Just when we thought American women had been probed enough, the war on women calls for another government probing of Planned Parenthood. Some of the legislators calling for the most recent probing are sort of known for doing some ‘probing’ of their own if you get my drift (wink wink).
Spurred by a group of anti-abortion lawmakers, the Government Accountability Office is investigating how Planned Parenthood, the Guttmacher Institute, and other prominent family planning-related organizations spend public funds, the GAO confirmed Friday.
More than 50 members of Congress had written in February to Comptroller General and GAO head Gene Dodaro asking the office to follow up on a 2010 GAO report that detailed federal monies provided to the groups.
On Friday, the GAO confirmed to POLITICO that the request from the lawmakers was accepted and an investigation opened. No press release or pubic statement was put out by the office at the time.
Chuck Young, GAO managing director of public affairs, said the scope of the investigation was still being determined, and no completion date had been set.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America Vice President Eric Ferrero said in a statement that the move was not an investigation, but instead “a routine report by GAO in response to a request by opponents of Planned Parenthood in Congress.”
“In fact, they have produced reports very similar to this one six times over the past several years, with an almost identical request made by some lawmakers and an almost identical GAO report released in 2010,” Ferrero said. “This is just another attempt by opponents of women’s health care to attack women’s access to Planned Parenthood’s preventive health services and spread misinformation about the care our health centers provide to 3 million men, women and young people every year.”
The request from lawmakers asked the GAO to look into a list of family planning organizations, including Planned Parenthood, Guttmacher, The Population Council and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, and report the amount of federal funding awarded to them and how that funding was distributed. It also seeks a report on “exactly how many women’s health services including family planning services are provided by community health centers and federally qualified health centers, a comprehensive list of these services, and the number of individuals served in each category.”
“Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide abortions clearly benefit from Uncle Sam, but there’s no accounting to prove how they actually use that money,” Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said in a statement. “This GAO report would shine a light on how our tax dollars are being spent.”
Wait a minute. This couldn’t be the same Senator David Vitter who was caught up in the DC madam scandal could it? You know, the one who was one of the clients on the DC Madam’s client list? No, tell me it isn’t so. That upright member of the moral community wouldn’t do something like that.
I just bet that somewhere along the way the taxpayers have contributed to Sen. Vitter getting his bad-boy on with some shady lady of the night. What a freaking hypocrite. I also expect that most of those who are howling to ‘get’ Planned Parenthood also have done more than their fair share of whining about the IRS probe of all the tea party groups ‘social good’ counting towards their 501(c) delayed status. I guess that is different.
No one thinks twice about using government agencies as their own personal junkyard dog as long as they have ‘God on their Side.’ I guess Dylan knew best, even 50 years ago. I am curious what it is they think they are going to find. Anything that deals with responsible behavior and human sexuality is going to become the enemy of the state if some folks have their way. Any institutions that are out there attempting to prevent disease and pregnancy are certainly going to be targeted by right wing zealots who will try to either shut them down or cut off their financing, despite the nearly 50 year old title X mandate that gives funds for family planning to organizations. Enacted and signed into law in 1970 by President Richard Nixon, Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services.
Kinda reminds me of the 40 attemps of Republicans to cancel the Affordable Care Act. It would be interesting to know who the 50 members of Congress are who have demanded this reha. Any bets that most, if not all, are Republicans?
Perhaps what GAO might find is what the State of Texas and the DOJ found with regard to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast: a massive Medicaid overbilling fraud first exposed by a PP whistleblower. As I recall, PP Gulf Coast has to repay something like $4.3 million in fraudulent billings.