(Photo: Rick Bowmer, AP) 
 
 WASHINGTON — Vice President Pence cast a tie-breaking Senate vote Thursday to pass legislation that will allow states to withhold federal funds from Planned Parenthood and other health care providers that perform abortions. Pence delivered the tiebreaking vote on a resolution reversing an Obama administration rule that prevented states from withholding family-planning dollars from Planned Parenthood and other clinics that provide abortions. The tally had been tied after two GOP senators, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Maine's Susan Collins, joined Democrats opposing the measure. He told attendees then that the Trump administration would work with Congress to permanently bar taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion providers. President Trump is expected to sign the Title X measure, which the House approved in February, though his administration has yet to release a statement of intent on it. “We should all be aware there is more headed our way,” Murray said on the Senate floor. Republican legislation letting states deny federal family planning money to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers squeezed narrowly through the Senate Thursday, rescued by an ailing GOP senator who returned to the Capitol after back surgery and a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence.  CLOSE The Senate was deadlocked at 50 on a procedural vote to bring legislation to cut Planned Parenthood to the floor. With Republicans holding 52-48 control of the Senate, the Collins and Murkowski defections could have derailed the bill because Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., has been absent since Feb. 20, when he had spinal surgery. "We didn't know at the time what it would be but it turned out to be the vice president's tie-breaker," Isakson told reporters after an earlier procedural vote. The first came Feb. 7, when he cast the deciding vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary. Cheney broke eight ties as vice president, mostly to pass amendments or advance legislation on procedural votes. Joe Biden never had to break a tie during his eight years as vice president.
– The Senate on Thursday advanced legislation that would allow states to block federal funding to Planned Parenthood, after calling in Vice President Pence to break a tie, Politico reports. First, Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson was called in to the procedural vote, despite the fact that he's recovering from back surgery. He walked in with a walker but did cast his vote, bringing the total to 50-50. Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, but Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with Democrats on this issue, forcing Republicans to keep the vote open for just over an hour to get their win, Fox News reports. The legislation would allow states to block funding that's earmarked for family planning, and Collins explained that's why she opposes it: "It’s important to recognize that there is already a bar against using federal funds for abortion and that bar stays in effect. That’s a prohibition that I personally support, but I’m a strong supporter of family planning funds." Now that the procedural vote has passed, the Senate can hold a final vote later Thursday to officially repeal an Obama-era regulation that kept states from blocking Planned Parenthood from receiving funding from Title X family planning grants. The House already voted to reverse the regulation in February, USA Today reports. This is the second time Pence has had to break a tie since becoming VP; the last time a VP had to do it prior to Pence was in 2005, the Washington Post reports.