Rand Paul scorches GOP leaders for blocking amendment to defund Planned Parenthood

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wants a vote to defund America's largest abortion provider, but he says he isn't getting one because of Republican leadership.

Paul aired out the issue in a scathing vent session on the Senate floor on Thursday.

"My amendment would end funding to Planned Parenthood. My amendment is already included in the House version," Paul said in a video he later posted to his Twitter account. "And yet, my amendment is now being blocked by Republicans."

Paul went on to suggest that the reason for the current situation is that Republican leadership cares more about passing a bloated spending bill than about standing up and fighting for the pro-life issues they like to "pay lip service to."

As my colleague Chris Pandolfo reported earlier, establishment Republicans are worried that holding a vote on the amendment would derail the massive "minibus" appropriations bill currently before the Senate. That basically means that hundreds of millions of dollars going to an organization that kills over 300,000 unborn children every year is simply the price that many elected Republicans are willing to pay to avoid a government shutdown.

“The question is," Paul said later in his speech, "what is more important to these Republicans: Saving lives or spending money?”

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