Will take up a temporary spending measure. We are not sure when. That will have to go through the rules committee. Look for house coverage tomorrow on 10 00 a. M. On at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. The house today passed a measure that would allow states to exclude organizations like planned parenthood and other organizations that perform abortions from state medicaid funding. The white house has issued a veto threat on that legislation, no word on whether the senate will take that out. The issue of planned parenthood came before a link the hearing before the House Oversight link the hearing before the House Oversight committee. Parenthood president is Cecile Richards. She testified today. Here is the headline today. Planned parenthood chief goes headtohead with gop in an emotional hearing. Writes that the president insisted the organization had not broken the law, and the accusation it faced after embarrassing video that showed executors nonchalantly discussing fetal tissue discussions. She fought back events against allegations that planned parenthood profits from these allegations. These deceptively edited videos are released by a group plannedd to meeting of parenthood according to retreats. That statement was part of her opening statement. Here on cspan we will show you the first Opening Statements from ms. Richards and the leaders on the committee. It is about 45 minutes. Following that, we will open up our phone lines to get a reaction where we will show you the entire hearing. Fors lengthy, it went on four hours. Around 8 00 we will open up the phone lines. First up, from the House Oversight committee hearing, Opening Statements. Committee on oversight and government reform will come to order. Chairman is responsible under the rules of the house and the rules of the committee to maintain order and preserve decorum in the committee room. Members of the audience are reminded that destruction is a violation of law and a criminal offense. We welcome your presence, but we will not tolerate disruption. We hope to have a good, lively debate. This is what congress is intended to do. We need everybodys participation along the way. This is antz important topic. The risk of getting a little wife julie and i have been married some 24 years. 25th wedding anniversary coming up in february. Im proud of my wife. She got her degree in psychology later in life, after helping to raise three kids, some of whom are still at home. She just started to work for a Plastic Surgeon. His Plastic Surgeon is involved in helping women who are having their breasts removed. Day wife spencer spends her day helping these women. Im proud of her for doing that. , she passed away when i was 28 years old. She fought cancer for more than 10 years. She had Breast Cancer. And i miss her. Cancer asfather to well. Country kills about 1500 people a day. A day. Our federal government only spends about five alien 5s to fight it billion to fight it. If they were shooting 1500 people a day, we would be fighting it with everything weve got. As i said before i came to hereess, and as i stand today, as fiscally conservative as i can possibly be, we dont spend enough on cancer. We dont spend enough. We need to spend more. I would quadruple the amount of money if i had my chance to fight cancer and win. The reason im passionate about a we haveg today, is a lot of Health Care Providers who i think in their hearts know that they are treading trying to provide good. The question before us is, does this organization, does planned parenthood really need federal subsidy . Dollars . Eed federal every time we spent a federal dollar, what we are doing is pulling money out of somebodys pocket and giving it to somebody else. , what i dontike want to tolerate, what i dont want to become numb to is wasting taxpayer dollars. Tell, and we are going to have a hearing, this is an organization that doesnt need federal subsidy. For the year ended june 14th planned parenthood reported 127 million in revenue over expenses. Million more in revenue than they had expenses. And 2013, in005 large part under ms. Richards leadership, there is a 53 reduction in cancer screenings. 42 reduction in breast exams and breast care. I dontd why understand why. I dont understand why. Let me give you a sense of the numbers we are talking about here. Government dollars from to plannedgoing parenthood is roughly 528 million. 450 million of that becomes federal funds. Million comes in the form of medicaid. There has been a lot of bluster today about shutting down the government over planned parenthood. The Funding Amount we are talking about under title x is 60 million. I just told you that last year, they had more than 100 million in revenue without expenses. We are talking about 60 million. Roughly 4. 6 of their total revenue. Planned parenthood is an organization with massive dollars. Nearlyhards makes 600,000 per year. The affiliate in north dakota and south dakota makes roughly 450,000 a year. I could be here for a long time listing exorbitant salaries. This is also an organization that seems to have exorbitant travel expenses. 2013, they send more than 5 million in travel. Firstclass tickets, private chartered aircraft. Tohly they are spending 14,000 a day to travel. That is a lot. That is money that is not going to Womens Health care. 2013, they spent roughly 600,000 on blowout parties. Andolate champagne events pepa performed a concert. These are things they locked money doing according to the tax record. In the past three years, they spent more than 67 million on fundraising. They are pretty good at it. That is partly my point. They are pretty good at fundraising. They dont necessarily need taxpayer dollars to pay for it. This part i really hope we have a deeper discussion about. We may not learn everything that we need to, but over the past than 22 Million Dollars has been transferred from their 501 c 3 to 501 c four organizations as well as tax. This is advocacy, it is lobbying. It is get out the vote. In one case in alaska, it was about redistricting. That has absolutely nothing to do with providing health care to young women they need a breast exam or need to get a mammogram. None of that money goes to that. Its a political activity. Was naive, but surprised you could take 501 c 3 money and give it to the file 501 c 4. You look atyees, if planned parenthood and organizations under it, you will find shared employees, facilities, mailing lists, assets. It is a political organization. And that is something that needs to be ferreted out. Start saying,you they have to have federal money, over the past five years they have spent more than 32 million sending money overseas. He not even come to the United States. It did not affect people in low income situations. They are so flush with cash, they started sending in giving out money overseas. I dont understand that. We have usia usaid, all kinds of foreign aid. We dont need planned parenthood foreign aid but that is all we got. And their desire for more of taxpayer dollars is insatiable. To be someoing discussions about the video. Let me just explain that. We are going to have to address it one way or the other. I think it was legitimate to look at all of the videos. All of the videos. We issued a subpoena to get all of the videos. In california, there is a court case where there is a temporary restraining order that does not allow the producers of these videos to release them publicly. Letter askingnt a for the videos. Democrats, i think those record askects, did not want us to for the videos. They wanted to take a language out. Nevertheless, we moved forward and took the step of subpoena. Something i think both sides of the aisle should support. If you want these the totality of the record, let this subpoena go. With a temporary restraining order in place, there is conflict between the legislative branch and judicial branch. But we are seeing is on one hand there is a restraining order and cant send it, and the other they have a subpoena from the United States congress. That is going to have to work itself out. There has been discussion about the producer coming to testify before congress. I dont know which are actually will go. The first step is seeing all the videos. Democrats have said, they have been doctored and edited, even though they have not necessarily seen them. And then they have videos that want to show that. The reason they are out there is because they are publicly available. There is more to this story, there is more that needs to come out. But that will have to play itself out. The prime thrust of this hearing is about the finances. Inwere very clear and blunt what we were talking about in terms of what we are trying to accomplish here today. The focus of what we are doing today is how this organization is funded, and how they spend their money. If they are going to accept taxpayer dollars, they will have to withstand scrutiny of Congress Asking questions about how they spend money. That is the direction im coming from today. If there is nor more clarification needed, i can answer questions. I recognize Ranking Member cummings. Cummings let me be clear from the beginning, we have asked for all, we wanted all of it. Everything. And we welcome a subpoena for everything, because we think that goes to the integrity of this committee, and the integrity of this congress. Todays hearing is very important. Will reveal whether this committee is more interested in facts for fiction. The questions members post will show whether they are engaged in evenhanded search for the truth, or a partisan attack based on an ideology. The way we conduct ourselves will demonstrate whether this committee is seeking integrity in our investigation or is being usurped by the most extreme portions of partisan warfare. Lets look at the fact. And his group engaged in a threeyear campaign of deceit against planned parenthood. Companies, fake created fake identities, repeatedly lied about who they , and secretly recorded planned parenthood employees without their knowledge or consent. These are facts that mr. Delight he admitted to. This is a lie that has gone on for the past three years. To entrap and parented into settling selling fetal tissue for profit. Selling it for profit. Andeceived, misled, connedally cant planned parenthood employees to achieve his goal. He gave been illegal contract proposals. He offered them huge sums of money. And he pursued them relentlessly. Some would say he was obsessed. Despite his best efforts, he failed. There is no cut of all evidence reported that any planned parenthood employee agreed to any proposal to sell fetal tissue or forprofit in violation of the law. Republicans keep making this claim over and over again. But that does not make it true. He will face with the failure of his threeyear relent. He did not instead he took the video footage he had, manipulated it, and put it out to the public. Timemoved every single planned parenthood employees rejected his offers. He edited out all the exculpatory evidence and twisted what was left to distort the truth. Something is awfully wrong with that picture. Last week, ill the Committee Members on this side of the aisle asked for him to testify here today. Since his videos are the fundamental basis of this investigation, we wanted to ask questions about his tactics and his evidence. That is only fair. Other republicans refused. Not one of them testified. They dont want to subject him to the difficult or uncomfortable questions that relate to the actual facts. But the facts are critical. Here are some of the key facts we now know. Federal law authorizes Fetal Tissue Research, and expressly allows for regrouping reasonable cost. That is a fact. By Congress Passed with strong bipartisan support, based on the work of president ronald reagan, Blueribbon Panel on Fetal Tissue Research in 1988. This is also a fact. Receives nonthood federal funding for fetal tissue and only 1 grams, of Health Centers even participate in these programs. Those are facts. Unfortunately, i suspect these facts will have little impact on the republicans talking points. They will just keep accusing planned parenthood of selling feel tissue for profit. Todays hearing is supposed to be about federal funding. Let me highlight one more fact. Republicans have been saying planned parenthood received half 1 billion in taxpayer funds. They make it sound as if the federal government writes a check to planned parenthood here teaching year. The vast majority of that approximately 400 million, comes from reimbursements from individual Health Services under medicaid. Medicaid provides Health Care Services for people who are poor, elderly, and have disabilities. In my home state of maryland, banning funds for planned parenthood would have a negative and disproportionate impact on poor women who rely on planned parenthood for a host of Health Care Services, including cap tests, breast exams and cancer screenings. Mr. Chairman, as i listened to you talk about cancer and Breast Cancer, i agree with you. We need every dollar we can get for research with regard to these diseases. I will bew on friday, motherinlaw, who was very dear to me, who died from Breast Cancer less than a week ago. I understand what youre talking about. I get it. A lot of people need the services, they are the people who live in the district and living areas where they do not have the services. Imviced richards sure ms. Richards will testify to that. Money poor women, and parenthood may be one of their only sources medical care in undeserve underserved or rural communities. That brings us to the big question for republican colleagues. This . Really want to do do you want to align yourselves with radical extremists who manipulate the facts . And most importantly, do you want to attack millions of women who have a constitutional right, affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States of america to make their own Health Care Decisions with the advice of their doctors . Based on the evidence of last week, it appears that you do. You threatened to shut down the government. You ousted your speaker. And now you want to set up yet another select committee to investigate. It looks like you have made your choice. I think your, actions will result in even more chaos in this court in this congress. Which is exactly what the American People do not want. They do not want the discord. Ms. Richards, i want to thank you very much for being here facts. O give us the your group has been extremely helpful during this ofestigation, providing tens thousands of pages of documents. Your cooperation stands in stark notable to mr. Whose absence speaks volumes. With that mr. Chairman, i yield back. Rep. Chaffetz we have agreed to make the subcommittee chairman to make statements. Mr. Jordan of ohio for Opening Statements. Mr. Jordan thank you, thank you for this hearing and thank you remarks inartfelt your opening statement. Here is the troubling truth. A picture is worth a thousand words. You can say all you want, that these were heavily edited, but if thats the case, why did this richards apologize for the videos two days after they surfaced . Are,one knows these videos barbaric and repulsive. This argument that we keep hearing from the other side, republicans want to shut down the government. Are you kidding me . We want to fund the government at the levels everyone agreed to. The levels of president agreed to. We want to shift the money from an organization caught doing what they were caught doing and give it to the community Health Centers. Shifted from the planned parenthood clinics, give it to the 13,000 federally approved community Health Centers. Take the money from the guys doing the bad things and give it to ones who are not here it take the dollars from one private company doing what the speaker and givebaric things, it to federally approved community Health Centers. If the democrats insist in spite of all that, this organization should still get tax dollars, and that that is more important than funding troops and veterans and Womens Health issues, if that is their position, they can go defend that position. Lets be honest here. This is what this is really all about, plain and simple, money and politics. Heres how it works. Politicians give money to planned parenthood, who give it back to politicians at election time, who get elected and give it back to planned parenthood, and give it back to politicians and the game goes on. Cycle, in that election planned parenthood spent almost 12 million in advertising. ,052 went to democrats. No wonder they are defending this repulsive game. Politicians give money to planned parenthood, they give it back to politicians, and it keeps on going. The nice thing about these videos, it has lifted the curtain. We can now see what is going on there. That is why we should fund the government and shift money from disorganization that organizations who did not do this kind of behavior. I yield back. We recognize it is no money of new york for her Opening Statements. You and welcome his richards. Last weekend, democratic members warning thattee, a the Relentless Campaign by the conservative House Freedom caucus to attack planned parenthood was in fact part of a broader power struggle to unseat led by anehner extreme wing of the republican party, that is using this issue to force a government shutdown, unless the speaker bows to their demands. Proved prescient. On friday, Speaker Boehner announced he would resign at the end of next month, but not before creating a new select committee to investigate planned parenthood. Despite what we hear from the other side, republicans are doubling down on their war against women. I request unanimous consent to place in the record this letter from the republicans, threatening to close down the government unless planned parenthood is defunded. Without objection. When you read this, there are certain things that jumped out. All of the signatories are men, none of whom will get pregnant, or need a cervical screening from cancer or mammograms, or a or other lifesaving Services Provided by planned parenthood. We will here today lots of arguments hear today lots of arguments to justify the extreme center for medical progress. But there is one simple reason we are at this point. Republicans want to outlaw a womans right to choose. Republicans say this is all about videos recording to show violations of the law. But when the facts come out that contradict the narrative, and it comes to light, it never seems to matter. For example, when we learned the videos had dozens of unexplained edits, removing phrases like we do not profit from tissue donation from those who work from planned parenthood, that did not matter. When we learned less than 1 of planned Parenthood Centers had any involvement whatsoever in fetal tissue donation, that did not matter. When we learned that some planned Parenthood Centers involved in tissue donation to the extra precaution of accepting no reimbursement for their cost, far beyond what is even required by federal law, that did not matter. Plannedlearned Parenthood Centers that lawfully accepted reimbursement recouped only their cost and repeatedly refused offers from antiabortion extremists to entrap them into accepting far larger amounts, even in one case 10 times more, republicans still insisted they were trying to profit from these donations. The righteous rhetoric we have about plannedks parenthood trafficking in bb hass has one bb parts one federal law. It is not true. Has a great soundtrack. The reason the facts dont matter is because the whole episode is not about tissue donation or the height amendment reimbursement. The issue is republican members of Congress Almost universally oppose a womans right to choose , they oppose the constitutional right of abortion. In increasing numbers, like senator marco rubio, support banning abortions with no exceptions, not even indications cases of rape, incest, or when the life of a mothers first threatened. The majority of americans disagree. , thereont stop this will be serious consequences for women across this country that rely on the services, lifesaving it is their choice of over 2. 7 million women to have their basic Health Care Services provided by planned parenthood. In 103 counties with planned parenthood Health Centers, planned parenthood serves all of the women obtaining publicly supportive contraceptive services. There are not community Health Centers to step in and fill the void. If we dont continue this lifesaving service, women will be denied health care across great nation. This continued assault on constitutionally protected reproductive freedoms is based on outright falsehoods and lies, backed up by fraudulent recording, selectively edited by radical antichoice activists. If they had their way, over 630,000 patients will lose out excess lose access to Birth Control, std screenings, mammograms and Cervical Cancer screenings. We need to recognize the fight for what it is. It is about banning a womans right to choose, and it is being politicians, most of whom are men who think they have the right to dictate to women about their most private Health Care Decisions. Parenthood, planned polls four times stronger than congress. I might add that we should be investigating this group that did fraudulent, edited tapes, and not a distinguished health care providing, lifesaving group that is across this Nation Saving lives and providing basic Reproductive Health care to american women, many of whom are very poor, and many of whom are very vulnerable. Plannedo publicly thank parenthood. One in five women in america have gone to planned parenthood for services, including myself, at times in their life when they needed it. I want to thank you for the work freere doing to provide sic health care, reproductive Health Care Services to american women and men. Rep. Chaffetz i will hold the record open for five legislative days for any record members who would like to submit a written statement. We have had wide interest from colleagues. I ask unanimous consent that the congresswoman ms. Robbers rogers, congresswoman black, begresswoman love will allowed to participate in the hearing. If there are additional democrats that would like to participate i would be happy to waive them in as well. Without objection. So ordered. Now recognize our witness, please welcome ms. Cecile richards, president of planned parenthood. All witnesses will be sworn in before they testify. If you will please rise and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Thank you. Let the record reflect that the witness answered in the order tove and in allow time for discussion we would appreciate it if you would limit testimony to five minutes. Obviously your entire being statement will be made part of the record. You are recognized for five minutes. Cecile richards thank you, mr. Chairman. Be here today speaking on behalf of planned , a leading provider of highquality Reproductive Health care in america. One in five women in this country have sought care from a planned Parenthood Health center. They trust us because our rigorous Health Care Standards have been developed with the nations top medical experts history. 99 year there has been a great deal of misinformation circulated about planned parenthood recently, and i want to be absolutely clear at the outset. The federal funding planned parenthood receives allows our doctors and clinicians to provide Birth Control, cancer screenings, and testing and treatment for stds. While the federal policy in my opinion discriminates against no federalwomen, funds pay for Abortion Services at planned parenthood or anywhere else, except in limited circumstances allowed by law. This is when a woman has been t,ped, the victim of inces or when her life is endangered. Planned parenthood operates like all other hospitals that provide medical care to medicaid patients. Medicaid reimburses us for the preventative Health Services we provide and the department of health and Human Services conducts routine audits of the Medicaid Program to ensure these funds are used appropriately. The same is true for the title 10, federal Family Planning program signed into law by president richard nixon. Planned parenthood has been in the news recently because of deceptively edited videos released by a group that is dedicated to making abortion illegal in this country. This is just the most recent in a long line of discredited the 10th in the last 15 years. The latest Smear Campaign is based on efforts by our opponents to entrap our doctors and clinicians into breaking the law, and once again, our opponents failed. To set the record straight, i want to be clear on four things. First, using fetal tissue in lifesaving medical research is legal according to the 1993 law passed by the senate, 934. Based on recommendations from a Blueribbon Panel created under the Reagan Administration. Currently less than 1 of planned parenthood Health Centers are actually facilitating donation of tissue for Fetal Tissue Research. Third, in those Health Centers donating fetal tissue is something many of our patients requestso as regularly , and finally planned parenthood policies not only come plywood but go beyond requirements of the law. Accusationsus leveled against planned parenthood based on heavily doctored videos are offensive and categorically untrue. Though, that the facts have never gotten in the way of these campaigns to block women from health care they need and deserve. Mr. Chairman, you and i do disagree about whether women should have access to safe and legal abortions. At planned parenthood, we believe women should be able to make their own decisions about their pregnancies and futures. The majority of americans agree. We trust women to make these decisions and consultation with their families, doctors and faith, and not by congress. It is unacceptable that in the 21st century, women in america are routinely harassed for accessing legal medical procedures. Doctors who provide abortion, as well as families, often faced harassment and threats of violence. After this recent campaign it has gotten worse. These acts against women and Health Care Providers do not reflect American Values or the rule of law and i hope this committee will condemn them. Years, planned parenthood has worked to improve the lives of women and families in america, and largely as a result of access to Birth Control, women are now nearly half the workforce in america, and more than half of college students. As a result of better Sex Education and access to Birth Control, we are now at a 40 year for teenegnancy pregnancy in the United States. But there is still much work to do. For many women, planned parenthood is the only Health Care Provider they will see this year. It is impossible for our patients to understand why congress is once again threatening their ability to go to the Health Care Provider of their choice. Two weeks ago, i was in plano, texas with one of these patients. Dana cannot be here today because she has a new job and she is supporting her family, but if she were here, she would tell you what she told me. That planned parenthood saved her life. 2013, for has been lost his job and therefore their Health Insurance. Not long after, dana found a lump in her breast. The only credits that would take a patient with her Health Insurance could not see her for at least two months. So dana came to it planned parenthood for a breast exam. Years our clinician of 21 guided her through the process of followups and referrals and help to make sure her treatment was covered. She called dana repeatedly to check on her as she entered treatment. I am really happy to say today, that dana is now cancer free. Wish thisan, i congress would spend more time hearing from women like dana. All women in this country deserve to have the same opportunities as members of congress and their families for high quality, and Timely Health care. So i want to thank you to be here today, on the opportunity to be had testify on behalf of the dana and the 2. 7 million patients who rely on planned parenthood for Health Care Every year. Thank you. The Opening Statements from todays House Oversight committee from Cecile Richards, the president of planned parenthood, testifying on planned parenthoods activity. We will take a break before we show you the rest of the hearing, so we can hear from you about federal funding. Should the federal government be funding planned parenthood . The numbers for democrats, host republicans01, and 202 7370002, and independence 202 6280205. We will take about 15 minutes or so to hear from you and then show you the rest of the hearing, running about four hours. Polling numbers. This is recording in it a in a Washington Post article. That tuesdays planned parenthood hearing shows why republicans will lose on the issue. A poll from the research center, 60 said it budgeted agreement should include funding. 32 said it should not. As you might expect, the opinion is intensely polarized. Democrats say it should get funded by a margin of 8310. Republicans disagree by 6625. Independence take planned parenthood side. Staten island is first up on the democrats line. Darlene, welcome. I have been watching the hearings. How democrat, i realized politicized this is. I would definitely not be funding planned parenthood. It is redundant. We now have community Health Centers to take care of everything. And the high salaries of these executives and the bureaucracy, and this money, is all being wasted. I would like to see that money going towards the Health Centers and reducing the cost of medicaid so that more people can be helped. Body in richmond. What do you think. I just feel that the bottom line is the money should not be used for abortions. I dont want my taxpayer money to go in that direction. If planned parenthood can exist and provide their own funding, that is fine. They are more than able to do that. But i dont feel that as a government we should be funding that. The senate tomorrow will take of a continued resolution ending the federal government, pass tomorrow through december 11. The senates version will include funding for planned parenthood. Line. On the independents Many Americans are prolife, therefeel like taxpayers, is such an uneven balance, and so much fighting and arguing over abortions here it our taxpayer dollars should not be funding abortion. Until they actually get to the bottom of this and find out what actually transpired, planned parenthood should not be funded by the government. Absolutely not. Cecile richards, the president of planned parenthood, was closely scrutinized and questions about those videos that brought about a lot of the uprising, and indignation. You will see more of that coming up in just a bit. Tweet us cspan. Two wisconsin, the independent line. Parenthood, planned and i agree with the last comment you made. And menry antiwomen, in charge who dont understand the situation. I am in favor of what planned parenthood is doing, and i think they have told their side of the story well. But im afraid other people are not listening to it. To tucson. Not believe the government should be funding planned parenthood. And certainly not to do what they are doing. I think that is atrocious. It reminds me of what isis is doing burning people alive. It is just disgusting. Does the federal government have a role in terms of reimbursing medicare for Womens Health issues the accounts reception via contraception . I think they have a role to reimburse people for not only women, for men and everybody else. I dont think women are different from anybody else. What i object to is my tax dollars going to something in terms of that kind of dealing with abortion. Where you have a live baby, and you are keeping them alive, this organs. That is beyond belief as a christian. I cannot believe that takes place. Joining us this evening, we will see the rest of the hearing before the House Oversight committee, getting your thoughts on whether the federal government should fund planned parenthood. From test d from oklahoma. It has notthings, been proven yet that they are killing live babies. It has not been proven. There is no smoking gun. This whole thing is just another from the the same old right side again. If you put your hand in the fire, you get burned. Lets hear from janet in salem, illinois. Im calling as an independent. Prolife and with 73, and all right to life groups. I am very much against funding planned parenthood. It should not use our tax dollars. I am very much against it. Host you said since 1973, so your position goes back to the roe v wade decision. Yes, it goes back to when it started. We were in chicago. Said,ame on the radio and he said, today in america abortion is the law of the land. Tv,he evening we watched and then i started working for right to life. Host more of the hearing coming up in a bit. Here is reporting coming up on Cecile Richards testimony. Planned parenthoods Cecile Richards routes defense against before congress. A raised concerns over whether expenses are for frivolous activities. Richards said most of the funding is reimbursement under Birth Control or cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. No federal funds pay for Abortion Services she said, except in the very limited circumstances permitted by law when the woman has been raped, the victim of incest, or when her life had is in nature. Her life is in danger. The rest of the hearing is coming up. Neighbor heard my debbie in Staten Island say that people should be going to community Health Centers. Here in Staten Island, they just shot one down, and i was only able to get health care from planned parenthood. It was not an abortion. It was health care, that was not an abortion. Of Public Health health our community is better for it. Who ran the health care that was shut down, was it federally or locally run . It was a city health center. The last time i went there was years ago. They told me they were losing funding and to contact my local representative. Host lets go to the republican line. Im just really concerned about what our country is thinking. This shouldnt even be a discussion on as far as the argument goes. The bottom line is we have seen videos that are killing unborn innocent babies. They have them on videos. How much more clear kelly get . How much more clear can we get . I dont understand where our American Culture is going. Its doesnt have to do innocent lives being murdered and butchered. I pray for this country that they turn their backs and ask god for forgiveness. Host lets check some reaction on twitter. Here is monti in louisiana. I want to put a different perspective on this planned , whether you are democrat republican or independent, whatever, are we looking at money or are we looking at morals . We are doing an abomination to god by killing infants across america. That is just my view. Host appreciate you calling in. Lets hear from the democrats line. Go ahead with comments. Independent on, line. America,k everybody in we should all get together and thinking about how our government is spending all of our money. The government is getting ready our down, people are servicemen are homeless. There are so many people, so many different choices out there. It is not like the money for funding planned parenthood, people couldnt go to a different resource. On the house floor, they dont with the issue of planned parenthood, bill that would allow states to exclude planned parenthood. Some of the video is debate from the Health Health four. Allows funds to exclude from planned parenthood to perform abortions from medicaid reimbursements. It passed in the house floor. The white house has issued a veto threat. Mystic beach, new york on the democrat line. Watched the majority of the proceedings this afternoon. The republicans that i had seen today, this is an embarrassing blight in our nation. I dont know if it is mental retardation, i dont know how many times Cecile Richards had to say that abortions are not funded by this government. She must have had to 30 times explain herself 30 times. Party,as the republican what i see on the tv, these guys are the poster children for why we should have abortions. Host we have been asking you to the federal government continue funding planned parenthood. The issue coming before congress because of the resolution for the temporary spending. The senate tomorrow will take on a shortterm resolution funding the federal government through december 11 while they work out a longerterm deal. Tomorrows deal will not include blocking planned parenthood funding. It will include the house is another story. They will also take up the matter. Continuing resolution. Look for that in the house tomorrow. Tomorrowve debate 11 00 a. M. Eastern. Heres a headline this evening gopolitico, the headline is full throttle on obamacare repealed. They write that Congressional Republicans have agreed on a , a largelyplan symbolic move. Have beenvatives pushing since the gop took control of congress. They say the deal bill would repeal obamacares independent mandates. It would also repeal the cadillac and devices tax and defund planned parenthood for one year. A couple more calls. Lets go to mary in maryland. My opinion is that i dont think anyone, i dont know who abortions, if it isnt the federal government. Who is funding them, and it is terrible for this country to be recognized as funding all of these abortions where the children are practically alive. Host in the case of the federal government, they are prohibited by amendments and other regulations from funding abortions unless in the case of a mothers life or rape or inces t. By law, those would not be funded. By law, yes. However we have a lot of things going on in our federal government that is not going by the law. I guarantee you that. As far as im concerned, i dont think anyone should be aborting children that are lateterm likely are doing. That is totally out of the realm of our morals of this country. I think most people have called in and talked about the morals of this country, and that is why we are concerned. It should not happen anywhere. I dont care who pays for it. My only other comment is why dont they just stop doing that at all no matter who pays for it, and go on with saving women. Host one more from ann arbor michigan. I am an independent. I am for planned parenthood. I started using their services when i was a college student, with Birth Control. I had an abortion with them. And thank god planned parenthood is there, and cares about us and is helping us. When i look at these hearings and see these old men, forcing their religious views on the share thosei dont views. I support a womans right to choose. It is a legal right. Thank goodness abortion is safe and legal today. This is just another attack on me, and all the women of this country who need planned parenthood. I have a family, i have two daughters, and i hope planned parenthood is around for them. Thank you. Host thank you for your call. Thank you for all of your calls. More tomorrow morning on washington journal. Beginning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern, our program gets underway. We hear from Democratic Caucus in wiegh weigh in. Also have representative john fleming talking about federal funding. Washington journal, tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Calls are welcome and comments on facebook and twitter. Next up, we will show you the rest of the hearing with Cecile Richards, the president of planned parenthood testifying before the House Oversight committee. Go to theds congo . Ms. Richards congressman, let me tell you any of the money that planned parenthood raises and is given by foundations and individuals africa. Rvices is an it goes into individual organizations. I am happy to provide you a list. Rep. Chaffetz does planned parenthood have ownership in Foreign Countries . Ms. Richards i do not believe so. Rep. Chaffetz on your tax asurn, it is listed investments, Central America and the caribbean. I am asking if that is an actual investment. Ms. Richards we dont own anything in those countries. Rep. Chaffetz i have to keep going. I would appreciate a list. You have been very cooperative. Ms. Richards extremely cooperative. Rep. Chaffetz if you can give us a list where those dollars go overseas, we would appreciate it. You had 253,000 as her compensation. Ms. Richards i do not have the figures with me. Rep. Chaffetz it was. In 2013, your compensation went based on a, this is tax return. That is over 500,000. Ms. Richards that is not my annual compensation. T is 520,000 a year there was a program that the together aof put three year again, we have been extremely forthcoming with all documents. Rep. Chaffetz let me go to the next one. Will the gentleman yield . Rep. Chaffetz no i will not. There are two organizations that activity, do they receive money from planned parenthood to conduct activities . Ms. Richards the action fund is a totally different corporation, they receive no federal dollars. Rep. Chaffetz what about the management . Do you manage it . Ms. Richards it is managed by a team of people. I do not genetically manage it. Rep. Chaffetz do you help . Ms. Richards some of my time is allocated to it. Rep. Chaffetz in 2013, you were listed as a shared employee, you are compensated with 31,000 to help run it. Ms. Richards you asked me if i ran the organization. Rep. Chaffetz the you helped run it . Ms. Richards some of my time is allocated to that fund, which is required by law. Rep. Chaffetz so you are also involved in the action fund, what if you could help us understand what the duties are for your 31,000 of contribution, my guess is you run the mothership here. When you show up and you want something done, it is probably done. Parenthood control other organizations that lobby . Ms. Richards the action fund is a separate organization that has its own board and its own fundraising. Rep. Chaffetz shared list, emails, shared assets, this is the concern. Tell me about the ms. Richards i want you to understand my statement, because we are talking about federal funds, zero federal funds are related. Rep. Chaffetz every dollar that hold on, every dollar you get into federal, from federal dollars, does not mean you necessarily dont have to allocate them for these assets. That is what we are concerned about. Tell me about the 200,000 that you gave to the Ballot Initiative strategy center, what was that for . That was in 2013. Ms. Richards i am not familiar with that payment. Rep. Chaffetz you gave them 200,000, if you do not note no, hold on. Their mantra is in visiting the future envisioning a future as a Civic Engagement told a victory and gave them 200,000. Ms. Richards i run a budget of 200 million, so when you pull out a figure in the last five years, im am trying to be responsive. Perhaps you are not aware, there have been many efforts to pass Ballot Initiatives that restrict womens access to Birth Control and Reproductive Health care. We have been involved in Ballot Initiative measures that were introduced by people against Womens Health care. Ms. Richards rep. Chaffetz you do not need a federal dollars in order to do this. Ms. Richards i do not need it serve. Rep. Chaffetz planned parenthood has given the action fund more than 22 million to exercise to be involved in lobbying expenditures and advocacy. Ms. Richards none of the dollars you are discussing our federal dollars. The federation receives almost no federal dollars, at this point may be 21,000 for a trial network. Rep. Chaffetz you just operate all that out. Ms. Richards we are highly accountable. Rep. Chaffetz i have gone over time. I need to show this last slide. I do not understand this. When dana came to planned parenthood, did you get a mammogram . Ms. Richards she was referred for a mammogram. Rep. Chaffetz you do not do mammograms. Correct . Maybe one or two places do them. Ms. Richards if you would give me one minute to explain, planned parenthood is a womens lth center, just like where i go for my breast exams, if you need a mammogram you are referred to a Radiological Center and that is how women receive their care. , i canide breast exams get you the numbers of how many hundreds of thousands of women receive rest exams breast exams, has nothing to do with, again you created this rep. Chaffetz this is the reduction over the course of years, that is the reduction in breast exams and read is the increase in abortions. This is what is going on in your organization. Ms. Richards this does not reflect what is happening at planned parenthood. Rep. Chaffetz youre going to deny that ms. Richards no one has ever provided this for us before. We provide you all information about everything, all services that planned parenthood provides, it doesnt feel like you are try to get to the truth. I am happy to look at this. Rep. Chaffetz i pull those numbers out of your report. Ms. Richards this is from americans united for life, which is an antiabortion groups, so i would check your source. Now chaffetz we will recognize mr. Cummings. Thank you very much. Women talk about the way that women are treated as opposed to men. I at theeing a woman same time try to be sensitive. Ae chairman just gave you series of questions, i have a few other ones. I find it hypocritical that republicans criticized the salaries of planned parenthood officials, when you have the sameno laws, at time these republicans ignore the ceos of Huge Companies that are actually guilty of breaking the law. ,arlier this year, city court and other major banks played guilty to manipulating currency markets and interest rate, they were find more than 5 billion for their actions. Yet, Citigroup Ceos receive 13 million and jpmorgans ceo received 20 million. These banks get federal support in the form of borrowing through the reserve at discount and through the fdic. Ms. Richards, do you know that House Republicans made an effort to strip the banks of federal support that i just talked about . Ms. Richards i am not aware. Rep. Cummings they didnt. Johnson and johnson was fined more than 2 billion for illegally marketing drugs and paying kickbacks to doctors, yet the company ceo receives 25 million last year. Do you know if the House Republicans conducted an investigation of this company or other Drug Companies that violated the law . Ms. Richards i do not. Rep. Cummings no they didnt. And they also never sought to deny them federal funding through medicaid or blocked their grants. I will go on. Was finedd martin millions of dollars for using taxpayer funds to Lobby Congress , to maintain its hold on a multibilliondollar pentagon contract. Lockheeds ceo received a. Tunning 33 million last year miss richards, do you know if there has been any investigation or any effort to eliminate lockheed martins federal funding . Ms. Richards sounds like there hasnt been. Rep. Cummings of course there was not. These are Huge Companies that are actually guilty of breaking the law and their ceos are. Aking millions of dollars republicans never criticize the salaries of ceos and they never try to stop their federal funding, subsidies, or tax breaks. When it comes to Womens Health, when it comes to Womens Health, their public in approach is completely different. Plannedans target parenthood, which provides essential highquality care to millions of american women, more aggressively than all of these companies combined. With no evidence of wrongdoing, these republicansinvestigations multiply in and the theater continues. This is a pretext for the real republican agenda. It is a pretext. Constitutional right of women and their doctors to decide what is best for them. Attack on Womens Health. Ms. Richards, i want to thank you for being here and republicans accuse the planned parenthood of selling fetal tissue from abortions for profit. Federal law exquisitely allows for the reimbursement of reasonable expenses for tissue samples. But republican say that videos are proof that planned parenthood was making a profit. So at this time, i would like to ask, do you know who dr. Debra nook toys . Ms. Richards she works in our mineral medical division. Rep. Cummings i want to get some quotes from some of the stuff that were left on the. Utting floor said,bra nick the torah to them this is not a service they should be making money for. One is going, no to see that this is a. Oneymaking thing our goal is to keep access available. Foreally just want it to be the impact it has on the clinic, this is not a new revenue stream that affiliates are looking at, this is a way to offer patients a service that they want, it is good for the medical community and still obtain access at the end of the day. This was on the cutting room floor. Are there affiliates that would just donate tissue for free . I will end with this one. Said, really the guidance is, this is not something that should be making an absorbent amount of money on. Rep. Cummings let me ask you this. I cannot imagine a more clear answer. As far as i can tell, dr. Allied elido has been trying to planned parenthood employees. They get someone to sign a contract, or provide a tissue sample at a price above the reasonable expenses that are allowed under law, but nobody has identified a single incident that occurred. That is correct. Rep. Cummings it is amazing how theyt this group press, they push, but they never defeat it. , whener they had failed they were unable to get even one agreement, they put out these anding videos that they cut out every single time an employee said no, no, no. Ms. Richards, my final question. In those clips i talked about, that dr. Did not know she was being secretly recorded. Ms. Richards that is accurate. Rep. Cummings she was telling the truth. Planned parenthood was not seeking profit in Tissue Research, is that correct . Ms. Richards that is correct. Lummus. Ffetz miss my first question is how many planned parenthood clinics have mammogram machines . Ms. Richards there are not any, to the best of my knowledge that have mammogram machines. Rep. Maloney how many how many clinics are there . Ms. Richards rep. Lummis so none have a mammogram machine . Ms. Richards we havent arrangements depending on the state to refer women for mammograms. Earlier rep. Lummis and what Surgical Services does planned parenthood provide . Ms. Richards we provide surgical abortions and we we do aonoscopies variety of services. Rep. Lummis can you explain ms. Richards we have services across the country, but some planned parenthood provide broader services and primary care. Rep. Lummis i was just asking about Surgical Services. Tell me, so abortion is included , but i wantservices to find out where you get your forigure that you cite abortion procedures, that is yourself reported abortion statistics. 3 of all procedures ms. Richards 3 of all procedures rep. Lummis lets talk about revenue. If you look at the statistics that you report, abortions from 6 enue would have been over of your revenue 86 of your revenue. Heidi you explain this discrepancy how do you explain this discrepancy . Ms. Richards i think there are two questions that he makes in there. In there. U mixed federal money does not go for abortions. The federal portion we were discussing was reimbursement for Preventive Care services. That is why they are not those numbers are not connected. Rep. Lummis can you tell me how many of your affiliates receive the majority of revenue from abortions . Ms. Richards i do not know that answer. Rep. Lummis could you get it . Ms. Richards i will talk to my team. I think it is important to understand that abortion procedures are more expensive than other procedures that we provide. Explain what you are trying to get at. Rep. Lummis according to the 2013 tax return, i am switching now to travel expenses. Planned parenthood spent 5. 1 million on travel last year, so as the chairman said earlier,hat is nearly 14,000 per day where is all that money being spent on . Ms. Richards we are in 50 states, as the chairman has noted, we have programs in latin america and africa where we support Family Planning programs. We have provided very detailed information, thousands of pages of our financial statements, audited financials, annual reports, if there is anything we need to break down, i am happy to do that. I would say that it then rep. Lummis i would appreciate it if you would break it down, because the taxpayers are funding over 40 of land parenthood planned parenthood. They have a right to know how this money is being spent. Ms. Richards actually. Rep. Lummis if taxpayer dollars are being used to free up services that you provide that services in the view of many taxpayers. When there are alternatives in this country, many, 13,000 clinics that cater specifically to Womens Health. Ms. Richards i would like to i just that. A comment made earlier i was not able to respond, we do not get a federal subsidy, it is important to understand for everyone here functionis could you on nonfederal dollars . Why do you need federal dollars . You are making a ton of though dough. Ms. Richards we dont make that much money. Rep. Lummis but that is money that could go to the 13,000 health care clinics. I yield back. Ms. Richards can i answer the question . Im not sure with the whole question was, but it is important that you understand patients are receiving either they are medicaid patients or title x patients, 70 of patients live at poverty or below and for many of them planned parenthood is the only provider that will see area, half of Health Centers are in medically underserved communities, so it a we cannot just get a big check from the federal government, we are reimbursed rectally through Services Provided. Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing researchers to answer. Rep. Chaffetz i want to make sure there is no ambiguity. She asked where the majority of revenue comes from Abortion Services, were you provided a list . Ms. Richards for the record, we have i am here voluntarily, we have provided tens of thousands of pages of documents, all financial statements, i will talk in my team and we will work to do everything we can. Rep. Chaffetz you have been very cooperative, i want to keep that rolling. You were very good about the green to give information agree to give information, why not this information . Ms. Richards i said i will work with you and your team. Rep. Chaffetz if you have it, will you give it to us . Ms. Richards i do not have it. I will work with my team and we are working with your staff to provide all information that we can. Rep. Chaffetz i would hope that that would request that would include this request. Gentlewoman,ze the ms. Maloney. thank you. I would first like to register my opposition and my objection on ae chairman beating up woman as our witness today for making a good salary. The entire time i have been in congress i have never seen a witness beaten up in question about salary. Ms. Richards has a distinguished organization providing services to millions of americans and i find it totally inappropriate and discriminatory. Miss richards, are you aware that there are over 285 rallies in support of planned parenthood, including one in my district today, many are calling aretional peak out you aware of that . Ms. Richards i am and i will be changing into peak pink later today. Rep. Maloney are you aware that inlions of men and women america choose planned parenthood as their primary Health Care Provider and that there are two clinics in the district that i am privileged to represent and if you go at the end of the day, young women and men are lined up through the waiting room, out the door, and on some days clear down the block, waiting for the Healthcare Services of planned parenthood. Ms. Richards i am glad to hear that, we are pleased to provide invices to anyone who walks our door. One thing that is important and refers to a question earlier, that 60 of Health Care Centers are able to see patients on in same day. For many women, if they are concerned about a lump in their breast, or need Birth Control, exam, weyou need a new are proud to serve them with highquality care when they need it. Rep. Maloney are you aware that this hearing today is promoted by a series of deceptively edited and purposefully misleading videos that have been found to be deceptively edited thisganizations in country, including five states who had their own individual investigation, now it is six, missouri did their own review and they found that they are complying, planned parenthood is complying with state laws and resolutions regarding tissue donations. Are you aware of any other efforts by republicans and others to defund other organizations that provide health care, Reproductive Health care to women in this country . Ms. Richards i am not aware of any. Rep. Maloney what about a tax on title 10 . Reduction in a support for Family Planning is equally disturbing. I am very encouraged that finally we are beginning to see breakthroughs. We have now the lowest teen tendency in 40 years, we are looking a much better Birth Control and through the millionle care act, 50 women can get access to Birth Control. I think there is a lot we can do to reduce unintended pregnancies in america. Rep. Maloney what do you say to those who want to outlaw abortion and defund planned parenthood . I plannedds parenthood we trust women to be able to make their own Health Care Decisions and to make decisions about where they want to go for health care. I know a lot of members of this committee feel strongly that people should be able to go to their own doctors, so this is not an attack on planned parenthood, this is an attack on 2. 7 million patients who each year choose planned parenthood as a Health Care Provider, and it think that they should have that right. Rep. Maloney i agree with you. Ourongress, we can choose own Health Care Provider. Other men and women should be able to like wise. I would like to end by saying that using these videos to justify efforts to defund planned parenthood is an extreme of booze, it is deceitful, it is undermining the integrity of this committee. Thank you. My time is expired. Rep. Chaffetz our kind judgment from ohio. Rep. Jordan ms. Richards, if the videos were selectively edited, if this was entrapment and this is all untrue, why did you apologize . Ms. Richards punishment, first, everyone agrees that they were heavily edited. The question was why did you apologize . Ms. Richards they were done under cover. I spoke with that doctor who was featured in one of the videos and i thought it was important in my opinion, in my plan, it wasan my opinion, it inappropriate to have that discussion any nonconfidential, nonclinical setting. Rep. Jordan what were you apologizing for . Ms. Richards that she used, in my judgment, it was bad judgment to have a clinical discussion in a nonclinical setting. Rep. Jordan the first video came out july 14, then you issue an apology and you said this, i personally apologize for the tone and statements. Which statements . Ms. Richards it was really the situation she was in. Rep. Jordan that is not what you said. You said, i apologize for statements. I would like to know which statements in the video where you apologizing for . For statements that were untrue, normally you do not do that. Usually correct the record in life. That is not what you said. He say i personally apologize for the tone and statement and i am asking you a simple question, there was only one video at the time. When you do your video, there is only one video, i want to know in that video that you are referencing, which statements were you apologizing . Ms. Richards that video was released, we had no time to edited. How it was i was reflecting on that video, not particular statements, but this video do not reflect the Compassionate Care that we provide. Rep. Jordan this is an important question. So what you said in the video was untrue, you are not politics and apologizing for statements made . Ms. Richards i was apologizing for what was said in a nonclinical setting and and i do not believe rep. Jordan you cannot have it both ways. You cannot apologize for statements in a video and then dont tell us what the statements were. Or you can say, and what i said in the videos was not apologizing. It cannot be both positions. It has to be one. I want to know which one is it . Ms. Richards in my judgment, it was inappropriate to have that conversation in a nonclinical setting, and a nonconfidential area, talking about clinical matters, and i told that to the doctor. I will also tell you that the doctor rep. Jordan this was not a reporter sticking a mike in your face, this was any video that you sent to the world. Why didnt you say that . Ms. Richards we may have to agree to disagree. Rep. Jordan we are not agree to disagree, you are not answering my question. Ms. Richards i want to say for the record rep. Jordan for the record, i apologize, but this for me is critical, because the moment you did this it was only one video and you did your video in response and you made specific statement, i am sure that your staff worked on this, it went through drafts and you are very specific. Tone andize for the statements. There are obviously statements that were not accurate and he wanted to apologize for it. I am asking you simple question. In the first video, tell me what you needed to apologize for. Ms. Richards the highly edited video that now of course we have further that you apologize for. Ms. Richards pages and pages, i have now read hundreds of pages with all the things that were said and what is clear now is that there were many, many 10 doctorin which the expressly said rep. Jordan it is a simple question. You do not apologize for things that are in accra, you apologize for things that are accurate and you said that there were statements in the first video, that i wanted to apologize for, i am asking to tell the committee chairman, the American People, what were those statements . Ms. Richards i have already made my explanation. Just for the record, that dr. Is an excellent doctor. You had your moment, i wanted to make sure that you understood that she provides Compassionate Care and i and proud of her. Rep. Chaffetz we won our denied the gentlewoman from the district of we will now recognize the gentlewoman from the district of columbia. I want to thank you for the making a statement of who you are serving. You are serving women in my community and throughout the country. I want to thank you for that. I want to congratulate you for raising your own funds. Ou receive a very small grant you are being investigated by four committee of the United States congress and the speaker wants a standing committee, none of them have indicated that they thisto investigate at theve tape which moment yet this committee is about uncovering illegal matters. You know when i saw this tape i had a sense of deja vu. To look andstaff see, isnt there something in here, and we discovered that they were nearly 10 of these deceptive operations over the past 1015 years. Ms. Richards correct. Has anyone of those things uncovered wrongdoing on the part of planned parenthood . Ms. Richards actually not. Inc. View, it is important to recognize that this has been of thepeatedly, 10 times last 15 years and every single time it has been discredited. Del. Norton it seems they never learn. I want to bring to your a steam from 2000 that looks remarkably like this one. An antiabortion extremist approached a committee, i think it was the house energy and Commerce Committee to see that they had evidence that planned parenthood was selling fetal tissue for profit, which is of alleged by has been republicans could delete consistently. There was an investigation, a hearing with the whistleblower who claimed he had helped planned parenthood sell tissue for profit and that he had seen. Ntact fetus is at a clinic does that not sound familiar . Affidavitere was an at the hearing and he swore that , in the affidavit, that was beinge who was perhaps considered, that he had no personal knowledge of anyone at planned parenthood selling fetal tissue for profit. During his testimony he admitted that he was paid by an antiabortion group to appear in videosting st ing video. Said, anything i said under oath was the truth. Anything else i said on the video, that is a different story. Story . At sound like the ms. Richards it does. Del. Norton i want to know how you can protect yourself, how do you deal with these repeated stings, being approached year after year as you provide Health Services for low income women . With the you do as an institutional matter with repeated stings to keep going in the face of this activity . Ms. Richards i think what keeps us going, and i can speak for the thousands of folks who work at planned parenthood, many who deal with threats to their own personal safety, it is patience patients. That is what keeps us going. Del. Norton is there anything you can do to protect yourself. Is there anything that an organization can do to protect themselves against unethical activity of this kind . Ms. Richards we worked very hard to protect patients and they are our number one priority always, so we have security, we take it seriously. And it is a shame to think that there are people in this country that are so committed to ending access to Birth Control and legal abortions that they would resort to any means to try to ntrap people to. Each their ends the reason i am here voluntarily is that the facts are on our side, we are proud of the services we deliver every year and we are grateful that the American People stand with planned parenthood, as i think the washington journal poll showed last night. Rep. Chaffetz we will now recognize the gentleman from florida. Thank you. I think were all products of our personal ax. We heard how peoples lives are affected. Mr. Mica when my wife and i , your liferst child and philosophy change and from that time i have tried to be a champion for the unborn. They do have advocates, a lot of groups get a lot of money advocating, but they do not have a very good lobby. You are an advocate for abortion. Provides azation significant number of abortions. There are about 300,000 abortions last year in the u. S. , is that approximate . Ms. Richards about 300,000 at planned parenthood. What is the total in the United States . Ms. Richards i think it is about 3 million. A. Mica you provide about third. You are the leading organization. Ms. Richards i only know what we do. I dont know if that is true. Mr. Mica i have had a belief of exceptions, but there are many people i represent, myself who objects to any public money going into abortions. I think that the majority of americans would oppose public federal dollars going into abortion, would you agree . Ms. Richards i do not think polling reflects that, i guess it depends. Mr. Mica if you ask people, i think they would. The most recent controversy raised questions about public money in your organization. I looked at it and i was stunned , it is about 41 of total money is federal money. It is not just a small amount. Money you get from different programs, grants, it is 41 . I have had that figure confirmed. That is a significant amount of money. Ms. Richards congressman, nobody mr. Mica dont think anyone has a problem of you spending the money on Womens Health care. You have 650 clinics . Ms. Richards roughly. Mr. Mica but you tell representative moments lummis that you dont have mammogram machines. Ms. Richards we have breast exams. Mr. Mica but those are actually down significantly. I have the numbers from your exams infrom 830,000 two 487 those are your statistics. Money, youting more are not spending it there. To all clinics perform abortions . Ms. Richards no sir. Roughly half provide abortions. Is where again, this 41 of the money is coming out of the publics treasury, people become concerned. , theirre are people who religion, principles, they feel very strongly, as do i, that no public money should go into this. Mr. Cummings said we should do everything we can to put money into research. You are not putting money into research, you are criticized for r salary, which is a big it is a big organization, but if you look at, where is the money going . In minnesota, south dakota, one in new england, another employee got 400,000. 77,000 300 377,000. And many in the quarter of a Million Dollar range. If you want money to go for women withor helping health care, identifying the problem or putting the money where it can do the most good. Again, we dont we have at least the perception of it not being the case and the chairman outlined travel, lavish parties be separate, may that money out, but it does not look good. I yield back. Ms. Richards i would love the chance to respond. I guess that was not really rep. Chaffetz we will keep the pace here. Rep. Connolly welcome, mr. Truth. Here today,mom was she was kicking boots with a lot of my colleagues. Ms. Richards she is here in spirit. Rep. Connolly you know, i hope every American Woman is watching todays hearing, because just the visuals as well as the audios tell you a lot. Colleagues would say there is no war on women. Look at how you have been treated as a witness. Intimidation, talking over, interrupting, cutting off sentences, criticizing you because of your salary, how dare you. Who do you think you are . Making a professional salary as the head of the premier National Organization and actually make decisions as the head of that organization. Lord almighty, what is america coming to . , the misogyny, rampant here today tells us what is really going on. This is not about a bogus video, the author of whom doesnt have the courage to appear here, nor will the majority call him because they know he will make a bad witness under oath. This is about a conservative philosophy that says we are constitutionalists. In individualism and liberty, with one big carpet out out. Rve and that is, except when it comes to women controlling their own bodies and making their own health decisions. You would never know that the constitution, according to the Supreme Court, guarantees the right of choice. , apparently, were erode that road choice and right by using insinuation, slander, and half anths to besmirch organization whose primary mission is to provide Health Services to both men and women, but primarily women are in women. Said, we colleagues can just hand over these functions to Health Clinics and other nonprofits. If you are really committed to that principle, surely you would agree to the expansion of medicaid as provided under the in myable care act, two home state of virginia, 400,000 people who are not currently covered. Ms. Richards that is correct. Rep. Connolly would make your job easier. Ms. Richards a lot of people need access to health care. Rep. Connolly of course, the very same people who are saying that oppose the expansion of medicaid, which would be funded under 100 federal dollars, a good deal for anything. Which might be why the governor of ohio, the republican governor of ohio, actually agrees with that and expanded it. Wantere anything else you to add uninterrupted with some sense of respect . Ms. Richards i didnt want to want to respond to something that was coed. We are a Health Care Provider, people come to us by choice. When i think about what is at stake him a particular for folks who think about ending access to planned parenthood, i think about those folks are last year we provided those folks. Last year we provided 4. 4 million std tests and treatments. Almost half a million breast exams and more than one million pregnancy tests. I think it is interesting one thing that we do is we work to the highest level, the most current level of health care for women. It is interesting we are being criticized for the decline in smears, but it is because we have adopted the best medicine, not every woman needs it every year. We are making sure that every woman regardless in this country, regardless of income, insured, can get access to health care. That is what we do at planned parenthood. We are proud to do it. Rep. Connolly that was called respect. Rep. Chaffetz we now reckon as the gentleman from tennessee. Mixers, this is my 27th year in congress, i have in congress. Es you would not want to be treated fairly because you were a woman. You said in your testimony that a lot of women would not have access to certain types of health care if it were not for planned parenthood, do you know that the department of health and Human Services says there are 9727 Health Care Delivery sites, 482 rural Health Clinics, 1200 Health Centers also offer 9000 do you know about that . And you also know that there are over 2000 pregnancy Health Centers, over 80 which receive no federal funds . That does not even count many hundreds of thousands of private doctors and Health Care Delivery comics walk in clinics, had he taken all that into consideration . Ms. Richards what i can speak to is the patients that choose, voluntarily one of the interesting things for nationally, a third of women who actually access the Family Planning services through a safetynet provider, a third of them get that from planned parenthood, even though rep. Duncan there are thousands of other Health Care Providers. According to reports, their 2. 3 million private charitable almost all of whom refer no federal funds. Do you know how many reserve receive funding from taxpayers . Ms. Richards i dont know how many of them see you many patients as we do. Rep. Duncan are there any other charitable organizations that are receiving the 1 from the government 41 from the government . Ms. Richards i think the comparison should be who is seen 2. 7 million patients, we do not get a big check from the government, we are reimbursed for services delivered, Birth Control, std testing, wellness visits. Rep. Duncan almost everyone of those 2. 3 million charitable organizations have, if they are given the opportunity, that taxpayers benefit from what they are doing also. And just to give you an example, the National Boys and girls club in their last annual report said that they received 26 million from the federal government compared to your 520 million, it seems lopsided. Ms. Richards the cost of providing health care to 2. 7 million people, we are actually working like a hospital, other healthcare providers, we are reimbursed directly for services that we provide. Again, it is for the comparison is apples and oranges. Rep. Duncan do you think it is right to force people to contribute to your organization, because that is what you are doing, taking cap. Money from people who are totally opposed to what you are doing . Ms. Richards we provide health care under the Medicaid Program, just like every other provider that sees medicare patients. One thing to understand is in many areas, there are not new doctors or Health Care Providers that will see medicaid patients, particularly when they are talking about ob gyn services. It is not easy for women come especially in the southern United States, to find doctors for women to provide birth care services. Rep. Duncan let me ask you, i know that you apologize for the discussion and tone and i dont know if you apologized for the laughter on the videos. Do you defend the sale of baby body parts . , i think thatno is a total mischaracterization. Fetal Tissue Research was started, the whole commission that legalized that created the structure of this research was started under the Reagan Administration and is actually, what it does is it facilitates fetal tissue donation, that is actually, as i said, if you are than 1 of Health Care Centers do any tissue donation for the patient. But feel Tissue Research rep. Duncan it seems to me that the apology you offered was like criminals do, they are not really sorry for what they have done, they are sorry that they got caught. It seems to me that your apology is more because you got caught on the videos. Ms. Richards i respectfully disagree. Rep. Duckworth mr. Richards, thank you for being here. I am troubled by the attacks on this organization, an organization that provides Health Care Services to millions askeden and the fact i to submit for the record a from 90 to organizations that work with planned parenthood, talking about all of the highquality health care that they provide across the country. Thank you. I myself have received services from planned parenthood, in fact, like many young men and women, when i was in my early 20s i came from a very poor family and i was not really able to afford college. I went to college based on Student Loans and grants and two jobs. I was a waitress. I cannot get that waitressing job without a health exam. I could not afford to go to a doctor and they said he can start if you come in with a valid health exam, go to your local planned parenthood, they will do it today and you cant work in two days. It was a lifesaver. So i remember what it was like to be a young person needing health care and being able to trust planned parenthood to get the care i needed. Thank you to the organization for providing the services to me when i was in the. Need. I want to talk a little bit about what you do and focus on my home state of illinois. I think it is a critical point that 96 of services of planned parenthood, according to your annual report, art for preventative are for preventative services. Tell me of these sound accurate. Nearly 60,000 patients were served over the course of 110,000 visits in illinois. Nearly 50,000 for contraceptive stdices and 84,000 for testing and treatment, so 1000 visits for cancer screening, does that sound right . Ms. Richards it does. Rep. Duckworth i would like to address an issue that started very early on, this implication that by allowing medicare and medicaid to reimburse planned parenthood we are shifting money away that could be better used for military defense or for servicemen and women. As a military woman who just retired, i would like you to talk about the services of planned parenthood, the ones provided to military men and women and their families for the past several decades and also include women of the peace corps. I think it is especially important to note that the very women who are willing to lay down their lives to defend the constitution of this nation were denied services under the amendment for Abortion Services, especially as the result of rape or incense, especially, you know this is tragic in light of the many women who were victims of trauma for many years. Can you go over ms. Richards i am glad we were able to provide you health care when you needed it. For theteful as well organization. We do serve everyone and that is care nomantra matter what. We believe its important no matter what walk of life some of comes from that they get services. I remember the last time that this house of representatives went through a similar exercise. I remember hearing from a woman