Congress has passed a historic bill to allow states to block federal funds from going to Planned Parenthood.
The bill, which initially deadlocked 50-50 in the Senate and required Vice President Pence to run across town twice to cast the tie-breaking vote now goes to the White House for President Trump to sign into law.
The bill overturns a regulation passed in the final days of the Obama administration, designed to block conservative states from defunding abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood.
While existing law prohibits federal funding for abortions, taxpayer monies could go to clinics like Planned Parenthood to pay for other services or under the guise of covering other services. Obama’s regulation banned states from withholding the funding for those services unless the provider failed to meet healthcare standards.
The bill to allow states to strip federal funds from Planned Parenthood is one of a laundry list of pending laws being passed by Congress under the Congressional Review Act. The Act allows Congress to overturn federal regulations enacted in the final days of the previous administration by a simple majority vote.