Divided House approves short-term government funding bill

House Republican leadership has averted a government shutdown over funding for the abortion provider Planned Parenthood. By a vote of 277-151, the House this afternoon approved a resolution to continue funding the government through Dec. 11, giving Congress and the White House more time to negotiate a complete budget.

The vote demonstrated a growing rift between the conservative and moderate factions of the GOP in Congress. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, relied on Democrats to get the resolution passed, with all of the no votes coming from Republicans who pledged not to pass any legislation that funded Planned Parenthood.

It was conservative Republicans’ second attempt to defund the abortion giant after a series of undercover videos came out accusing the organization of profiting from the sale of aborted baby body parts. In August, a bill to reallocate funds for women’s health from Planned Parenthood to community health centers fell short of the 60 votes needed to move forward in the Senate.

“Today was a win for the Washington cartel, and another setback for the American people,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who is also a GOP presidential candidate. “Republican leadership chose to abandon its constitutional power of the purse and to fund 100 percent of President Obama’s failed agenda.”

The fate of Planned Parenthood has so deeply divided GOP lawmakers that Boehner announced last week his plans to resign his leadership position and his seat in Congress at the end of October. Meanwhile, conservative Republicans are mounting a new effort to curtail Planned Parenthood funding with a certain kind of spending bill that only requires a majority vote when it gets to the Senate.

“As this committee continues to investigate Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, the flow of taxpayer dollars should end,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is sponsoring the latest effort. The president has vowed to veto any legislation that would strip tax dollars from Planned Parenthood.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.