The Republican-led House passed a $1 trillion spending bill last week that will not only keep the government funded through Dec. 11, but also permits funding for Planned Parenthood, the entirety of Obamacare, and includes language authorizing a program to train and equip Syrian rebels in their fight against the Islamic State.
Titled H.J. Res. 124: Continuing Appropriations Resolution, the Republican-sponsored bill received strong bipartisan support from both Republican and Democratic leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and passed 319 to 108. The bill was sent to the Senate where it also passed, and Obama signed the bill on Friday.
Of particular interest is that this bill authorizes continued funding to Obamacare and Planned Parenthood (the nation's largest abortion provider), yet there were very few objections to the bill on these grounds coming from either side of the Republican aisle, despite last year's united Republican movement to defund Obamacare and threats to shut down the government over the very same laws.
This time around, many in the Republican establishment voted for the bill without so much as mentioning that it will provide continued funding to Planned Parenthood. And considering last week's GAO report showing that taxpayers are indeed paying for abortions under Obamacare, this lack of Republican resistance may seem even more bewildering.
The "GAO report confirms that under the president's health care law, abortions are being paid for with taxpayer funds by more than 1,000 exchange plans across the country," Boehner said in statement released regarding the report. "This information has been hidden from the American public for years by the Obama Administration, which repeatedly denied congressional requests for its public release."
Yet Boehner voted without objections to continue funding Obamacare with the passing of H.R. 124. The curious fact of the matter is that the Republican establishment is in stark contrast to its previous objections. The lack of major objections from Republican establishment prior to passing the continued funding of Obamacare, especially considering how the healthcare law underwrites abortions paid for by taxpayers, does indeed shed a revelatory light of sorts on the Republican establishment.
When war is on the horizon, it seems that all other previously held conservative ideologies are largely ignored by the Republican establishment.
Support of issues they were adamantly against just last year is likely to upset many from the Tea Party and religious right, who may now question if Republican leadership was previously offering little more than symbolic lip service.
Considering how detrimental Republican objections to Obamacare were to their poll numbers last year, putting up little resistance this time around makes sense from a purely political perspective. Yet it seems to only add more credibility to the likelihood that previous objections were little more than partisan games and empty rhetoric designed to weaken their Democratic opponents.
In the House, a total of 143 Democrats and 176 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while 55 Democrats and 53 Republicans voted against.
Those Republicans voting against the bill included, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R.-Texas, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R.-Minn., Rep. Trey Gowdy, R.-S.C., Rep. John Fleming, R.-La., Rep. Jim Jordan, R.-Ohio, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R.-Calif., noted CNSNews.
The spending extension also provides $88 million to fight Africa's Ebola epidemic, which includes $58 million to hasten production levels of the ZMapp antiviral drug and two vaccine candidates, reported Reuters. Additional staff and supplies will be provided to the Centers for Disease Control as well, with a cost of $30 million.
