Senate Republican moderates Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have already signaled their skepticism over aspects of the House’s reconciliation bill, but the inclusion of a measure to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving any sort of federal funds could further alienate the two key votes.
The senators already indicated to NOTUS that they won’t allow the provision to make it into the Senate’s version of reconciliation without a fight. Their states in particular, Alaska and Maine, have both lost federal funding for reproductive health care, known as Title X family planning grants, and some Planned Parenthood locations have closed.
“I’m going to continue to be an advocate for the services that Planned Parenthood provides. In Alaska, we’ve got limited services for women in the first place,” Murkowski told NOTUS. “They play an important role. So I’m going to continue being an advocate.”
Murkowski didn’t go as far as to say she planned on voting against a reconciliation bill — nothing has passed out of the House yet — but she indicated she’s watching what’s happening in the lower chamber closely. House GOP moderates have already told Speaker Mike Johnson they oppose defunding Planned Parenthood via reconciliation, but it’s unclear if it’s a red line for them.
Collins told NOTUS that she would “really need to look at the whole package” before taking a stance on the reconciliation bill. But when asked about her state’s loss of reproductive health funding, she later added that she is “going to be reviewing every program that the administration is proposing to cut or reduce or increase.”
“I obviously always do that review with the interests of the state of Maine in mind,” Collins said.
Following the news that the House will keep the anti-abortion provision in the reconciliation bill, Sen. Patty Murray said in a press conference she expects to meet with Murkowski and Collins on the topic, given how both senators have previously opposed multiple efforts to defund Planned Parenthood: “I am sure we will have conversations.”
“I expect in the both House and the Senate, there are Republicans who do not want to see this provision in there. We’re here to give them the backbone to take it out,” Murray said.
To some Senate Republicans, however, having their GOP colleagues join Democrats in opposing defunding Planned Parenthood isn’t much of a threat.
“I would hope that we’d be able to get a majority for it. I mean, you might have some folks who understandably have concerns, but there’s 53 of us, so I would hope we’d be able to get to 50,” Sen. Josh Hawley said.
Other new Republican senators who have yet to vote on the issue told NOTUS that they oppose federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
Ohio Sen. Jon Husted declined to say where he stands on reconciliation, but said that he does “not support funding for Planned Parenthood.”
The other Ohio senator, Sen. Bernie Moreno, went one step further, pledging to put in a provision to defund Planned Parenthood if it ultimately does not make it to the House’s version of the reconciliation bill.
“If it gets taken out, I’ll put it back in,” Moreno told NOTUS. “If it’s in there, I’ll go for it.”
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS.