Cruz threatens weekend Senate session to delay Planned Parenthood-funding budget

Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) is threatening to delay the vote on a GOP leadership-supported funding bill that includes subsidies for Planned Parenthood, to force Senate business to continue into Saturday.

“The only way to actually defund Planned Parenthood is to include it on must-pass legislation like the continuing resolution,” Cruz argued. “It’s the reason why Republican leadership wants a show vote. They know they’ll lose instead of actually using their constitutional authority.”

He added that it should be “a simple matter” to make the case to the American people that “at a minimum we’re not going to send taxpayer money to a private organization that is under ongoing criminal investigation.”

Cruz is also circulating a letter to his Senate colleagues asking for their commitment to vote against any resolution that contains money for the abortion giant.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner have dismissed Cruz’s strategy as an exercise in futility and favor a so-called “clean” government funding resolution. His fellow presidential candidates John Kasich and Lindsey Graham also oppose risking a shutdown, while Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal favors it.