KMA News - Young Braces for More Budget Battles

News Article

By Mike Peterson

Congress has avoided another government shutdown--at least for now.

Earlier this week, the Senate passed a continuing resolution to keep the federal government operating until December 11th. Iowa Congressman David Young tells KMA News members of Congress will now work on an omnibus spending bill to carry government operations past the next deadline.

"The government is not going to shut down," said Young, "and we're going to address some of the bigger issues, as well, during this next broader appropriations bill, such as trying to defund the EPA's Waters of the U.S.A. Act--those kind of rules and regulations that will, I think, hamper Iowa, private property and our way of life."

The Van Meter Republican expects more budget battles in Congress between now and December.

"You've got the president, who has talked about vetoing that package," he said, "because it doesn't spend enough. So, we're really going to have to do some compromising here, because we also want to make sure to get our priorities as well, if the caps are going to go up. I don't want the caps to go up. But, you know, we live in a system where we have to compromise. Unfortunately, we didn't get our appropriations cycle done on time, and this is where we're at."

Young says the continuing resolution contains no new money for Planned Parenthood.

"There's no money for Planned Parenthood," said Young. "Because that money for Planned Parenthood, that went out the door in April, because the Department of Health and Human Services sends out their grants and their funds to these groups in April. So, that money's out the door. There's no new money for Planned Parenthood here."

However, Young says the House took additional action this past week to block federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

"As you know, a lot of their funding comes through Medicaid," he said. "So, we passed a bill allowing states to have flexibility with Medicaid dollars to choose health care providers who do not perform elected abortions.

"The issue is still out there. So, we're going to try to address it with this omnibus appropriations bill that we will take up when the current resolution expires," Young added.

Action in the House came on the same week as Planned Parenthood Chief Cecile Richards was grilled by GOP members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee over a series of controversial videos concerning the sale of tissue from aborted fetuses.

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