Press release:
Friday, Mario Fratto made the following statement:
Friday's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was a massive victory for the sanctity of life. President Trump promised to appoint justices that to the Court that would overturn Roe, and he did it.
This decision shows us just how important elections are. It’s imperative that we fight to protect the most vulnerable in our society, and nobody is more vulnerable than our unborn children. It isn’t enough to be pro-life just when it’s easy; we need representatives that will be pro-life when it’s hard.
Claudia Tenney voted to send millions to Planned Parenthood, knowing that they’re responsible for aborting more children than any organization in the country. Republicans promise to defund Planned Parenthood, but establishment politicians like Tenney send them millions of taxpayer dollars. Congressman Jim Jordan said that the bill Claudia Tenney voted for “is the worst bill I've seen in my time in Congress by far.”
I promise to never vote for such an abomination and to always fight for our conservative principles, with life being the most important of all.
Mario Fratto’s family has been in the district for five generations. He is an attorney and runs his family’s granite construction business. He is the only true America First conservative in the race and more information can be found at marioforcongress.com.
Fact Check: We wanted to confirm the claim by Fratto's campaign that Claudia Tenney voted to "send millions to Planned Parenthood." We invited both Tenney's campaign and Fratto's campaign to provide documentation supporting or refuting this claim. Only Fratto's campaign responded and provided links to two omnibus bills (bills that contain numerous legislative initiatives and are not single-subject). The first one passed on March 22, 2018, during the 115th Congress. It was supported by 145 Republicans and passed with a total of 256 yeas votes (77 Democrats voted no). The yes votes included Rep. Chris Collins, the first Republican in Congress to endorse Trump for president, along with seven other Republicans from New York. The second one passed on March 9, 2022, during the 117th Congress. For that omnibus bill, 155 Republicans voted yes and there were a total of 361 yeas. Eight Republicans from New York voted yes.
UPDATE 11:17 p.m., June 27: Claudia Tenney's campaign responded after seeing this post. A spokesman said he had not received our initial request. Here is the campaign's response:
- As an important point of clarification: Congresswoman Tenney did NOT support the March 9, 2022, non-defense funding bill - she only supported a narrower funding provision that was related to defense and security spending. This included a 2.7% pay raise for our troops and additional funding for border security. It's worth asking Mr. Fratto if he would have opposed a pay increase for our troops while they and their families struggle with record-high inflation, among other security-related funding provisions that were in the bill? Importantly, this bill had absolutely nothing to do with social spending or Planned Parenthood in any way, shape, or form. Tenney voted “No” on the portion of the funding bill that included non-defense/social spending for a variety of reasons, which she laid out on her website: https://tenney.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-tenneys-statement-passage-government-funding-bill-fiscal-year
- The second point is with regard to the March 22, 2018, spending bill Mario references. I’ll note first that this was supported and signed into law by President Trump. This bill did NOT earmark any federal spending directly to Planned Parenthood, as Mario implies, and most importantly, it maintained the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion or taxpayer dollars from being used by providers like Planned Parenthood to fund abortions.
- Finally, unlike Mario, Claudia actually has a record to stand on and it is proudly one of supporting life and defending the unborn. Claudia has always supported prohibitions banning any and all taxpayer funding for abortions and she has never voted to send funds directly to Planned Parenthood. This is among the reasons she’s been consistently endorsed by pro-life groups, including Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), and was quick to release a statement applauding the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe and Casey, which you can read here: https://tenney.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-tenneys-statement-supreme-courts-decision-dobbs-v-jackson-womens
