The 16 day Republican government shutdown in 2013 cost the economy $24 billion. Today, Senators Burr, Johnson, Portman, Toomey, Cruz, and Rubio put partisan politics first and voted in favor of a CR that would defund Planned Parenthood. By voting to attack women’s health, these Republican senators brought the country one step closer to another Republican government shutdown and effectively promised to cost taxpayers even more money.
If Republicans have their way, it’s not just the government shutdown that could be costly though. The Hill reports:
Permanently defunding Planned Parenthood would end up increasing government spending by $130 million over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The CBO, Congress’s nonpartisan scorekeeper, projects that defunding Planned Parenthood would actually end up increasing government spending, because it would result in more unplanned births as women lost access to services such as contraception. Medicaid would have to pay for some of those births, and some of the children themselves would then end up qualifying for Medicaid and other government programs.
American Bridge 21st Century President Jessica Mackler released this statement in response to today’s vote:
“Today Republicans shamefully voted to attack women’s health and limit women’s access to birth control as well as cancer screenings. With just six days until the government shuts down, the clock is ticking, but the GOP is only interested in playing politics with women’s health. The Republican Party continues to be the party of irresponsibly governing crisis to crisis, something voters will remember in 2016.”
Published: Sep 24, 2015