Senate Proceeding 12-08-09 on Dec 8th, 2009 :: 1:02:20 to 1:22:20
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1:00:45 to 1:02:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Boxer

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Barbara Boxer: there would be a rage in this chamber. we're saying now treat women fairly. treat wome treat men. let tm have access to the full range of legal reproductive health care. that's all we're saying.

1:02:24 to 1:02:46( Edit History Discussion )

Jeanne Shaheen: vote "no" on this amendment, the nelson-hatch amendment because harry reid takes care of this fire wall between -- the presiding officer: the senator has used her one minute. mrs. boxer: -- between private funds and federal funds. we keep that fire wall. senator durbin, the floor. is it okay if you go after stabenow?

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Speech By: Jeanne Shaheen

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Jeanne Shaheen: okay. minutes. senator stabenow for five minutes. five minutes, senator. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan is recognized. ms. stabenow: i'm sorry. i had understood from our manager of the amendment that senator durbin would be going first. thank you very much. i first want to thank the

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Jeanne Shaheen: senator from california for her passion, advocacy in standing up for all of us, standing up for theomen of this country. i want to thank her very much. as she i too am a mom. as hard as it is for me to believe, i also am a grandmother with a wonderful two-year-old,

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Jeanne Shaheen: lily, and little grandson, walt, who was born on his daddy's birth tkaeurbgs on my son's birthday, in august. obviously they are the light of my life as well. one of the reasons i passionately about the broader bill on health care r mr. president, is this is about extending coverage to babies so they can be born healthy.

1:03:50 to 1:04:13( Edit History Discussion )

Jeanne Shaheen: it's about prenatal care. it's about making sure that in the new insurance exchange that we have basic coverage for maternity care. i was shocked to learn that 60% of the insurance policies that are offered right now in the individual market don't offer maternity care as basic care. we happen to think that's incredibly important. we are 29th in the world in

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Jeanne Shaheen: the number of babies -- 29th in the world, below third-world countries in the nber of babies that survive their first year of life. this health care reform bill is about making healthy babies, healthy moms. it's about saving lives. it's about moving forward in a

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Jeanne Shaheen: way that is p coverage, not taking away important coverage for women who, frankly, find themselves in a cris situation. that's really whate're doing, unfortunately, through the nelson-hatch amendment. i have great respect for both of my colleagues whoave offered this, for others who feel deepl about this.

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Jeanne Shaheen: i think what we have done in the bill that has come before us on the floor is to respect all sides and to keep in place the long-standing ban on federal funding for abortion services. and no one is objecting to that. no one is trying to change that.

1:05:17 to 1:05:38( Edit History Discussion )

Jeanne Shaheen: but as my friends have said, this is about whether or not we cross that line into private insurance coverage, whether or not we say to a woman, to family, "you know, you're going to have to decide now whether or not when you have a child you're going to have a crisis in the

1:05:39 to 1:06:01( Edit History Discussion )

Jeanne Shaheen: third trimester and might need some kind of crisis service. or whether or not you're going to find yourself in a situation where you're going to need abortion services, and you're going to have to publicly indicate that and insurance because you can't use your own money and go out and buy an insurance policy." here's what we know right now.

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Jeanne Shaheen: we know that in five states that -- have riders right allow abortion coverage through riders. idaho, kentucky, oklahoma, missouri. there's no are any riders available in the individual market. even though techn colleagues wil say you can buy

1:06:24 to 1:06:44( Edit History Discussion )

Jeanne Shaheen: additional coverage, it's not offered. it is not available. we are told by carriers that in fact it probably won't be available. so we all know what this is really about. this is about effectively banning abortion services coverage in the new insurance exchange we're setting up could in fact have a broader implication of eliminating this

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Jeanne Shaheen: coverage for health plans outside the exchanges. so that's really what this is about, which is why it's so important. again, we are agreeing on the elimination or the banning of federal funding for abortions other than extreme crisis

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Jeanne Shaheen: circumstances. we have done that in federal law. this is about whether we go on to essentially create a situation where effectively people cannot get that coverage with their own money. the center for american progress noted that because 86% of the to be offered new opportunities

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Jeanne Shaheen: for insurance, sm individuals in the private market, that because 86% of them will in fact receive some kind of tax credit, a tax cut, in fact again we are talking about eliminating this option altogether because the majority of people will get some kind of a tax cut during this process. i think there is also some

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Jeanne Shaheen: broader policy, mr. president. if we're saying that someone can't purchase an insurance policy of that liking if they are getting a tax credit -- the presiding officer: the senator has used five minutes. ms. stabenow: -- if i could have 3 more this sentence? the fact is what about other tax credits.

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Jeanne Shaheen: what about other kinds of ways in which people get tax credits or tax cuts today? the implications of this are extremely broad. i would urge a "no" vote. let us keep federal policy in

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place that does not allow

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federal

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respect the women of this co

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thank you.

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mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the

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majority whip.

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mr. durbin: mr. president, i rise in opposition to the hatch-nelson to serve in the house and the senate. for 27 years the issue of abortion has been front and center, one of the most controversial and contentious issues that we have faced. the same is true when i return home to my congressional district in illinois and now with the state of illinois.

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there are many strong heartfelt positions on this issue that are in conflict, and senate people who have varying address of intensity on this iss the time. we are not going to resolve this issue today, not with this amendment, not with this bill. things which i think are important. what we set out to do in health

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care reform was to honor the time-honored principles that we have now accepted. and they are these: a legal procedure since the supreme court case of roe vs. wade. since over 30 years now, we said that no public funds can be used for an abortion, but to save the life of the mother or

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in cases of and we've said that nooctor or hospital will be compelled to perform an abortion procedure if it violates their conscience. those are the three basic pillars of our abortion policy in this country. now comes this health care reform. and a question about whether or

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not, if we offer health insura exchange that offer abortion services and the people are paying for the premiums for those policies with a tax credit, whether we are indirectly somehow or anoth financing and supporting abortion. i argue we are not.

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instances where federal funds go to a private entity, even a religious entity with clear guidelines that none of the federal funds can be spent for religious or private purposes. and across america live within those bound. they keep their books clean and they account for the money

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received, and no questions are asked when the audits show that they followed these guidelines. this bill before us strictly follows these guidelines as well. no federal funds shall be used for any abortion procedure in an insurae policy that has to b privately funded. now i want to step back and make a slightly different argument too. there are those who have

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in the house and in the senate, that unless the stupak language in the house is adopted, they would against health care reform. i would like to argue to them that that is the wrong position to take if you are opposed to abortion, because the health care reform bill before us

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dramatically expands health care coverage. today there are 17 million women of reproductive age in america who are uninsured. insurance coverage to the vast majority of them, which means millions more women will have access control and other contraceptive services.

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this expanded access unintended pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions. so the family planning aspect of our health care reform will actually n fewer abortions in america. we know this because of the history of this issue. as more women have access to family planning. so those who argue that they

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either have vote against health care reform should reflect on the fact there will be fewer america with these health care services. senator mikulski, inhe first amendment we adopted provided for more preventive services for women across the board. those services, i result contraception, fewer unintended

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pregnancies. that is a reality. every dollar that we spend, federal dollar on family planning saves $3 in medicaid costs. in 1972, we established a special matching rate of 90% for family p medicaid. across the board we know that

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this women to decide their own fate, their own reproductive fate means there are fewer unintended pregnancies. iould argue whether your position is for or against abortion, if you believe that there shall be fewer abortions. you want this health care reform bill to pass stupak amendment.

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i think that the stupak amendment goes too far and that i think we've come up with a reasonable alternative that really adheres to the three pillars which i mentioned earlier on abortion policy in america, sets up reasonable accounting policies. and that i think this language in the bill is the right way to

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move to lessen the number of abortions in consistent with the basic principles that guide us. i yield the floor. mr. dodd: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut is recognized. mr. dodd: i want to commend my colleague from illinois, the democratic whip, for his arguments. he's laid them out, speaks for me what would have been the pillars

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of our views on this issue. i was elected to the house of representatives in 1974, two years after roe vs. wade. and i've been in congress now for 35 years, and we have lived with those while still have not resolved the matter in the minds of many people who have strongly held views in this matter, but have served us well.

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and what weave in this bill is a reflection of those pillars. having been the acting chair of the health, education, labor, and pensions committee during the markup of this bill -- in fact, senator kennedy, who by proxy, as they call it in that process, we the adoption of the kennedy amendment, which maintained the

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notion of conscience in these matters. so we're not forcing individuals to engage in abortion practices if they felt otherwise. we have long held the view in this congress, under democratic and republican leadership, despite the differences, and others have different views on

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this matter, that money should not be used. we have done that again with this bill. despite the arguments to the contrary, it has been done in a way respective to how we manage issues like this and other matters for decades. the senator from illinois made a point about the measures in the bill that deal with wellness an

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reproductive riessments we minimized the likelihood of there being demand for abortion on the part of many. i appreciate the fact that our leadership has made this matter, the matter there is no caucus on this, and

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never has been in my view. i want to mention another argument, in addition to the eloquent ones made by the senator from illinois. we rank, i think, 29th, 28th or 29th in infant mortality in the united states. it is an incredible i worked with lamar alexander on

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premature births, infant screening, a whole host of matters trying to provide resources and help for families that suffer these debilitating if not fatal problems that infants can suffer from and lose their lives from there's a vast difference from someone going through a problem infant mortality rates.

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but this legislation takes a major step forward, mr. president, in taking the united states out of the basement when it comes to infant mortality and gets us back to the point where we are i the position we ought to be in reducing the tragedy that occurs with infant more at icy. so while there's a distinction clearly between abortion infant mortality, the idea that

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we would abandon our efforts to include the quality of life for opportunities for children who arrive prematurely as many do in our country today, many don't survive the prematurity. women aren't getting the support they need during the pregnancy thus increasing the likelihood of premature births occurring or

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the screenings that occur immediately so you avoid the terrible pro ensure thereafter. this legislation takes a major step in that direction. while we have don done what is necessary to d protect the longstanding distinction between private and public dollars when it comes to abortion. we he gone further in provide

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the kind of support for families when it comes to minimizing the likelihood that a child will be lost because they're not getting those support services as well as the repro democrattive issues that are so important so that a family has the ability to survive that pregnancy and have a chance to be born. my colleagues know that i'm a late bloomer.

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i'm a parent of a 4-year-old 8-year-old. i always said i was the only candidate that used to get mail from aarp and having qualified for medicare being 65 and being the father of infant children. two little girls, mr. president, grace and christina. i want them to have all of the

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rights of young women in this country. hopefully i'll be around to be a grandparent weep worked hard to -- we worked hard to make sure that those children had all of the advantages they could to be born healthy and soundism have a great health care -- sound. i have a great health care plan as a federal employee to make sure that happens.

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i want every american to have the same sense of security when the same blessing occurs with the arrival of a child or grandchild. this bill does that in ways that were not imaginable weeks ago. this amendment should be defeated. this bill ought to be supported and achieve a i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the

1:19:02 to 1:19:22( Edit History Discussion )

Jeanne Shaheen: setor from new hampshire is recognize recognized. mrs. shaheen: mr. president, i rise today opposition to the nelson-hatch amendment. the patient protection and affordable care act that we before us does so many good things. it gives women access to preventiveare. it makes health care more accessible to families across the country, i changes the way that patients receive the care

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Speech By: Jeanne Shaheen

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Jeanne Shaheen: they need. mr. president, we must not let the issue of reproductive choice overshadow all of the things that this bill gets right. for over three decades the hyde amendment, which use of federal funds to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother is at risk, has been the

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Jeanne Shaheen: law of this land. abortion should play no role in this health care debate. the finance and "help" committee spent countless hours drafting legislation that's part of the language in our health care bill to make sure that it remains neutral on the issue of choice. the patient protection and affordable care act that's

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Jeanne Shaheen: currently before us maintains the federal funding of abortions. as a result neither the pro-choice nor the pro life agendas are advanced. this is clearly explained in an analysis done by the nonpartisan congressional research service,

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Jeanne Shaheen: and i would like to ask that this analysis be entered into the record. the presiding officer: without objection,o ordered. mrs. shaheen: the health reform legislation before us preserve the hyde language and maintains the status quo in this country. and we should keep it so. this should be a debate about health care. it should be about patients and

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Jeanne Shaheen: about ensuring that they have access to quality care at all stages of their lives regardless of what may happen in their lives. it's a mistake to make this debate one about abortion. the amendment that's before us,?? the nelson-hatch amendment, would restrict any health plan

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Jeanne Shaheen: operating in the accepts affordability credits from offering abortion services. in essence, the amendment before us would amount to a ban on abortion coverage in the health insurance exchange regardless of where the money comes from. so put pays for insurance with money out of her own pocket would most

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Jeanne Shaheen: likely not be able to get insurance that covers abortion. so make no this amendment is much more than a debate on whether federal funds should be abortion, which is already established law. it's established law that is maintained in the patient protection and affordable care act before us.

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Jeanne Shaheen: the nelson-hatch amendment is a very far-reaching intrusion into the lives of women and how we would get private insurance. it is unprecedented. and it would mean that millions of women would lose coverage they currently have. it is