Mark Souder: “I do believe and what my point is is that these funds can be used directly for abortion, because the money is…”

“I do believe and what my point is is that these funds can be used directly for abortion, because the money is commingled, and while there is a bookkeeping process, the fact is that the actual dollars that are used on abortion are fungible and can be used to commit these heinous acts, and that while we may have differences about the bookkeeping, the fact is that this argument is often used when we get into voucher debates by the other side, that to give aid to a private school is promoting religion because those dollars then are fungible and can be used back and forth. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot argue that the Republicans use fungible money when we advocate vouchers, but it is not fungible when we deal with the abortion argument. The second question on the gag rule, this is not a question of freedom of speech. This is a question of whether taxpayers' dollars can be used to fund certain types of speech, particularly in countries where they may oppose even family planning in addition to abortion.”