Senate mulls stopgap measure without touching Planned Parenthood funding

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The Senate will vote Monday on a spending bill that would keep the government operating through Dec. 11 without touching Planned Parenthood funding.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the procedural vote will be taken at 5:30 p.m. Monday, allowing for time to round up 13 Republican colleagues to vote with him and the chamber's 46 Democratic caucus members.

"Democrats' insistence on blocking the strategy pursued today means we have to consider the options now before us," McConnell said Thursday. "The reality is that the government will shut down next week if Congress doesn't act."

The move comes after nearly every Democrat and eight Republicans blocked a Senate bill Thursday that would fund the government through Dec. 11 but also defund Planned Parenthood. The vote was taken largely to demonstrate a conservative-backed plan to defund Planned Parenthood, devised by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had scant support.

McConnell has indicated the fight against Planned Parenthood is not over. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., chairman of the Appropriations Committee, urged his Republican colleagues to back the new legislation saying it would "ensure continued government operations while we debate and pass appropriations bills on the Senate floor."

Friday, the House will hear a proposal that will fast-track the move to strip funding from the organization and put it on President Obama's desk without the risk of a shutdown. How that will happen has yet to be seen.