Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is not wrong for saying defunding Planned Parenthood isn't in the cards, but I'm not convinced it's entirely up to him.
“The president’s made it very clear he’s not going to sign any bill that includes defunding of Planned Parenthood, so that’s another issue that awaits a new president, hopefully with a different point of view about Planned Parenthood,” McConnell said Monday on the Kentucky station WYMT’s “Issues and Answers.”
Numerous state and federal investigations have cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing and we know the smear videos are a fraud, but I don't believe that will stop House Republicans from pursuing their own anti-Planned Parenthood agenda.
If House Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader McConnell are determined to avoid a government shutdown, both men may require the support of congressional Democrats to accomplish it.
In spite of recent news and events, I find it hard to believe a majority of House Republicans will agree to pass a government funding bill, even if it's a temporary bill, that includes funding for Planned Parenthood. And on the other side of the hill, several Senate Republicans who are currently running for president will be under pressure to defund Planned Parenthood.
The only way to fund the government without defunding Planned Parenthood may be to pass a continuing resolution with Democratic support.
Amusingly, I can see a scenario in which doing that increases popular support for Donald Trump and hurts Senators Cruz, Paul, and Rubio. Trump is running on an outsider's platform that in no uncertain terms says congressional Republican leaders are failures.
It's a shit sandwich that can't possibly turn out well for the Republican party.
