Former New York Gov. George Pataki tells
Newsmax TV he has the political savvy to win enough Democratic votes to defund Planned Parenthood if he is elected president.
"I honestly believe I could. I was able with over a 2-1 Democratic state assembly get them to support the most dramatic tax cuts in America, welfare reform, criminal justice reform," Pataki said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"It wasn't easy but I was able to put together the coalition. I would work night and day and I believe successfully to get enough Democrats to stand with the Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood."
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On Monday afternoon, a standalone Republican-led bill to defund Planned Parenthood failed to defeat a Democratic filibuster, securing 53 votes in favor and 46 against. The Senate had needed 60 votes to pull the plug on federal money.
The defunding efforts come in the wake of undercover videos released by The Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion group, that show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting and selling of organs of aborted babies.
A fifth video released on Tuesday deals with using "intact fetuses" and the organization's 'diversification of the revenue stream."
Planned Parenthood has previously stated that rather than selling the body parts and organs for profit, Planned Parenthood will "donate" human remains to for-profit and non-profit entities.
But Pataki — who will be among the second tier of GOP candidates debating on Thursday before a main debate with the top 10 polling candidates on the Fox News Channel — isn't buying the explanation.
"It's disgusting … it makes me sick to my stomach and any decent American and the idea that taxpayers are paying for this is just absurd," Pataki said.
"It's just sad to me that we haven't been able to convince enough Democrats of good consciences to see this, to say this isn't a partisan issue, this isn't about supporting an organization that overwhelmingly supports Democratic candidates. This is about what's doing right for Americans."
"One of the reasons I'm running is I was able to bridge that partisan divide with conservative policies and that's what we have to be able to do to do something like defund Planned Parenthood."
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