Chris Smith: “I am holding in my hand the amendment that Mr. Obey offered, the substitute to the Istook amendment, the Obey…”

“I am holding in my hand the amendment that Mr. Obey offered, the substitute to the Istook amendment, the Obey substitute, which in essence guts the real and tangible parental involvement provisions of Istook and makes it essentially a sense of the Congress. In looking at the actual page of text that was given to staff the amendment offered at the top of the page one immediately notices that it is a fax from Planned Parenthood. The question arises as to what role Planned Parenthood had in drafting the language. I hope the gentleman will shed light on this. Again, the top of the page reads as follows: From Planned Parenthood ID 202-293-4349. The Obey language then follows. Title V, section 503 of the labor HHS bill: "No part of any appropriations contained in this act shall be used to pay the salary or expenses of any grant or contract recipient or agent acting for such recipient related to any activity designed to influence legislation or appropriations pending before Congress." Planned Parenthood gets tens of million of dollars from title X--so its a fair question as to whether or not they are drafting amendments for themselves.”