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Fellow Anti-Abortionists May Be John Boehner’s Downfall
Source: New York Times
Fellow Anti-Abortionists May Be John Boehner’s Downfall
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER SEPT. 17, 2015
WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner has been luminous in the anti-abortion movement since he was a little-known Ohio state lawmaker, and is widely viewed as the most passionate opponent of abortion to ever wield the speaker’s gavel.
Yet abortion politics are suddenly posing the greatest threat to his speakership since he ascended to that position four years ago.
Conservatives on his right flank are questioning Mr. Boehner’s resolve to stand up to President Obama over federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and their foment is so great they are mulling a challenge to the speaker’s control of the House.
They want Mr. Boehner to agree to a strategy of removing all federal money for Planned Parenthood in a short-term spending bill to keep the government operating, an approach that would almost certainly fail in the Senate. Without a basic bill to keep the government running for the rest of the year, the lights would go out for a second time since Republicans took control of the House in 2011.
Mr. Boehner is now in the excruciating position of having to choose between the pragmatic approach embraced by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to keep the government open and take on the Planned Parenthood fight later — a choice that could lead to an embarrassing challenge to the speaker — or fling himself headfirst into yet another spending showdown in which conservatives have little chance of prevailing.
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By JENNIFER STEINHAUER SEPT. 17, 2015
WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner has been luminous in the anti-abortion movement since he was a little-known Ohio state lawmaker, and is widely viewed as the most passionate opponent of abortion to ever wield the speaker’s gavel.
Yet abortion politics are suddenly posing the greatest threat to his speakership since he ascended to that position four years ago.
Conservatives on his right flank are questioning Mr. Boehner’s resolve to stand up to President Obama over federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and their foment is so great they are mulling a challenge to the speaker’s control of the House.
They want Mr. Boehner to agree to a strategy of removing all federal money for Planned Parenthood in a short-term spending bill to keep the government operating, an approach that would almost certainly fail in the Senate. Without a basic bill to keep the government running for the rest of the year, the lights would go out for a second time since Republicans took control of the House in 2011.
Mr. Boehner is now in the excruciating position of having to choose between the pragmatic approach embraced by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to keep the government open and take on the Planned Parenthood fight later — a choice that could lead to an embarrassing challenge to the speaker — or fling himself headfirst into yet another spending showdown in which conservatives have little chance of prevailing.
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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/us/republicans-abortion-john-boehner-planned-parenthood.html