House Republican leaders canceled a vote on Tuesday on legislation that would have created a commemorative coin to raise money for breast cancer awareness, after some House conservatives raised concerns the coin sale funds would be used to support an abortion rights group at the center of a controversial new video.
The bipartisan bill directed the Treasury Department to mint a new coin and send some of the proceeds from it to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. But shortly before the vote on what many considered a non-controversial coin, several anti-abortion rights advocacy groups launched an effort to defeat the measure. They argued the Komen Foundation supports programs run by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a group that provides women’s health care, including abortion services.
Backlash to a video — circulated on Tuesday by an undercover group opposed to abortion rights — only ignited controversy on what is already a flashpoint over a social issue. The video shows a Planned Parenthood staffer seeming to discuss the sale of body parts from abortions. …
“Komen has had a close connection with Planned Parenthood for a number of years and some folks hadn’t realized that,” Kansas GOP Rep. Tim Huelskamp told CNN. He said several outside groups increased opposition to the bill by saying they planned to “score” the vote — a practice of keeping tabs on each member’s record on abortion-related legislation. …
Heritage Action, a conservative advocacy group, sent out a “key vote” alert to members.
“The bill would require the U.S. Treasury to mint coins that would funnel up to $4.75 million to Dallas-based Susan G. Komen — an organization that notoriously funds abortion giant Planned Parenthood,” the group said.
House Republicans decided to cancel the vote and revise the bill to funnel the money from the coin to another group supporting breast cancer research.
“We are working to ensure that charitable organizations which receive funding from this legislation are 100% focused on diagnosing, treating and curing breast cancer,” a senior House GOP leadership told CNN.
Okay, number one: how much was this commemorative coin going to cost taxpayers?
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Update: per the proposed legislation, the costs of making the coin are supposedly recouped in full through sales before money is given to the charity:
SEC. 8. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES.
The Secretary shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that—
(1) minting and issuing coins under this Act will not result in any net cost to the United States Government; and
(2) no funds, including applicable surcharges, shall be disbursed to any recipient designated in section 7 until the total cost of designing and issuing all of the coins authorized by this Act (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping) is recovered by the United States Treasury, consistent with sections 5112(m) and 5134(f) of title 31, United States Code.
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Number two: why are we spending money to mint coins in order to give money to non-profits that “support” breast cancer research? (You go, research!) If we must spend money on cancer research, shouldn’t we instead devote those tax dollars to fund those who are actually trying to find a cure? If taxpayers are going to fund something that affects the lives of millions of Americans every year (at least 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetimes), have the money go to something that actually stops the problem.
While awareness is vital to catching cancer before it’s too late, the focus on awareness does nothing to beat cancer itself. The use of taxpayer funds to mint a coin that commemorates awareness campaigns–because there is never enough awareness–seems like a dumb and wasteful idea to me when that money could be better used for more important initiatives. The government shouldn’t be in the business of making collectible coins on behalf of private charities, anyway.
