MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is poised to cement plans to ban federal aid to groups that provide abortion-related services overseas, and it has caught congressional opponents a bit off guard. CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace joins us from the White House with more on that. Good morning, Kelly.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Miles. It was President Bush's first business day in office, January 22, when he signed an order reinstating a policy which began under President Ronald Reagan and which President Bill Clinton eliminated. The policy bans federal funding of international family planning groups which use their own money to provide abortions or other abortion-related services overseas. Well, this week, a group of senators, five Republicans and two Democrats, introduced a resolution trying to use a law which allows Congress to reject federal regulations to block Mr. Bush's action. This is the same legislative vehicle which Republicans used just a few weeks ago to overturn Clinton administration rules which were designed to protect workers from repetitive stress injuries. Well, last night, the White House said that Mr. Bush would now be issuing an executive memorandum this week as opposed to reinstating the policy through a federal rule, aides saying a presidential memorandum cannot be challenged or overturned in the Congress. Well, Democrats disagree and vow to fight on. Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California, in a statement to CNN, saying, quote, "No matter how he executes this policy, denying family assistance will lead to an increase in the number of deaths due to unsafe abortions. I will continue to do whatever I can to bring this before Congress and reverse this intolerable action." So Democrats will now try to craft and pass a new bill, while Mr. Bush may have to face the anger of some moderate Republicans and Democrats, the same lawmakers he is trying to win over to get his tax and budget plan passed -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: Thanks very much. That's CNN's Kelly Wallace at the White House. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Bush to Ban Federal Aid to Abortion-Providing Groups