December 17, 2007
Dems Lose Fight on Family Planning Aid
by Anne Flaherty
The Associated Press
Unable to override a promised veto, Democrats have backed down on their insistence that the 2008 foreign aid budget reverse President Bush's ban on providing aid to family planning groups abroad that offer abortions.
A measure to ease restrictions on international aid was stripped this weekend from a $500 billion-plus government-wide spending bill, which includes some $35 billion for the State Department and foreign aid programs.
Congress is expected to pass the bill this week. Eliminating the provision allows Democrats to wrap up their long-unfinished budget work and go on vacation before Christmas.
Democrats blamed the White House for threatening to block the bill if it included the measure, and Republicans who agreed to back the president.
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