For most of the week it was anticipated that Rand Paul would introduce an amendment to the highway bill to defund Planned Parenthood, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell went much further today.
McConnell began the fast-track process to bypass all committees and push a separate bill introduced by Rand Paul to defund Planned Parenthood.
The Republican leader began "Rule 14," which will let the legislation skip the committee process and be placed on the Senate calendar so it can be brought up for a floor vote. [...]
Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), both of whom are running for president in 2016, as well as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), were hoping to use the the Senate's long-term highway bill as their vehicle to defund the agency.
The fast-track process is not something fake libertarian Rand Paul would ordinarily support, one might suppose, but in this case it appears he will make an exception.
If the Republican party wants to have this fight again in 2016, that's fine. Let's do it. The party's anti-choice extremism and steadfast belief in fake videos prevents them from making any inroads among a significant portion of voters.