Senator Lankford Applauds Senate Passage of CRA to Restore States’ Authority to Make Title X Funding Decisions

CLICK HERE to view the video of Lankford’s floor speech

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today applauded Senate passage of H.J. Res. 43, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) Resolution of Disapproval for President Obama’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Title X regulation. The resolution passed the Senate today by a vote of 51-50. Specifically, the CRA would restore states’ ability and authority to make funding decisions for Title X health care providers. The HHS Title X regulation would have prevented states from partnering with health care providers that best meet the needs of their citizens.

A CRA is a form of legislation that allows Congress to review a major regulation before it goes into effect and reverse it within 60 days. In January, Lankford joined Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) to co-sponsor the Senate bill (S.J.Res.13) to repeal this HHS Title X regulation. Lankford and Ernst also introduced the “Protect Funding for Women’s Health Care Act,” a bill that redirects taxpayer funds from Planned Parenthood to other eligible women’s health care providers.

Excerpt:

States like mine and many other states said that we wanted to have family planning in our state. We wanted to have comprehensive health care in our state, but did not want to provide federal funds to the single largest provider of abortion in the country. That was a reasonable decision for our state lawmakers to make to protect the lives of women in our state and protect the lives of children for the future. That reasonable common-sense method was removed two days before President Obama left office. I’m proud to say that the House of Representatives and the Senate today voted to strike that rule from the last two days of President Obama’s term… I look forward to President Trump signing that. 

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