Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) has suggested Congress could withhold funding from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) if the Biden administration ignores a court ruling that suspended approval of the controversial abortion pill mifepristone.
Last Friday, a federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction undoing the FDA’s approval of mifepristone nationwide. Meanwhile, a separate ruling issued in Washington state may restrict the scope of the injunction in Texas.
The Biden administration has challenged the Texas decision and asked for an immediate hold on the injunction. A federal appeals court is expected to give its verdict this week, although the Supreme Court may ultimately have the final say.
However, there have been reports that the Biden administration is considering ignoring the ruling entirely after calls from those on the far left of the party, including New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to do exactly that.
Gonzales, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said in an interview with CNN that Republicans should consider using the “power of the purse” to prevent the Biden administration from ignoring the law.
“I am a prolific pro-lifer, and I think it’s important that we protect the sanctity of life,” Gonzales said. “I believe in state rights. Here in Texas, we have a heartbeat bill that was passed. And I think it’s important that states dictate their futures.”
He continued:
And we have to have the courts uphold these. I mean, it’s very dangerous when you have the administration, the Biden administration, coming out and saying they may not uphold a ruling. As an appropriator on the House Republican side, I look at it, the House Republicans have the power of the purse.
And if the administration wants to not lead this ruling — not live up to this ruling, then we’re going to have a problem. And it may be — come a point where House Republicans on the appropriation side have to defund FDA programs that don’t make sense.
Gonzales went on to accuse the White House of potentially undermining the justice system:
The states had their ruling, and now the federal government is coming in and dictating theirs. I think it’s important that we have to get back and allow our institutions to lead. We can’t undermine them when we don’t agree with things that are there, whether it’s on the state level. Look, I’m from Texas. We don’t have marijuana here. Marijuana is in California and other places.
If those are the kind of things that your community wants, then work it through your state, work it through the federal level. But we have to uphold our institutions. It’s dangerous when we erode them.
On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, Kamara Jones, appeared to play down claims that they would ignore the ruling by reiterating that the agency will continue to fight the case through legal processes.
“People are rightly frustrated about this decision — but as dangerous a precedent it sets for a court to disregard FDA’s expert judgment regarding a drug’s safety and efficacy, it would also set a dangerous precedent for the administration to disregard a binding decision,” Jones said. “We are confident that the law is on our side.”
