Senator and Republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham would like to see Planned Parenthood shut down just as much as the rest of his colleagues, but he's not willing to shut down the federal government over it.
According to Graham, shutting down Planned Parenthood would be excellent, but shutting down the government could compromise our security.
“That means that our military, our intelligence community, the people we rely upon to protect us are going to be weakened. If you’re watching the world and you see it as I do, the last thing you’d do is shut down our defenses,” Graham said. “I’ve never seen more threats to the homeland than I do today. Anybody that wants to shut down the government is shutting down the ability to stop the next attack, which I think is coming if we don’t do something differently.”
Graham isn't necessarily wrong about the dangers of shutting down the government, although I do think his rhetoric is slightly unhinged, but it's amusing to me that this is where he draws the line.
There are many facets of the economy and daily life that would be adversely affected by a total government shutdown, but Graham is a man who sees terrorists in his soup.
What is not so amusing is that some of Graham's colleagues and constituents in the Republican base actually believe Planned Parenthood is responsible for more deaths than global terrorism and they would be willing shut the government down in an effort to defund the organization.
The threat of a government shutdown actually existed before a coordinated, years-long campaign to slander Planned Parenthood was unveiled.
Speaker John Beohner's coveted appropriations process was a complete failure that resulted in House and Senate Republicans being unable to pass several of their own bills and saw poison pills inserted into those that did pass.
When Congress returns to session in September, the Republican caucus will have just 10 days of legislative session to decide if they're willing to shut the government down in the name of budget cuts and if they're willing to shut the government down over Planned Parenthood.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently said there will be no government shutdown this year, but I'm not convinced that is within his control.