Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says Republicans lack the votes to halt the payments. He says that since President Barack Obama won't sign a bill ending the federal dollars that flow to Planned Parenthood, blocking that money will have to await the next president, who takes office in January 2017.
Secretly recorded videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing their provision of tissue from aborted fetuses to researchers have prompted Republicans to try cutting off its federal money. Last month, a bill to do that fell six votes short in the Senate.
McConnell made the comments in an interview with Kentucky TV station WYMT, recorded on Monday.
