Congress grills Planned Parenthood president

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards defended the abortion giant’s participation in fetal tissue procurement in a hours-long congressional hearing today. As an argument raged between Democrats and Republicans over whether Planned Parenthood’s “reimbursement” for harvesting the body parts of aborted babies for research constitutes “profit,” one question remained unanswered.

“Does Planned Parenthood really need federal subsidy? Does it need federal dollars?” asked Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Chaffetz explained the organization gets about $450 million in federal funds, $390 million of which comes in the form of Medicaid reimbursements for women’s health services. The remaining $60 million is allocated through the National Family Planning Program, also called Title X.

At the start of the hearing, Chaffetz argued Planned Parenthood could easily survive without that $60 million.

“Last year, they had more than $100 million in revenue without expenses,” he said, calling the organization “flush with cash” and offering a list of extravagant spending as proof: more than $500,000 a year for Richards’ salary; $14,000 a day in travel expenses; $600,000 over two years for “blow-out parties,” chocolate and champagne events, and a Salt-n-Pepa concert; and $67 million over three years for fundraising.

Richards said Planned Parenthood does not abuse taxpayer money.

“None of the dollars that you are discussing are federal dollars,” she told Chaffetz when asked to explain $22 million Planned Parenthood transferred to its political affiliate, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

At the hearing, Richards took the opportunity to accuse the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), a pro-life group, of deceit and entrapment for undercover videos it made about fetal tissue procurement and donation. CMP claims its videos prove the abortion provider tries to sell body parts of aborted babies for profit. Richards said CMP orchestrated a set-up and Planned Parenthood employees didn’t take the bait.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., challenged that point, referencing negotiations over the prices of donated tissue between undercover investigators and Planned Parenthood employees.

“If there’s no profit, why negotiate the price?” DeSantis asked. Richards responded only that she disagreed with DeSantis over his characterization of the video.

Throughout the hearing, Richards and Democratic committee members accused CMP of dishonestly editing the videos and withholding the raw footage. But just before the hearing started, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) released a forensic analysis of all the raw footage. The cybersecurity firm Coalfire Labs found the videos were authentic and not manipulated.

“Analysts scrutinized every second of video recorded during the investigation released by CMP to date and found only bathroom breaks and other non-pertinent footage had been removed,” ADF senior counsel Casey Mattox said.

Meanwhile, Congress is still at an impasse over what to do about Planned Parenthood’s funding. Two House committees plan to advance legislation that would shift $350 million in Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood to community health centers. House GOP leaders have cautioned against forcing a government shutdown over the funding fight, but some Republicans say they will do it if President Barack Obama doesn’t agree to defund the organization. A government shutdown could begin Thursday if Congress doesn’t approve a spending bill by then.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.