President Obama has been unwilling — and soon, unable — to undo his policy blunders like Obamacare, but Congress is giving his successor a chance to try. In the wee hours of [Thursday] morning, the Senate took the first step of a journey that Republicans have been on for the last seven years: the repeal of Obamacare and the defunding of Planned Parenthood. For all of the question marks heading into [Wednesday] night’s marathon session, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered on his biggest promise — to pass a budget resolution that would clear the decks for rolling back Obama’s worst atrocities.

By the slimmest of margins, 51-48, he held together his coalition — which was no small feat after the threats of at least five moderate Republicans earlier in the week. By 1:36 a.m., when members finally walked bleary-eyed to their cars, 180 amendments had been filed (and 20 voted on) in the unique budget free-for-all — which, for all the frenzy, isn’t even legally binding. As it has for years, the Senate uses this crazy process to map out a budget blueprint. The benefit is that, unlike other legislative business, leaders can offer an unlimited number of amendments without worrying about filibusters. That usually means senators will take the opportunity to make a political point — or try to get their colleagues on the record on an issue that they can use to their advantage in campaign ads later on. “Unlike normal legislation, which can be debated for weeks on end, this law limits the total debate time for a budget resolution to 50 hours… This is quite different from the process on a normal bill,” former Senate staffer Keith Hennessey once explained, “where you can offer an amendment but not be assured of a quick vote.”

By the end, the Senate will typically have crammed in a third of their votes for the year into this one chaotic night. While our government affairs team worked late tracking amendments, there were a few surprises. As usual, the president’s party tried to throw a few wrenches into the process, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) “women’s health” amendment, which would have stopped the GOP from making any changes to Obamacare that affect the contraception mandate or taxpayer-funded abortion. Fortunately, the Senate deadlocked, killing it by a tie vote (49-49).

Although no one is settled on an official replacement plan for Obamacare, the hows and whens took a backseat to getting this crucial vote out of the way. Knowing that America is also on the path to hollowing out federal tax funding of Planned Parenthood should taste sweet to the millions of voters who streamed into polling places to protect the unborn. The bottom line is the bottom line: Planned Parenthood doesn’t need taxpayer dollars. All the government’s contributions do is enable Cecile Richards’s group to spend more money on politics and candidates who support their radical agenda. This forced partnership must end. And thanks to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s leadership, it’s well on its way.

Originally published here.

Poll: First Freedom First Priority

Religious liberty isn’t just important — it’s popular! After eight years of watching President Obama turn his back on the persecuted (or, worse, doing the persecuting), an enormous slice of Americans are hopeful Donald Trump will right the constitutional ship — and fast. According to a new Marist poll (commissioned by the Knights of Columbus), 89 percent of Americans “‘see protecting religious freedom as a priority, including 57 percent who describe it as an 'immediate priority’ and 32 percent who consider it an ‘important’ one.” Also, “by 40 points, the vast majority of Americans also believe religious freedom should be protected even when it conflicts with government laws (65 to 25 percent).”

There couldn’t be a clearer message to the incoming administration that both parties want the country to return to this fundamental freedom. And that message comes just days before we recognize the piece of legislation that laid the foundation to our First Amendment: The Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom. For 20 years, Americans have set aside this day to honor the tradition of liberty that sets our nation apart.

In a world where three out of every four people live in regions hostile to faith, America is still one of the brightest lights on freedom’s shore. This month, though, Americans can truly celebrate, as a new president who promises to relight the torch takes the helm.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.