The removal of federal Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, even if it is only for one year, is one of the highlights of the new Republican budget that President Trump just signed into law. (Matthew Hennessey praises this accomplishment in the Wall Street Journal.) The organization that commits the most abortions in our country should not have the taxpayer as its largest source of funding. This is the first time Republicans have been willing and able to deny it Medicaid funds, and it comes weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that states can cut the organization out of their Medicaid programs.

The Republican bill originally proposed to remove funding for ten years. The provision had to be pared back in order to meet the requirements of the reconciliation process — which was the only way to pass the legislation by a simple majority and avoid a filibuster.

How big an impact a one-year cutoff will have on Planned Parenthood’s grim business remains unknown, especially since the group might find it helpful in fundraising appeals. (Better them than me.) Savannah Kuchar of USA Today takes at face value its claim that one-third of its clinics might have to shut down.

One can hope. But the organization could be exaggerating as part of its political and fundraising campaign. One suggestive bit of evidence: On June 12, when the Republican bill included the ten-year provision, Planned Parenthood said 200 clinics were at risk of having to close. On June 30, the provision was changed to one year. On July 3, after the bill passed Congress, Planned Parenthood said that the law put at risk . . . 200 clinics. How likely is it that a one-year cutoff and a ten-year cutoff would have the exact same effect?