Friends, if there is one thing in this world that I hate, it is a hidden fee.
You know, the ones that you never notice until you actually read the itemization of the bill in question that the hidden fee is in. I had this happen a while ago with my cell phone bill where there was a fee for a service that I didn’t even know that I had that I was never told about and all of a sudden I am paying ten dollars extra on my bill. Needless to say, I am not paying for that nonsense anymore.
Now, how does his apply to legislation? Let’s say that there is a spending bill or budget zabada, where the thing could be a couple of thousand pages. There is no way that they are going to get every member of Congress to read every last page into it. So, people try to sneak stuff in here and there, and if the line about some Congressman wanting a million dollars to repaint a fence is in there when the President signs it into law, they HAVE to give it to them. Hidden fees will get you every time.
It might not be a shocker that Democrats would try to reinstate Title X federal funding for “family planning services” to organizations that carry out abortions or provide abortion referrals, something that the Trump administration had ended. What was surprising is that they made the divisive move as part of a COVID-19 relief package.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion bailout package includes $50 million that will go toward the Title X program. However, the new administration will almost certainly end the Trump administration’s rule regarding funding organizations that provide abortion referrals — which means, essentially, the move restores a significant revenue stream for Planned Parenthood.
The corporate face of the abortion industry left the Title X program in 2019 after the Trump rule went into effect, costing it $60 million in annual funding, the Free Beacon reported.
The Trump rule change has had mixed success in court challenges. In February 2020, as Fox News reported, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the change. However, in September, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the rule change. That would normally set up an issue to be settled in the Supreme Court, but the change of presidential administrations almost certainly makes that moot.
This isn’t the only liberal wish list item that was included in Biden’s American Rescue Plan — and not even the most expensive line item that may have to do with abortion. Still, the move had pro-life groups sounding the alarm, particularly given it was done under the umbrella of COVID relief.
“House Democrats are shamefully pushing a massive expansion of abortion on demand, paid for with tax dollars, in the guise of COVID-19 relief — including payouts to abortion giant Planned Parenthood,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a news release last week.
“This divisive agenda flies in the face of the ‘unity’ the Biden-Harris ticket promised to inspire.”
