PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL: Trips to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, as well as to the 394 National Park service sites across the country, will be out if there is a federal government shutdown. MORE
RELATED: With the government mere hours away from shutdown, the budget debate has centered around policy riders that GOP lawmakers insist must be included in any funding bill. The most controversial of those riders involves funding for Planned Parenthood, an organization that runs 800 community health centers across the nation. Congressional Republicans are seeking to defund the organization because it provides abortions, although it exclusively uses private funds — not taxpayer dollars — to do so, as required by law. Several lawmakers have even highlighted their willingness to shut down the government if Democrats do not agree to defund Planned Parenthood. MORE
RELATED: According to Planned Parenthood officials, each year, it provides more than one million cervical cancer screenings, 830,000 breast exams, and nearly four million exams, treatments, and tests involving sexually transmitted diseases. The federal funding received by the organization goes strictly toward these basic needs and others, such as birth control and annual exams. In fact, just three percent of the its work is related to abortion. MORE
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