Bernie Sanders attacks Mike Mulvaney over defunding Planned Parenthood

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders grilled Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), the White House budget chief nominee, on Tuesday over his 2015 crusade to defund Planned Parenthood and his stance that Social Security is “a Ponzi scheme,.”

Sanders referenced a July 2015 letter in which the congressman wrote to House Republicans “vehemently urging” them to “use every available tool” to defund Planned Parenthood.

“I hear a lot of talk in this body from our Republican friends about choice. ‘We want to give people choice,’” Sanders said. “Two-and-a-half million Americans, many low-income women, choose Planned Parenthood as their choice for health care. Why would you deny them that choice?”

When Mulvaney responded by saying he wanted to move funding from Planned Parenthood to federally qualified health care clinics, Sanders cut him off.

Planned Parenthood supporters at protest 2011 photo/S. MiRK via wikimedia commons

“Congressman, I know a lot about the community health centers …. But 2½ million people, mostly women, have chosen Planned Parenthood …. Your recommendation is that we should deny 2½ million women their choice of health care.”

President Trump picked Mulvaney to run of the Office Management and Budget, but upset the leftist senators as the South Carolina rep voted for a bill that stated Medicaid and Social Security were unconstitutional.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has said he’s deeply concerned about the congressman’s support for defense cuts.

In his statement to the Senate Budget Committee, Mulvaney admitted that he had failed to pay $15,000 in payroll taxes from 2000-04 for a nanny he had hired to care for his triplets.

Mulvaney said he did not pay the taxes because he viewed the woman as a babysitter rather than as a household employee. After filling out a questionnaire from the Trump transition team, he realized the lapse and began the process of paying back taxes and fees. Senate Democrats noted that Republicans had previously insisted that past Democratic nominees’ failure to pay taxes for their household employees was disqualifying, including former Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle in 2009