Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming claimed that funding for Planned Parenthood was the issue holding up the passing of a relief bill to counteract the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Barrasso claimed that funding for the nonprofit organization was stalling the bill during an interview on Special Report with Bret Baier on Tuesday evening.
“It’s wind turbines, solar panels, the Green New Deal for airplanes,” he said. “It’s election reform. It’s new powers for members of unions. You go one after another after another, and the holdup I hear tonight, in terms of what the chatter is on the internet, that the holdup today is funding for Planned Parenthood.”
Barrasso continued, “I have to tell the American people who are listening that Republicans are ready to act to provide relief in this rescue operation for our healthcare providers, and they need it.”
Democrats blocked a Republican-proposed relief bill in the Senate earlier this week and proposed in the House a bill including several provisions, including $300 million for refugees and migrants, $35 million in funding for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, new fuel emission standards, and a climate change study.
Worldwide, there have been more than 409,000 cases of the coronavirus, about 106,000 recoveries, and at least 18,246 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
