Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) believes the best way for new Speaker Paul Ryan to make good on his promise to “respect taxpayers’ money” is to disband the select committees on Benghazi and Planned Parenthood.
Both of these partisan efforts have wasted taxpayer money to inappropriately investigate pet political causes, undermined the work of the House, and misled the American people.
Giving an expiration date to these committees, Slaughter said, should be the “easiest decision” of Ryan’s speakership.
Not so fast. For starters, Ryan is strongly pro-life. At the 2012 vice presidential debate, Ryan shared an emotional story about his daughter before declaring he believes that life begins at conception. The pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List knows Ryan is on their side and applauded his speakership victory, calling him “one of the best communicators we have in the fight to defend life.” In 2013, he was the keynote speaker for the SBA List’s Campaign for Life Gala. In an interview just this week, Ryan said Planned Parenthood does not deserve "one red cent" of taxpayer money. Does Slaughter really think Ryan would stop the important work of a committee tasked with investigating an organization that laughs about selling aborted baby parts?
Slaughter's demand that the Benghazi committee be disbanded is also unlikely to gain traction with Ryan. Hillary Clinton did not provide the answers Chairman Trey Gowdy and his colleagues were looking for during her appearance at the hearing last week. In fact, emails they uncovered proved she lied to the American people. Ryan isn’t likely to stop Gowdy before he finds the answers the families of our four murdered diplomats deserve.
Ryan is known for his ability to compromise, but he’s no pushover - especially when it comes to the value of life. Slaughter's resolution, therefore, isn't likely to get much further than Ryan's desk.