CNN’s “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper tried to get Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to say that he would “shut down government” if Congress failed to defund Planned Parenthood, a promise fellow candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has made, but Paul refused to take the bait.
“If President Obama wants to shut down government because he doesn’t get funds for Planned Parenthood, that would be President Obama’s determination to shut down government,” Paul told Tapper.
“I support any legislation that will defund Planned Parenthood,” said Paul. On Cruz’s threats of a government shutdown, Paul said “I don’t think you start” with that as “your objective.”
RELATED: New Rand Paul video ad attacks Planned Parenthood
Paul has been trying to garner support in the Senate for a bill he introduced that would defund Planned Parenthood after the release of undercover videos showing high-level executives haggling prices for fetal organs.
“A lot of people, even a lot of pro-choice people, are upset by these videos,” Paul said. “Manipulating the baby, turning the baby around to get to body parts, and then selling the liver, and the doctors cavalierly saying ‘oh well, yeah liver is popular right now for sale.'”
“I think most Americans don’t want their tax dollars going to this,” continued Paul. “So I think when something is so morally repugnant to so many people, why should tax dollars go to this?”
Support for defunding Planned Parenthood has been growing. Eighteen lawmakers sent a letter to Republican leadership Thursday saying they will not support any spending bill unless Planned Parenthood no longer receives government funds. The group currently receives over half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding, money which it claims is not spent on abortion.
Paul said he supports money going to 9,000 community health centers “that do everything that Planned Parenthood does, but they don’t get into abortions,” money which Tapper said was only available through Obamacare, which Paul had opposed.
“So you support continued funding for the community health centers, even though it was doubled and tripled from Obamacare?” asked Tapper.
“I do support a role for government in community health centers,” said Paul. “The specific bill, including it in Obamacare, obviously, would make it such that I can’t support that particular bill. But supporting some funding for community health centers, I think, is reasonable. And there are people who do need help.”
“But really, Planned Parenthood is sort of a front for doing abortions,” said Paul. “They say they don’t use federal money, but how can you take money for the group and say none of it is somehow benefiting the production … and execution of abortions?”
Paul said that if people look “honestly and objectively” at the issue, they would not want taxpayer dollars going to a group that is “selling baby organs.”
“Even pro-choice people are upset by these videos,” Paul repeated. “I think the country ought to wake up and we ought to get rid of this funding.”
On foreign policy, Paul said his critics are “carping at my heels” in order “to be relevant in this debate.”
“They supported Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya,” said Paul, in a not-so-veiled reference to Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain, R-Nev. “They supported sending money to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.”
Paul said he’s a “small government conservative … who believes in the Constitution.”
“I will do whatever it takes to defend the country, but I’m not interested or a believer that every intervention has been good for us,” Paul said.
