Conservative Blogger Wants GOP to Shut Down the Government Over Planned Parenthood

The federal government is in danger of a shutdown this fall over a disagreement between Republicans and the Obama administration on broad spending levels. But, if influential blogger Erick Erickson has his way, there will be a shutdown for a narrower reason. 

Erickson wants lawmakers to protest funding to reproductive health organization Planned Parenthood.

"Shut down the government if that is what it takes. Shut it down now. If we cannot stand on this high ground, we should not stand at all," the RedState.com editor-in-chief wrote Thursday on the site.

Erickson said Planned Parenthood does not need or deserve federal grants -- which amounted to $538 million in 2013-2014, according to The Wall Street Journal. The organization brings in plenty of money on its own, Erickson said: 

Despite making that much money, the federal government gives Planned Parenthood millions of dollars each year. The Democrats say the money does not pay for abortions, but your federal taxpayer dollars subsidize an organization that could do quite well on its own.

Erickson criticized congressional leaders over the touchstone Republican issue.

"John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are engaged in failure theater over the news. They are ensuring that votes to defund Planned Parenthood cannot make it out of Congress. They fear a presidential veto," Erickson wrote.

House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that "Democrats will not support" a budget that would defund the organization.

This is not the first time Erickson has called for a shutdown. After Republicans won a majority in the midterm elections in November 2014, Erickson wrote a blog post with the headline "Shut. It. Down." 

So far it does not seem too likely that Republicans will heed Erickson's call. 

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