The Obama administration indicated Monday it would resist attempts by Congress to turn off the spigot of federal funding for one of its key financial supporters, Planned Parenthood.
The organization has received widespread criticism for its recently exposed policy of selling fetal body parts for use in scientific research. The policy has led to renewed calls that the organization be stripped of federal funding.
"No," Josh Earnest said when asked if the White House would reconsider federal funding for Planned Parenthood. He immediately turned away from the reporter to call on someone else.
According to a Washington Free Beacon analysis, Earnest devoted one word and approximately one second to the Planned Parenthood controversy during the press briefing. Earlier in the briefing, he opined for several minutes on the comments of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Planned Parenthood performs the most abortions of any organization in the country. The organization, whose budget exceeds $1 billion annually, receives millions of dollars each year from the federal government for its non-abortion-related activities.
So far, Planned Parenthood’s funding pipeline has been shielded by the Democratic Party, which has ideological and financial reasons to support the abortion group.
The relationship between Planned Parenthood and the Democratic Party has been highly profitable: the abortion group has received $27.8 million from the federal government this year alone. Planned Parenthood has pumped millions into politics. The vast majority of its donations to candidates have gone to Democrats. The group has given $9 million to Democrats, compared to $301,700 to Republicans.
While top Republicans have spoken out against Planned Parenthood’s policy, Democrats have maintained a stony silence.
"It seems the ultimate irony to me that we spend time talking about humane treatment of animals being put down, like in horse slaughter, and we completely miss children being ripped apart in the womb and their body parts being sold," said Senator James Lankford (R., Okla) in a speech to the Senate this week.