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The Senate is on track to advance legislation to prevent the government from shutting down after a midnight Wednesday deadline, but a wrinkle remains. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has moved to strip the measure of a provision that would cancel federal funding of Planned Parenthood. McConnell's move has rankled conservatives such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and tea partyers in the House who want the taxpayer money withheld from the women's health care provider after the release of secret videos in which Planned Parenthood officials discussed the transfer of fetal tissue to researchers. (9/28)

House Republicans are coalescing around a plan to avert a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood — just in time for the Oct. 1 deadline. At the same meeting where Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced his coming resignation, House GOP leaders on Friday said they are planning a vote on a short-term spending bill that will continue to fund Planned Parenthood. (Ferris and Sullivan, 9/28)

The Republican schism will resurface quickly Monday, as Congress begins voting on whether to fund the government past Wednesday night, when money is due to run out. The turmoil in his party – underscored in a closed door meeting Thursday where conservatives said they’d challenge him – was a key reason Boehner accelerated his secret plan to step down. The diehards won’t back a budget unless Planned Parenthood is stripped of federal funding, and may have the votes to get their way. They see too much eagerness among Republican leaders to give in. (Lightman and Douglas, 9/25)

But Cruz’s supporters see the showdown in Congress over Planned Parenthood and the budget — which kicks into high gear this week and could stretch into the winter, on the cusp of voting in early states — as a critical opening for the first-term lawmaker. With the spotlight focused on Congress, they say, it will allow Cruz to make a sustained case to tea party and evangelical voters that he’s the one candidate doing battle in the trenches for their causes, just as many of them are picking a horse in the race. The goal, he and allies stop just short of saying, is to expose his chief competitors for the outsider mantle as pretenders by comparison. (Everett and Glueck, 9/28)

The House is considering a vote this week to create a special panel to investigate Planned Parenthood — the most direct move by congressional Republicans to probe allegations of improper fetal tissue sales by the group. The subcommittee would fall under the jurisdiction of the influential Energy and Commerce Committee. It was announced over the weekend by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who would serve as the panel’s chairwoman. (French, 9/28)

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is bashing House Republicans’ plans to create a select committee focused on investigating Planned Parenthood after the release of controversial videos about the group’s handling of fetal tissue. “The Speaker’s resignation has not yet broken Republicans’ fevered obsession with shutting down government at the expense of women’s health,” she said in a statement Saturday, noting Friday’s news that Speaker John Boehner will depart after October. (Kamisar, 9/26)

The undercover videos were made over more than two years, yet Planned Parenthood was taken by surprise when the first one was posted online in July. ... Immediately the organization was caught in a storm of internal confusion and defensiveness. There was disquiet among Democratic allies as Republicans, who control Congress and many state capitols, charged that the nonprofit organization was criminally “profiteering in baby parts.” A new video surfaced almost every Tuesday. But Planned Parenthood has fought back and managed to put some opponents on the defensive after gathering information from its affiliates; hiring lawyers, crisis managers and video experts to document deceptive edits; and working to solidify support among donors, Democrats and, according to polls, a majority of Americans. (Calmes, 9/26)

Nearly seven in 10 Americans — 69 percent — oppose shutting down the government over funding for Planned Parenthood, according to the results of a new national Quinnipiac University poll released Monday. Just 23 percent support closing the government over the dispute. Even among Republicans, a majority of 56 percent to 36 percent opposes a shutdown due to Planned Parenthood. (Gass, 9/28)

About seven in 10 voters, including a majority of Republicans, oppose shutting down the government over the recent dispute about funding for Planned Parenthood, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Monday. Sixty-nine percent said they would oppose “shutting down the government over differences about federal government funding to Planned Parenthood,” compared to 23 percent who said they would support it, the poll said. (Sherfinski, 9/28)