Shutdown? Freedom Caucus chairman vows ‘real fight’ on Planned Parenthood

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Jack Gruber

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus signaled Wednesday that he and other congressional conservatives were determined to try again to cut off money for Planned Parenthood, dismissing concerns that the confrontation could lead to another government shutdown.

The issue could create an early divide between members of the caucus and Paul Ryan, the new House speaker they helped elect. Ryan, expressing doubt about whether defunding Planned Parenthood was realistic, said on CNN’s State of the Union

“You have to be honest with the voters, too, but you also have to have the debate,” Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan responded in an interview with Capital Download. “Instead, what we seem to have done so much in the past was forfeit before the ref even blows the whistle, forfeit before the game even starts. And our voters are like, ‘Well, why did we even elect you if you’re going to surrender before the game starts?’ That’s what has to change going forward.”

Jordan told USA TODAY’s weekly video newsmaker series: “I think there’s going to be a real debate, and there should be, and probably a real fight.” He said other potential amendments aimed at curtailing the Affordable Care Act, new environmental rules and Obama’s executive actions on immigration also were “in play.”

The White House and congressional leaders, including outgoing speaker John Boehner, last week negotiated a two-year budget deal that raised the debt limit through the rest of President Obama’s tenure and included $112 billion in new spending. But Congress also must pass a bill by Dec. 11 to fund the government, and Democratic leaders already have declared they will reject amendments such as one on Planned Parenthood.

Negotiating the so-called continuing resolution will pose an early test of Ryan’s leadership.

Jordan leads the House Freedom Caucus, a group created in January that now includes 39 members. Their resistance to compromise was a factor in Boehner’s surprise decision to step down last month. “I wouldn’t say ‘victory,’ ” Jordan said of Boehner’s resignation. “I just think folks understood, America understood, that it was time for a change.”

Jordan, who supported Ryan to succeed Boehner, predicts he’ll be an important spokesman for the GOP during what could be an extended contest for the party’s presidential nomination. “We may not have a nominee for a while,” the Ohio Republican said. “It may take a while to get a nominee, so I think it’s important that Paul as one of the leaders of our party help us craft and articulate a vision for how we would do things better.”

Jordan, 51, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he will back efforts to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen for his actions in a congressional investigation into the agency’s treatment of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. And he said that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State warrants more scrutiny.

At a hearing last month before the special Benghazi committee, Jordan pressed Clinton about disparities between the “muddled” way she characterized the 2012 attacks in Libya to the American public with the clear language she used to describe them in to her family and the Egyptian prime minister. During their sharp-edged exchange, Clinton told him, “I wrote a whole chapter about this in my book, Hard Choices

The book hasn’t arrived yet, Jordan said. “Maybe I should write her a note.”

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