Overnight Healthcare: GOP leaders eye budget tool to defund Planned Parenthood

Senate GOP leaders are considering an obscure budget tool known as reconciliation as they seek to defund Planned Parenthood without causing a government shutdown.

Two GOP leaders said Wednesday they are not ruling out the use of budget reconciliation to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood — a process that would be entirely separate from the government spending bill that Congress must pass by Sept. 30.

“It’s one of the options that’s on the table,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said.

{mosads}Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 3 Republican, also confirmed it as a potential option, while adding that no decisions had been made about whether – and how – to use it.

The rare process, which can only be used once a year, allows certain bills to avoid the 60-vote threshold usually required for major bills. Instead, it would only need a majority vote in each chamber to get to the president’s desk.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) told CQ Roll Call on Tuesday that he believed reconciliation was the “most surefire way” to defund Planned Parenthood.

“I think reconciliation could be a place to do that,” Thune said. He added that “there have been a lot of conversations about repealing ObamaCare” through the process as well, suggesting that it could be used for both.

“We recognize that in the end, we’d like to get a result. That’s going to take a Republican president. But in the meantime, obviously we want to have votes where we can to express our member’s interest in ensuring that funding that’s committed to women’s healthcare is actually used that way,” Thune said. Read more here.

FREEDOM CAUCUS LOSES MEMBER OVER PLANNED PARENTHOOD: A conservative lawmaker publicly resigned from the House Freedom Caucus on Wednesday, and criticized the group’s tactics — including its demands that funds for Planned Parenthood be blocked as part of a bill to keep the government open.

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said that the tactics employed by the Freedom Caucus “have repeatedly undermined the House’s ability to advance” Republican principles.

McClintock said the Freedom Caucus’s strategy has ultimately empowered Democrats by making it harder for House Republicans to control the legislative process.

“A common theme through each of these incidents is a willingness — indeed, an eagerness — to strip the House Republican majority of its ability to set the House agenda by combining with House Democrats on procedural motions,” McClintock wrote. Read more here.

INTRA-PARTY BATTLE HEATS UP IN SENATE: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday delivered a blunt assessment to the small band of conservatives willing to risk a government shutdown to defund Planned Parenthood.

“The cold hard reality for those who don’t support Planned Parenthood is that we need a president who has a similar view and would sign our bill,” McConnell told reporters Wednesday, while repeatedly pledging to find a way to fund the government.

Several other Republicans also made clear Wednesday that the shutdown wasn’t worth the risk, and they’d vote for a spending bill even if it included funds for Planned Parenthood.

“If there was a one in 1,000 chance to shut down what Planned Parenthood is doing by shutting down the government, I would support it. But with this president, it simply isn’t possible,” said Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) “We’ve proven that, unfortunately, with the past effort on the shutdown.” Read more here:

CENSUS CONFIRMS MAJOR OBAMACARE GAINS: Long-awaited Census data released Wednesday show that 8.8 million people gained health insurance in 2014, the first year of ObamaCare’s coverage expansion.

The Census study finds that the rate of private health insurance coverage increased by 1.8 percentage points, to 66 percent, and the government coverage rate increased by 2 percentage points to 36.5 percent. Read more here.  

Thursday’s schedule:

HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell will deliver remarks at a national meeting dedicated to combating substance abuse.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing to examine two bills tightening the rules on abortions.

What we’re reading

The reality of one Ohio Planned Parenthood clinic

Moderate Republican pitches Planned Parenthood compromise

ObamaCare politics are scaring Democrats away from the Cadillac tax

State by state

Kansas lawmakers to consider Medicaid expansion

Rates for health plans on D.C. marketplace to rise 4 percent

Florida’s Medicaid rolls are about to swell

What you might have missed from The Hill

CBO: Defunding Planned Parenthood means ‘several thousand’ more births

Senate fast-tracks abortion bill

Cruz, Fiorina vow to veto Planned Parenthood funds if president

Please send tips and comments to Sarah Ferris, sferris@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Peter Sullivan, psullivan@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow on Twitter: @thehill, @sarahnferris, @PeterSullivan4