Getty Images Planned Parenthood called to testify

The House Oversight Committee plans to call Planned Parenthood to a hearing on the undercover videos one day before the government is due to run out of money, according to Democrats on the committee.

Democratic members are demanding that David Daleiden, the man behind the video operation, is also called to testify at the Sept. 29 hearing. If he isn’t, they say in a letter to Chairman Jason Chaffetz today that they will call him to their own minority hearing.


They say the hearing in the Oversight Committee, which includes several members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is part of the “broader power struggle to unseat House Speaker John Boehner, led by an extreme wing of the Republican Party that is using this issue to force a government shutdown unless the Speaker bows to their demands.”

“We do not believe our committee should be dragged into an internal Republican political battle that has been churning for years,” they wrote.

A Planned Parenthood spokesman confirmed that president Cecile Richards is expected to be invited to testify on Sept. 29.

"If invited, she will accept that invitation," said Eric Ferrero, vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "We have been fully transparent and cooperative with all four congressional committees that have launched investigations based on false and discredited claims. ... We look forward to sharing the facts with this committee, which include that fetal tissue donation for medical research is an important but tiny part of Planned Parenthood's work in just two states, that we've had guidance in place for more than a decade in this area that goes well beyond the legal requirements, and that even doctored and discredited videos show no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood."

The Democrats on the committee said that it would be “fundamentally unfair” to hold the hearing without calling Daleiden.

“We strongly oppose this biased, one-sided attack against Planned Parenthood that disregards the questionable activities of Mr. Daleiden merely to help the House Freedom Caucus shut down the government and potentially oust Speaker Boehner – all while jeopardizing healthcare services for millions of women across the country,” they wrote.