McConnell Seeks “Clean” Funding Bill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Politico that he will back a “clean” funding bill that will fund the government through December.

This marks a break with congressional conservatives, who have proclaimed their desire to defund Planned Parenthood as part of any budget bill.

McConnell expressed his sympathy with the conservatives’ view, but said that the government as currently configured will never defund the organization. To act as if it’s possible is “an exercise in futility.”

“That’s not going to happen until you have a president who has a similar view,” he told writers Burgess Everett and John Bresnahan. “It’s better to be honest with the American people and say, ‘That won’t get it done.’”

The writers say McConnell “gave no indication” that he has discussed a larger budget deal with the Obama administration, but the bill will avoid a government shutdown and buy time for a larger deal to be worked out — a deal that might include tax extenders whose renewal is pending.

To read more, see http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/mcconnell-planned-parenthood-protest-exercise-in-futility-213557