment is about a really important issue that has not gotten near enough attention for how devastating it will be for women in our country.
“Republicans’ bill will cut millions of women off from birth control, cancer screenings, essential preventive health care—care that they will not be able to afford anywhere else. And it will shutter some 200 health care clinics in our country.
“And it will take another step towards enacting Republicans’ plan for a Backdoor Nationwide Abortion Ban. How does it do this? By defunding Planned Parenthood.
“This is a long-sought goal of anti-choice extremists—no surprise, it is overwhelmingly unpopular with the American people.
“But Republicans are bent on ripping away any access to abortion care, and happy to cut off this lifesaving care. No matter that women may not have another place to get the care that they can afford, or another place they can get any care at all!
“This amendment, that I’m offering, will strip the awful provision to defund Planned Parenthood from this bill, and protect health care access for the millions of patients who rely on Planned Parenthood health centers.
“I urge a Yes vote.”
Senator Murray has been the leading voice in the Senate speaking out and raising the alarm against Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Earlier this week, at her forum on the anniversary of the Dobbs decision, Senator Murray spoke about Republicans’ plan to institute a backdoor nationwide abortion ban and laid out how defunding Planned Parenthood is a key part of that strategy.
Earlier on Sunday, Senator Murray delivered a lengthy speech on the Senate floor where she laid out in detail how Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act will rip away health care from millions of Americans, shutter the doors of hospitals and health care clinics across the country, make the largest cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance in history, and blow up the national debt—all so Republicans can fund massive tax breaks for billionaires. Murray also spoke out repeatedly during debate on the Senate floor against Republicans’ use of a so-called “current policy baseline” to hide the true cost of their deficit-busting tax cuts for billionaires.
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