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The new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the second Trump administration has announced plans to defund Planned Parenthood.
DOGE Co-commissioners Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy laid out their plans for the abortion provider in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The duo zoomed in on the federal funds given to Planned Parenthood as one of the many things to be slashed under the new presidential advisory commission.
“DOGE will help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended,” the op-ed said. Among the expenditures on the chopping block include “nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood.”
Jonathon Von Maren pointed out in a separate op-ed for LifeSiteNews that the abortion provider “spent $40 million trying to elect pro-abortion Democrats” during the last election cycle. It also received $670 million in federal funding in the last reported year. (Related: Planned Parenthood facing new allegations of illegally selling aborted baby tissue.)
“Planned Parenthood will insist that these funds were separate, and that they are not using federal funds to campaign against their political opponents. But cash, as we know, is fungible,” Von Maren continued.
“If they had less taxpayer money, they would have less money to campaign for Democrats. The consistent failure of the [Republican Party] to defund the nation’s largest abortion chain, which is a political actor to boot, has been incredibly frustrating.”
Von Maren also noted that the reduced funding to Planned Parenthood “would be an incredible pro-life victory, even if the rationale behind it was fiscal rather than moral.” He continued that the organization “is a key player in state-level abortion referendums and political campaigns, and to deny them federal funding would be a genuine blow that would set the organization back significantly.”
Defunding Planned Parenthood has been on the GOP’s priority list for years
Lila Rose, founder and president of the pro-life organization Live Action, called the announcement by the DOGE heads “amazing.” According to the Christian Post, GOP politicians and pro-life activists have had the defunding of Planned Parenthood as their top priority for years.
The federal government took several steps to defund Planned Parenthood during the first Trump administration. Such actions included the implementation of a rule banning recipients of federal funding in relation to family planning from performing or referring for abortions.
Similar efforts to defund the abortion provider have also materialized at the state level. In 2020, a court ruled that Texas and Louisiana can cut funding for the organization from the states’ Medicaid programs – which the Lone Star and Pelican states did.
Musk and Ramaswamy insisted in the op-ed that their actions are on solid legal ground when it comes to legal authority to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. Critics claim that DOGE could find itself in hot water as its reductions in government spending do not have the consent of Congress.
They expressed confidence that the Supreme Court, which has a conservative-leaning majority as of writing, will agree with Trump that the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is unconstitutional and a “usurpation of executive branch powers.” According to the Post, the act “stops the president from seizing expenditures authorized by Congress.”
The two entrepreneurs also highlighted their intent to serve as “outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees.” They also voiced out their plan to aid “the Trump transition team to identify and hire a lean team of small-government crusaders, including some of the sharpest technical and legal minds in America.”
Head over to Abortions.news for more stories about Planned Parenthood.
Watch Jim Pfaff sharing to Breanna Morello Planned Parenthood’s intent to give $40 million to Democrats before the 2024 elections.
This video is from the MyPodcastDropped2320 channel on Brighteon.com.
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Ramaswamy: DOGE will scrap ENTIRE AGENCIES within the federal government if necessary.
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