Old is new in partisan battle over Planned Parenthood -- Oct. 1, 2015 column

By MARSHA MERCER

Leave it to House Republicans to turn an accomplished executive making $520K a year into an underdog. 

After they forced out House Speaker John Boehner, who refused to shut down the government over funding for Planned Parenthood, conservatives turned their fire on the nonprofit’s president Cecile Richards. By attacking her personally, they made her an instant celebrity, a champion of high quality health care for poor women, and a hero to many.  

The government now has a lifeline until Dec. 11 and Planned Parenthood is still providing health care services with federal reimbursements. As for Richards, her marathon performance Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee showed why she earns the big bucks.

Bullied for more than five hours, she didn’t cave, get flustered or lash out. She calmly defended her organization. She kept her cool.

Which is more than you can say for members of Congress. They were as emotional as she was composed. Republicans were antagonistic and rude, Democrats apologetic and shocked, shocked.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, interrupted Richards 19 times in just five minutes. Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., a nurse, insisted that, “Abortion is not health care.”

Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., said he hoped every American woman was watching the hearing.

“My colleagues say there’s no war on women. Look at how you’ve been treated as a witness -- intimidation, talking over, interrupting, cutting off sentences, criticizing you because of your salary. . . Lord almighty, what’s America coming to?”

Connolly railed about the “the disrespect, the misogyny rampant here today.”

But when Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., asked Richards if she should be treated differently than male witnesses who often face tough questioning, she responded in a flash:

“Absolutely not. That’s not how my mama raised me.”

Richards, 57, the daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, is no stranger to toxic Washington. She worked years ago as a deputy staff director for House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America since 2006, she has said, “We aim to be the largest kick-butt political organization.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said trying to “defund” Planned Parenthood is an “exercise in futility” with President Obama in the White House. For House Republicans, though, Planned Parenthood may be the new Obamacare – an object of disgust to be flogged and voted against repeatedly.

Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala., led a symbolic effort to end funding Wednesday as the House passed the continuing resolution to keep the government open.

“I believe we have to fight until the very end,” she said.

Several committees are putting Planned Parenthood under a microscope, and Boehner agreed to create a select committee to investigate the nonprofit similar to the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

Republicans have battled Planned Parenthood for decades. It provides 327,000 abortions annually, and its separate political arm aids Democratic candidates.

In July, an undercover sting video surfaced, purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials cavalierly negotiating the sale of fetal tissue for research and discussing procedures to ensure intact fetal organs. Other disturbing videos followed.

Planned Parenthood says the videos were heavily and deceptively edited, and it denies any wrongdoing. Richards insisted that no federal funds are used for abortions except in the rare circumstances allowed under the law and that Planned Parenthood donates a small amount of fetal tissue to research in two states at the cost of its expenses.

About 2.7 million women and men a year, many of them low income, go to Planned Parenthood clinics for cancer screenings, birth control, tests and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and other services.

Planned Parenthood receives $450 million annually in federal funds -- $390 million in Medicaid reimbursements for services provided, less than $1 million in child health and Medicare funds and $60 million from the National Family Planning Program, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported.

Critics contend taxpayers’ money could be better spent on cancer research.

Yet strong majorities of Americans support funding for Planned Parenthood, four separate polls by news organizations and the nonpartisan Pew Research Center reported this week.

“All women in this country deserve to have the same opportunities as members of Congress and their families for high quality and timely health care,” Cecile Richards said.

Her mama would have been proud.

©2015 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

Now's time to repair debt ceiling for future -- Feb. 12, 2014 column

By MARSHA MERCER  

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining,” President Kennedy said in his 1962 State of the Union Address.

The sun is shining, and now’s the time to fix the debt ceiling for the future.  

Led by Speaker John Boehner, the House stepped back from the brink Tuesday and approved extending the federal government’s borrowing authority until March 15, 2015, no strings attached. The Senate followed Wednesday.  

Congress does its job -- hip, hip, hurray!

It’s a sign of our low expectations of Washington that the absence of a last-minute game of chicken was considered a great achievement.  

The country will not suffer a self-inflicted fiscal black eye. Yes! The government will honor its debts, federal parks will stay open and our economy won’t go into a tailspin. We’re No. 1!

There will be peace in the valley again. Ha. Let’s not go overboard. Forget peace in the valley or on the Hill.   

Boehner tried for two weeks to squeeze concessions from the White House in return for Republican votes to lift the debt ceiling. A change in the Affordable Care Act? No.  Approval of the Keystone XL pipeline? No. Restoration of cost-of-living increases to military pensions? No. 

President Barack Obama wouldn’t budge from a “clean” bill.

Boehner told his House Republican colleagues at a private breakfast Tuesday that the measure would include no special conditions. The goal was practical: Congress would do its job and avoid an election-year repeat of last fall’s high drama showdown and shutdown.

Last October, Republicans hoping to kill the health law forced a 16-day federal government shutdown that did nothing to dislodge Obamacare but took a $24 billion bite out of the economy, as estimated by Standard & Poor. Americans mostly blamed Republicans, although Democrats’ approval ratings slid as well.  

“We’re not going to make ourselves the story,” Boehner said at the breakfast, The Washington Post reported. The room was hushed as he returned to his seat.

“I’m getting this monkey off your back, and you’re not going to even clap?” the Ohio Republican asked in mock scorn. Such is party unity among the GOP.

Boehner has long had problems bringing his conference together at all, much less mustering the 218 votes that constitute a House majority.

“When you don’t have 218 votes, you have nothing,” he told reporters.

The debt limit measure passed 221 to 201 in the House, with 199 Republicans voting no. Boehner and 27 of his fellow Republicans voted for it. Most of the GOP yes votes came from House leaders, such as Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, or members who are retiring, such as Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia. 

The White House didn’t gloat, but press secretary Jay Carney did suggest that Congress now get behind Obama’s push to hike the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and renew long-term jobless benefits. As if.

Congress and the White House should use the breathing room of the next year to work together to make the debt ceiling a non- issue, as it once was. Neither party should lose stature because it acts responsibly. Paying our bills should be a given, not a bargaining chip.

Some in Congress have introduced fixes to the recurring debit limit debacle. Rep. Mike Honda, a California Democrat, and Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Chuck Schumer of New York and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii have bills that would shift the role of Congress. Instead of approving increases in the debt ceiling, Congress would have to disapprove them.

A similar proposal by Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, became part of last fall’s deal that raised the debt ceiling until Feb. 7. Democrats want to make permanent the McConnell fix.

A few centrist Republicans say they’re interested in the idea, but it’s unlikely to gain traction this year as Democrats and Republicans score political points before the midterm elections.

Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, “When this is over, we will focus on our agenda and – if we win six seats in the Senate – what we will do different if we control all of Congress.”

Boehner was wrong about one thing.  Republicans did become the story. Washington news has become a running tally of winners and losers.    

“GOP’s debt ceiling surrender,” read headlines in Politico and other news outlets.

This time, though, the Republicans’ political retreat was a victory for the country. Boehner deserves a hand. 

And as the sun shines, Democrats and Republicans should join in fixing the debt ceiling for the future.

©2014 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

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