Ernst Applauds House Passage of Resolution to Restore States’ Ability to Decide Best Eligible Health Providers for Citizens

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst today issued the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed bicameral legislation she introduced along with Representative Diane Black to scrap an eleventh-hour rule issued by the Obama administration and restore local control over decisions about the best eligible Title X health providers for citizens:

“Today marked a major step toward scrapping the Obama administration’s eleventh-hour rule, which secures Title X federal family planning funding for Planned Parenthood – the nation’s largest provider of abortions. I remain committed to restoring our states' ability to make their own decisions about the best eligible Title X providers for folks, and I look forward to seeing this rule overturned.”

About Senator Ernst and Representative Diane Black’s (R-TN) bicameral legislation:

• The rule currently secures federal Title X family planning grants for Planned Parenthood and interferes with states’ ability to make their own decisions about the best eligible providers for their citizens.
• This legislation would overturn the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) final rule to amend regulations implementing the Title X Family Planning Program.

Click here to read Senator Ernst and Representative Black’s recent column in the Washington Examiner.

Additionally, in September of 2016, Senator Ernst and Representative Black led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to then-U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell expressing their opposition to the Department’s new proposed rule to amend regulations implementing the Title X Family Planning Program.