House to probe family planner

Democrats dismiss probe as a wasteful political exercise.

The GOP-led chamber approves special panel to investigate Planned Parenthood.

— The Republican-led House voted Wednesday to create a special panel to investigate Planned Parenthood and its procurement of fetal tissue as the GOP continued pressing an issue that has galvanized conservatives.

The near party-line vote was 242-184, as Democrats dismissed the probe as a wasteful political exercise. It was unclear if Democrats would participate in the committee’s work.

Republicans said the committee is needed to examine whether Planned Parenthood is breaking laws or misusing taxpayer money. Four other congressional committees — three in the House and one in the Senate — are already investigating the women’s health organization.

“Even if these abortion providers somehow manage to comply with all federal laws while dismembering children, it’s clear we need to learn more about their barbaric tactics,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.

Democrats likened the new House panel to one Republicans created last year to investigate the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. Hillary Rodham Clinton was secretary of state at the time, and Democrats say the committee’s main intention was to hurt her prospects as a Democratic presidential candidate.

That contention that got new life last week after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. — in what he later said was a misstatement, but Democrats viewed as a moment of candor — cited a decline in Clinton’s poll numbers as evidence that creating the committee had been an effective strategy for conservatives.

“Here we go again. Planned Parenthood is the new Benghazi,” said Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla.

House Speaker John Boehner suggested establishing a committee on tissue harvesting last month as GOP leaders sought a way to stave off conservatives willing to wage a government shutdown fight with President Barack Obama over their goal of blocking Planned Parenthood’s federal money.

That battle could be revisited in mid-December, when temporary funding keeping government agencies functioning runs out. Obama has promised to veto any legislation cutting the group’s funds.

Planned Parenthood gets around $450 million in federal funds yearly, mostly as reimbursement for treating Medicaid patients. By law, almost none of the federal money can be used for abortions, of which Planned Parenthood performs more than 300,000 annually.

Republicans have trained their fire on Planned Parenthood since the release of videos made by abortion foes that show the organization’s officials talking about how they harvest tissue from aborted fetuses and provide it to medical researchers.