Has the Republican pro-life agenda stalled?

WASHINGTON—Republicans started 2017 with a slew of promises to pro-life advocates but have been slow to follow through.

Last week, several pro-life groups expressed frustration at the Republican-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee for advancing a government funding bill without pro-life protections.

First, the committee voted 16-15 in favor of an amendment from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to undo the Mexico City Policy—a rule that bars federal aid to foreign organizations that promote abortion. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Democrats to approve the amendment. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the sole Democrat to vote against it.

Next, a Senate Appropriations subcommittee agreed to pro-abortion provisions from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. Murray included language for additional Title X family planning grants that could go to Planned Parenthood and a continuation of the Obama administration’s sex-education program, which also supports the nation’s largest abortion provider.

As written, the bill continues the Title X program seamlessly with Obama administration instructions and prevents Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price from doing anything about it.

Both the Susan B. Anthony List and March for Life Action criticized subcommittee chairman Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., for allowing Murray’s provisions to advance.

Blunt told me he doesn’t expect the final bill to include the Title X boosts for Planned Parenthood. “The final product will not likely be the product that came out of the Senate,” he said, adding, “It’s too far away from where the House is.”

The House is more pro-life than the upper chamber, and Blunt is banking on it to assuage pro-life concerns before Congress passes a budget by the end of the year.

Only two Republican lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee—Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and James Lankford of Oklahoma—protested the Title X language.

Daines drafted an amendment to resolve the issue and grant Price more authority on Title X grants. But he withdrew it before a vote because Collins and Murkowski would have joined Democrats to kill it.

“I offered it and then withdrew it so I could at least register my objection to what was going on with that,” Daines told me. “Had the amendment been defeated in the committee, it would have diminished our chances of winning on the Senate floor, where we’ve got a better shot.”

Earlier this year, Congress rescinded a last-minute edict from President Barack Obama that blocked states from withholding Title X grants from Planned Parenthood. Republicans in the House easily passed the measure, but the Senate needed Vice President Mike Pence to break a 50-50.

President Donald Trump approved the measure in April—the first and only time he has signed pro-life legislation into law.

A defining moment for healthcare?

Wednesday marked a turning point in the U.S. healthcare debate. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has campaigned for a single-payer health system for more than 20 years without success. But on Wednesday he showed he has moved the needle.

Standing at the front of one the Senate’s largest committee rooms, Sanders declared healthcare a fundamental right for every American and insisted Medicare for all offers the only just system.

The event had a campaign rally feel. Hundreds of Sanders supporters packed into the room, held signs, and cheered. But Sanders’ plan remains unworkable. He has not detailed how the federal government would bear the cost, estimated by one report at a whopping $32 trillion.

In 2013, Sanders introduced similar legislation and couldn’t find a single Democrat to support it. He now has 16 co-sponsors for his 2017 model. Many Democrats still don’t support a single-payer system, but Sanders proved the idea has gained traction.

Hours earlier, a collection of Republican senators launched a last-minute effort to repeal onerous parts of Obamacare.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters his new plan is the only thing standing between Americans and a single-payer system.

“The idea that the Republican party has done its best to repeal and replace Obamacare is a joke,” he said.

The bill, co-sponsored by Republicans Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Dean Heller of Nevada, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, would give states block grants instead of the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits and Medicaid expansion option. If passed, it also would do away with Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates and the medical device tax.

Republicans failed to coalesce around an Obamacare repeal and replace plan and are now working against the clock. The GOP has 16 days left to use the reconciliation vehicle for healthcare reform. Otherwise, the party will have to find a bipartisan solution.

“This is our last shot,” Johnson said. “I will never let perfect be the enemy of good.” —E.W.

A never-ending war

The Senate on Wednesday rejected an amendment to its annual defense spending bill that would have forced Congress to reauthorize war in the Middle East. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., staged a protest on the Senate floor urging his colleagues to support his effort to rescind the military authorization passed after the 9/11 terror attacks, as well as the 2002 authorization for the Iraq war. “We have fought the longest war in U.S. history under an original authorization to go after the people that attacked us on 9/11,” Paul said on the floor before the vote. “That war is long since over, the war has long since lost its purpose, and it is long time that we have a debate in Congress about whether we should be at war or not.” A collection of 35 bipartisan senators voted for Paul’s amendment, well short of the 60 it needed. The White House is using the 2002 military authorization to wage war against Islamic State and retain troop levels in the Middle East. —E.W.

Hope for better communication

The White House quit looking for a new communications director this week, deciding on Tuesday to give the job to 28-year-old Hope Hicks, who stepped in as interim communications director last month following Anthony Scaramucci’s 10-day West Wing stint. Hicks previously served as the White House strategic communications director. She is the youngest person to ever assume the role. The promotion places two women atop the White House communication shop—also a first. Hicks will work closely with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to manage all day-to-day White House communication. The White House also announced three additional changes on the communications staff: Mercedes Schlapp, a former Fox News contributor, will serve as senior communications adviser; Raj Shah will become Sanders’ deputy; and Steven Cheung was named head of strategic response. —E.W.

A new surgeon general

Vice President Mike Pence swore in Jerome Adams last week as the nation’s 20th surgeon general, often referred to as the “nation’s doctor.” Adams will oversee the U.S. Health Service Commissioned Corps. President Donald Trump nominated Adams for surgeon general June 29, and the Senate confirmed him Aug. 3. Adams grew up on a family farm in Maryland and later worked in Indiana as an anesthesiologist. While governor of Indiana, Pence appointed Adams as state health commissioner in 2014. —E.W.