Religious Extremists in House Hold up Budget over Planned Parenthood Funding

Will Obama and the Democrats Cave to the Xtian Taliban sitting in Congress?

Democratic officials familiar with the negotiations said that proposed restrictions on money for Planned Parenthood remained the chief sticking point, and that attempts to resolve the disagreement through alternatives like allowing a separate floor vote on the issue had not been successful. Democrats said they were told by the Republicans that the votes of anti-abortion social conservatives would be needed to move any budget measure through the House.

From NPR:

But Reid called it a battle over ideology.

“The debate has nothing to do with the number — it has everything to do with women’s health,” he said, referring to funding of Planned Parenthood during a Friday news conference. “That’s the only issue that was left undone when we left the White House last night.”

Jeff Zients of the Office of Management and Budget, who is overseeing preparations for a possible shutdown, said both the economy and public confidence in the federal government could suffer — even if a shutdown only lasted through the weekend.

“When I think about the scale of the number of operations that will be shut down and then would have to be reopened, I think the impact on the economy even for a short period of time could be relatively significant,” Zients told reporters Thursday.

Call your senators and representatives and tell them not to cave to Religious Extremists.

More from Think Progress:

Three Anti-Abortion Republicans Tell House GOP To Drop Planned Parenthood Rider To Avoid Shutdown

While many Republicans are committed to holding up the budget over a social issue, at least three anti-choice Republicans are recognizing the absurdity of such an obstacle. Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and — surprisingly — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) have signaled a willingness drop the policy rider to reach an agreement and avoid a shutdown:

– Toomey on MSNBC: “I think what we should do is cut spending as much as we can, get the policy changes that we can, but move on, because there are other, bigger battles that we are fighting,” he said yesterday.

– Coburn on MSNBC: “And my recommendation to my friends in the House is, you know, it’s highly unlikely that many riders are going to get passed with a Democrat president and a Democrat Senate, so why don’t you take the spending and let’s get on to the budget,” he said Wednesday.

– Bachmann on CNN: “I think that we should have a clean bill that makes sure that the paychecks get to the troops on time,” she told CNN’s John King yesterday.