Clifford Bundy Stearns Sr. (born April 16, 1941) was the U.S. Representative for Florida's 6th congressional district from 1989 to 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party. On August 14, 2012, Stearns lost to veterinarian Ted Yoho in a four-way Republican primary by about 1 percent of the vote.

As Chairman of the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Stearns conducted the first-ever oversight on taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States. National Public Radio reported, "Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest single provider of abortions, yet it gets millions of dollars in federal funding with which to provide other services.". The investigation was started in response to an investigative report released in July 2011 by the pro-life organization Americans United for Life (AUL). According to AUL, "Audits of Planned Parenthood affiliates in California, New Jersey, New York, and Washington State demonstrate a pattern of overbilling and abuse involving Medicaid funds, and in at least Washington even charging drugs used in an abortion as 'family planning.' Furthermore, State audit reports and admissions by former Planned Parenthood employees detail a pattern of misuse of federal funds by some Planned Parenthood affiliates." The investigation was sweeping, requesting internal audits dating back 12 years and state audits for the past 20 years for the national organization and all 83 of its affiliates. Representative Henry Waxman questioned the political motivations for the timing of the investigation, saying, "Your fervent ideological opposition to Planned Parenthood does not justify launching this intrusive investigation." On January 31, 2012, The Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization stopped funding Planned Parenthood, stating that the congressional investigation by Stearns triggered a newly created internal rule about not funding organizations under any federal, state or local investigation. (Planned Parenthood is regularly audited to ensure compliance with the Hyde Amendment: these audits have never turned up any evidence of wrongdoing.) While the move was applauded by conservative religious and pro-life groups, it was denounced by several newspaper editorials, women's health advocacy groups, and politicians. Four days later, Komen's Board of Directors reversed the decision and announced that it would amend the policy to "make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political". Several top-level staff members resigned from Komen during the controversy.

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