House votes to defund Planned Parenthood, national health-care law

The House on Friday approved measures that would block federal funding of Planned Parenthood and cut off funds for implementation of the national health-care law, even as it rejected a proposal by conservative Republicans that would have enacted a sweeping $22 billion cut across federal agencies.

The votes on the hot-button measures, which were among nearly 130 amendments to a federal spending bill, came as leaders delayed a scheduled recess to complete their work on the measure after their third straight night of post-midnight debate.

With dozens upon dozens of amendments still to be considered, House Majority Leader Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.) pleaded with his colleagues during the mid-afternoon session of votes to speed up their debate, but Republican aides conceded privately that the final vote on the government funding bill would not come until well past midnight or even after dawn Saturday.

The federal government is operating under a temporary funding resolution that expires March 4. Congress must approve an extension by that date to prevent a shutdown of federal operations, but so far, Republicans and Democrats have been unable to bridge major differences over the levels of continued funding, with conservatives in the House pressing for massive reductions to demonstrate a new era of fiscal austerity.

The passage of the Planned Parenthood defunding measure, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), came after the House debated the amendment for almost three hours Thursday night.

The House's approval of the amendments aiming to defund the national health-care law, sponsored by Republican Reps. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), Steve King (Iowa) and Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.), followed similarly heated debate on the House floor Friday.

In the case of the conservative amendment seeking an additional $22 billion in spending cuts, which failed on a 147 to 281 vote, Republicans publicly battled each other on the House floor for 45 minutes Friday in a rare moment of public discord over just how far Congress should go in reining in spending.

The House debate over recent days has allowed both parties to draw battle lines. Democrats had offered controversial spending cuts of their own, including an amendment aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan by putting a $10 billion cap on military spending there and another measure that would seek to block the federal government from collecting Americans' library records under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Both of those amendments fell well short of passage Friday afternoon.

And then there were somewhat less sweeping amendments, such as one offered by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) that would have prevented the military from sponsoring NASCAR race cars. That measure failed on a 148 to 281 vote.

The House convened at 9 a.m. Friday to resume debate on the government funding bill. Consideration of the bill, which was slated to have been wrapped up by Thursday afternoon, could stretch into the weekend given the sheer number of amendments lawmakers have to consider.

But while House approval of the legislation is not in doubt, the next stage of the spending debate is anyone's guess. Senate Democrats have conceded that some cuts to current spending levels are a given, but they are not willing to go anywhere near as far as the reductions sought by the GOP-led House.

Friday's votes came on the heels of dozens of votes on amendments offered Thursday, aimed at federal priorities that Republicans consider wasteful or ideologically objectionable.

Several measures would, if enacted, eliminate a handful of White House offices and curb the Federal Communications Commission's ability to regulate the Internet.

Among the eight amendments that passed the House on Thursday night was one sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) that would cut off funding for the Obama administration's so-called "czars," the officials the president has tapped to serve as advisers on issues ranging from health care to climate change.

Scalise's office calculates that the average pay for each czar is $170,000, meaning that his proposal to eliminate nine of them could save the government at least $1.5 million. But as Scalise told reporters after Thursday night's vote, it's about more than just saving federal dollars.

"We're just tired of him running this shadow government," Scalise said of Obama's use of czars. That argument apparently resonated with Scalise's fellow lawmakers: The amendment won the support of 13 Democrats and all but one Republican.

Another amendment passed Thursday night, sponsored by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), would prevent funding for the FCC's enforcement of net neutrality regulations that govern the way Internet providers can manage traffic on their networks.

In addition to voting Thursday evening, the House debated for almost three hours on the Pence amendment. The debate, which concluded shortly before midnight, led to some raw confrontations between lawmakers over an issue that has become a surprisingly salient one in the midst of the recent spending debate.

In one case, a direct confrontation between two lawmakers led to a personal revelation from one of them. In the final stretch of the debate, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) read several lengthy passages from a book in which a former Planned Parenthood health center director who is now an anti-abortion-rights activist graphically describes her experience assisting with an ultrasound-guided abortion.

As soon as Smith finished speaking, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) rose and described herself as "one of those women [Smith] spoke about just now," revealing that she once had to have an abortion 17 weeks into her pregnancy.

"For you to stand on this floor and to suggest as you have that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought is preposterous," Speier said to Smith as the rest of the chamber stood silent.

All told, the 29 amendments adopted as of early Friday afternoon would cut more than $600 million from across federal agencies through September. That's on top of the $61 billion proposed by House Republicans last week.

-- Staff writer Paul Kane contributed to this report.