Senate leadership this week directed Republicans to pass a budget resolution narrowly aimed at immigration enforcement funding, but some congressional leaders say the scope should be widened to address abortion and transgender surgeries for minors.
While budget resolution talks have attempted to stay focused on funds for Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, House Republicans see this as an opportunity to broaden the budget bill to include directives to protect America’s children from transgender surgeries and abortion.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., declined to follow Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s instructions to keep the resolution “skinny,” and instead introduced an amendment to block transgender and abortion funding.
When that amendment failed in the Senate, Hawley told House Speaker Mike Johnson “the ball is in your court.”
“Time is of the essence,” Hawley told Johnson in a letter. “As you well know, on July 4, the current federal bar on taxpayer payments to trans-treatment and abortion providers will expire.”
“As you work to pass a budget resolution for a new reconciliation bill, it must include a ban on any federal funding for these trans-treatment and abortion providers. I urge you to act without delay or hesitation,” Hawley wrote.
Last July, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law, which blocked billions of taxpayer dollars from going toward trans-treatment and abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. That provision is set to expire July 4.
“When that happens, billions of federal dollars will be diverted from Medicaid to pay for trans drugs and abortions,” Hawley continued.
In his letter, Hawley highlighted that between 2019 and 2021, the Government Accountability Office estimated that Planned Parenthood received over $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds diverted from Medicaid and Medicare.
As Hawley introduced this amendment to the budget resolution, he noted that this is money that is intended for “the most needy among us,” and that it should not include transgender surgeries or abortion.
Speaker Mike Johnson has not publicly responded to the letter and could not be reached for comment.
