By Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) on Monday sided with Democrats who were trying to strike a provision from the GOP’s megabill that would bar Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving Medicaid funding for services provided to low-income women across the country.
The two were the only Republicans to vote for a motion to waive a budget point of order against an amendment to remove the provision. It was sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Murray hoped to offer an amendment to strip the Planned Parenthood-related provision from the bill, but she first needed to overcome a procedural objection to the bill.
Republicans blocked her motion in a 51-49 vote. She needed 60 votes to overcome the objection.
“It will take another step toward enacting Republicans’ plan for a backdoor nationwide abortion ban. How does it do this? By defunding Planned Parenthood,” Murray said.
“This is a long-sought goal of anti-choice extremists — no surprise, it is overwhelmingly unpopular with the American people,” she added.
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Senate Republicans added the provision, Section 7115, back into the bill after the Senate parliamentarian initially ruled it violated the Senate’s Byrd Rule, which determines what legislation is eligible to pass with a simple-majority vote under budget reconciliation.
Republicans changed the timing of the “defunding” from 10 years to one year to meet the parliamentarian’s requirements.
Nathan Weixel contributed.