Saturday, September 26, 2015
Boehner leaves...
Yesterday, unexpectedly, John Boehner announced that he was stepping down from his post as Speaker of the House, and his seat in Congress, effective next month. Washington seemed to be rocked by the news. However, it appears (according to the Washington Post) that he made the move in part to help avert a government shutdown:
A group of anti-Boehner insurgents had threatened that if the speaker
capitulated to Democrats on the Planned Parenthood funding, they would
move to topple him by forcing a vote to vacate the speaker’s chair in
the House. Boehner will move a funding package that includes the Planned
Parenthood funding, which is expected to be approved next week. But his
announced resignation denies the rebels their best leverage for
retribution.
If this read on things is correct, I really respect his decision.
Comments:
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The issue of funding or defunding Planned Parenthood is now and has been for some time a litmus test issue, and has assumed an outsized role in the affairs of the Republic. That the speakership should rise or fall on such issues is unsettling to me. (In Germany now, and this story, that is, the resignation, is all over the media.) Why is the federal government involved in PP and like private secular and faith based social agencies to begin with, one might ask, at the risk of being pilloried.
# posted by 
: 6:39 AM
: 6:39 AM
I have to respect John Boehner for his decision. There are not many men and women left in Congress that understand what will happen if they were to try to vote him out as they have said they will do.
The fact that some members of Congress have given the funding of PP so much attention is unsettling. I think there are bigger fish to fry. PP is primarily a provider of women's well care (PAP Smears, STD testing) as well as family planning services. It is not always convenient for a woman to get a "timely" appointment with a primary care physician or a referral to an OB/GYN but their doors are open to any one at any time regardless of income.
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The fact that some members of Congress have given the funding of PP so much attention is unsettling. I think there are bigger fish to fry. PP is primarily a provider of women's well care (PAP Smears, STD testing) as well as family planning services. It is not always convenient for a woman to get a "timely" appointment with a primary care physician or a referral to an OB/GYN but their doors are open to any one at any time regardless of income.
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