Cecile Richards, the head of Planned Parenthood, is testifying before Congress today, and you can probably guess how that’s going. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) went first and asked about grants made to overseas organizations:
“Do any of these funds go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo?” Chaffetz said early in the back-and-forth.
“Congressman, let me tell you —” Richards said before Chaffetz interrupted her.
“No, no, no. We don’t have time for a big narrative,” Chaffetz said.
“I’m not going to give you a narrative —” Richards said.
“Yes or no,” Chaffetz replied, before Richards gave a more lengthy response.
The “lengthy response” took 16 seconds: Richards said that Planned Parenthood gives money to lots of family planning organizations in Africa, and she’d be happy to provide Chaffetz with a list.
But does anyone know what this was all about? Is there some kind of conservative horror story about the Democratic Republic of the Congo making the rounds? You know, the kind of thing no normal person has ever heard of, but that circulates endlessly in newsletters and email chains? I couldn’t find anything, but maybe I just don’t know where to look.
Anyway, why does Jason Chaffetz care about Planned Parenthood’s grants to the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Does anyone know?