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The mistruth that was “not intended to be a factual statement” is now nowhere to be found on the official Congressional minutes.

During the budget negotiations, Republican Arizona Senator Jon Kyl took the floor to speak out against Planned Parenthood, rattling off that the health centers use 90% of their funding for abortions. One problem: his math was way off. Planned Parenthood only uses 3% of funding for abortion services.

After encountering a slew of ridicule – and realistic numbers – his office issued a laughable retraction, claiming his dialogue was “not intended to be a factual statement,” which, expectedly, garnered even more ridicule than his original statement.

Clearly embarrassed by his misspeak, Kyl made use of a provision to strike the statement from the official Congressional Record. The Library of Congress notes that senators are allowed to “edit the transcript of their floor remarks before publication in the daily record or the permanent record.”

As it reads in print, the remark has been clarified to erase the mention of any numbers. It reads: "If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that is what Planned Parenthood does." Thank you for the factual statement, Senator Kyl.

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“Not intended to be a factual statement,” the comment made by a spokesperson for Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and transformed by comedian Stephen Colbert into a pop culture meme has come nearly full circle, as Democrats have begun to use the phrase on the Senate floor.

The first quip came Wednesday from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a floor speech defending Planned Parenthood, the program that Kyl attacked last week, claiming that 90 percent of the group’s activities were abortion-related. The actual number is closer to 3 percent. A Kyl staffer defended the comment by explaining it “was not intended to be a factual statement.”

Gillibrand said, “For my friends and colleagues, THIS is a factual statement: Current law already prevents federal money from paying for abortions. This has been the law of the land for over 30 years. Shutting down the government for a political argument is not only outrageous, it is irresponsible. The price for keeping the government open is this assault on women’s rights.”

Since Gillibrand made her remarks, at least two other Democratic senators have also invoked the Kyl staffer’s statement and Colbert’s subsequent jokes about the comment — which has also inspired the Twitter hashtag #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement, first used by Colbert — to jab at Republican opposition to federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

The Democratic Policy Communications Center got in on the bit Thursday afternoon, sending reporters a “fact check” on a statement Kyl made Thursday about Medicare, concluding that it “seems like another #notafactualstatement from Senator Kyl.”

A few hours after Gillibrand spoke, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said the spokesperson’s comments were “bizarrely stated.” And, if Kyl’s statement was not intended to be factual, he asked, “Well, what was it intended to be?”

“By providing women with counsel and contraception, Planned Parenthood prevents countless unwanted pregnancies and thereby reduces the number of abortions in this country,” Harkin said. “Lest there be any misunderstanding, I intend this as a factual statement.”

On Thursday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) noted that Colbert and his Comedy Central lead-in Jon Stewart had needled at Kyl’s non-factual statement and said it marked a sad moment for the Senate.

“I am so amazed at the lies that have been stated about Planned Parenthood on this floor … that have been repeated again and again,” she said. “It gets pretty bad [when] Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart start to look at what you’re doing on the Senate floor. That’s a rarity.”

Boxer has also taken to Twitter with a hashtag of her own — #ISIntendedToBeAFactualStatement — which she’s been using to mark true statements about Planned Parenthood and abortions.

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