At the signing ceremony for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act today, a source told TPM’s Elana Schor that aid for family planning is a priority for Obama, and may get done as soon as next week:

A source present at today’s White House signing ceremony for the Lilly Ledbetter bill
tells me that President Obama gave assurances that the family planning
aid would be done soon — perhaps as soon as next week, when the House
is set to take up a spending bill that would keep the government funded
until October.

According to Schor’s source, Obama does grasp that family planning funding is ultimately a money-saver: "Obama emphasized that the family-planning aid ‘makes the budget look better, it’s a money saver,’ the source said."

Allison Conyers, a spokesperson for the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, told me, "We do know that family planning is important to the President and he’s going to move quickly on it, but we don’t have confirmation on which bill it would be on." Conyers confirmed that the "family planning aid" reproductive health groups are looking for is the same Medicaid family planning expansion originally attached to the stimulus.

Does this news allay frustration among advocates that the expansion was dropped from the stimulus?

"We realize that it’s important to pass this in any way shape or form.  Obama is still committed to family planning and making something happen as soon as possible.  That makes us feel better," Conyers responded.