(THE HILL) — House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) is tamping down expectations that Planned Parenthood could be defunded in this year’s must-pass government spending bill, a decision that is likely to inflame conservatives.
In an interview with CNN’s "State of the Union," Ryan said Planned Parenthood shouldn’t “get a red cent” of taxpayer dollars, but warned it was nearly impossible to prevent it while President Obama remains in office.
“I think we need to be very clear about what it is we can and cannot achieve and not set expectations that we know we can't reach given the constraints of the Constitution,” Ryan said in the Sunday interview.
He said that Democratic control of the White House as well as the strict rules of the Senate are both major roadblocks to adding a rider in the upcoming spending bill.
“Knowing that we have those constraints, we have to operate within these constraints,” he said.
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