‘anorexic’ Reconciliation Bill Could Mean Planned Parenthood Gets Re-funded

Republicans’ push for a narrow party-line bill focused solely on immigration enforcement funding is running into opposition from anti-abortion activists and lawmakers who fear it will trigger the return of hundreds of millions in Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.

That, conservatives argue, would demoralize the GOP base ahead of the midterms and widen the existing rift between their movement and the Trump administration.

During a budget resolution vote-a-rama that stretched into early Thursday morning, the Senate narrowly rejected an amendment drafted by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to extend the defunding law Republicans passed in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act through 2035. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined all Democrats in opposition.

While Hawley and his hardline House allies can keep pushing to get the provision included in the party-line bill over the coming weeks, many Republicans fear their party will squander their last chance to pass several conservative priorities — from defunding Planned Parenthood to stricter voting requirements — before potentially losing the majority this November.

Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans are trying to keep their fractious conference united by floating the possibility of a third, broader reconciliation bill following passage of legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security. But there is widespread skepticism that passing two bills is possible before the provision defunding Planned Parenthood lapses this summer.

“We need to take action,” Hawley told reporters on Wednesday. “If leaders say, ‘Well, you know, it's not going to be in this reconciliation bill,’ then I'd like to know what it's going to be in, because it needs to be done before July.”

A law included in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act blocked Planned Parenthood’s network of reproductive health clinics from billing Medicaid for what amounted to more than $700 million annually in non-abortion services like contraception and cancer screenings, severing them from their main source of federal funding. Conservative lawmakers initially wanted that measure to last for a decade or become permanent, but it was scaled back to one year in order to pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian.

Anti-abortion activists warned at the time that Republicans were setting themselves up for a pre-midterms cliff with that one-year cutoff, and they’re now barnstorming Capitol Hill and House and Senate district offices to push for the issue’s inclusion in the DHS funding bill.

“A third reconciliation cannot possibly be achieved before the moratorium on federal funding for abortion providers lapses this summer, and we are unwilling to accept a defeatist mindset before the base bill is even finalized,” said Gavin Oxley with Americans United for Life, one of several anti-abortion groups that have mounted a lobbying blitz targeting House and Senate Republicans. “Congressional leadership is on notice and we will continue working every avenue available until the bill crosses the finish line.”

The Senate approved along party lines Thursday a budget resolution that funds the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other DHS agencies for the next three years. The resolution tees up the budget bill, which would require just 50 Senate votes as long as it sticks to funding just those agencies.

It now heads to the House, where some lawmakers and outside groups are pushing to expand its scope.

Advancing American Freedom, a conservative advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, is lobbying Republicans to add more than a dozen other provisions to the bill, including an extension on blocking Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. If Congress fails to do so, the group suggested creating a new tax on abortion providers that matches the amount of Medicaid funds.

Other influential anti-abortion groups, including March for Life, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Live Action, and Students for Life of America wrote to GOP lawmakers this week demanding the addition of a Planned Parenthood defunding provision. Some of the organizations have also pledged to score the upcoming votes and penalize in future elections any representative or senator who backs a package that allows the restoration of the group’s Medicaid funding, while others are mounting a lobbying blitz in members’ district offices during the upcoming recess.

“We’re planting the flag now, while it's still under discussion,” said Students for Life spokesperson Kristi Hamrick. “There are all these meetings taking place, and rather than wait to be disappointed, we are telling them what it will take to get us excited.”

Hamrick added that she and other abortion opponents are agnostic on whether the defunding provision should go in a second or third reconciliation bill — as long as it gets through before July.

Planned Parenthood, meanwhile, is pouring more than a million dollars into their own pressure campaign aimed at winning back the lost Medicaid funds, consisting of ads and rallies in more than 20 states with a particular focus on five House Republicans seen as vulnerable in this November’s midterms: Reps. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, Gabe Evans of Colorado, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Lawler of New York, and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa.

“Congressional Republicans are spending their time making political calculations about their wildly unpopular agenda all while over a million people’s access to care hangs in the balance,” Sarah Guggenheimer, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement to POLITICO. “Until the moment that Planned Parenthood health center patients are no longer at risk of having their health care taken from them and their lives upended, Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s fight will continue."

GOP leaders, meanwhile, are struggling to keep disgruntled members in line by promising to begin work on “reconciliation 3.0” immediately after the DHS bill is signed into law. House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington of Texas was among those arguing that House members are more likely to go for the skinny funding bill if there is a chance at a third bite at the apple that includes other policies.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) agreed, telling reporters on Thursday: “While I’m not in favor of Planned Parenthood, there is still a process that has got to take place.”

A third bill is likely to include other health policies as well, especially as Republicans are worried about health affordability being a top issue ahead of the midterms.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) told POLITICO on Wednesday that his panel, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, will likely focus on fraud in a new bill. He conceded Republicans are in a tight spot though.

“You’ve got close majorities on our side,” he said. “I think it would have to be focused on fraud.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is under pressure from anti-abortion activists in his state to more permanently defund Planned Parenthood, was among those who see plans to tackle the issue in a subsequent bill as dubious at best. 

“I’m hopeful that we’re not through and we can do it in a subsequent one,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “Obviously it's aspirational at this point.”

If the House decides to broaden the current bill beyond immigration, then the Senate will have to take another vote on it, which will push Congress closer to the July deadline. House and Senate leadership have been keen to avoid that outcome, and say their party must prioritize ending the immigration funding stalemate with Democrats that has dragged on for more than a month.

Some lawmakers want to try anyway.

“This doesn’t expand it by that much,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), a staunch anti-abortion advocate. “It’s just so important.”