Chairman Becerra: at Beginning of Women's History Month, It's Ironic That House GOP Still Attacks Women's Rights & Pursues Planned Parenthood Witch Hunt

Press Release

Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra (CA-34) was joined by Democratic Members of the Republican-created Select Investigative Panel to attack women's health, including Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01), and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12). Ahead of oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Whole Women's Health vs. Hellerstedt, the Members discussed what is at stake for women's health in 2016.

Chairman Becerra: I'm joined by three of my colleagues, Jan Schakowsky, Suzan DelBene, and Bonnie Watson Coleman. We'll be very interested to see what goes on in that building over there [pointing to the Supreme Court] as much as we are interested in what's going on this building back here [the U.S. Capitol]. That's because this is an important month; it's the beginning of Women's History Month. Maybe ironically or maybe justly, we are focused on the rights of women at a time when so much of what we built up to give women equal rights is under attack, in this building and possibly in that building. We should elevate all Americans, not diminish their rights.

"Some of this is being done politically by House Republicans in empanelling a sham committee that essentially is a witch hunt on Planned Parenthood. It strikes me as rather odd that the Republicans are being so oblique in the name of this particular select committee, which our colleague from Illinois, Jan Schakowsky, will lead Democrats on. We have to be on guard on what might be done.

"It's interesting that Republicans have now shied away from calling this what it is: a witch hunt on Planned Parenthood. That's because all the investigations that have been done and all the judicial proceedings that have taken place so far have found that the culprits in what's been going on involving fetal tissue are the actual people who are protesting against Planned Parenthood. And they are the ones - these protestors - that find themselves under indictment.

"Senate Republicans have decided to cripple the Supreme Court by not moving forward a nomination by the President to replace deceased Justice Antonin Scalia. It's strange, it's eerie and it's unfortunate that Senate Republicans think they can keep justice from moving forward by trying to cripple the U.S. Supreme Court. We're hoping that tomorrow's argument on a very important case dealing with women's health will demonstrate that regardless of the politics Republicans play, we can still see justice prevail in that Supreme Court building and soon justice prevail in this building too.

"With that, let me now yield to someone who has been a champion on these issues and who will be on the front lines of making sure that the work done by the sham committee is actually work and not political scapegoating, Jan Schakowsky."

Question on the budget

Chairman Becerra: "Republicans are always trying to include their social agenda in what is a fiscal measure. It has nothing to do with setting social policy; it's our budget and it keeps services and programs moving, whether it's filling potholes or providing the school dollars that our kids need or funding NIH to do the research that keeps us all in better health or the Department of Defense. That's what the fiscal measure is about - not about whether you support the Republicans' extreme agenda.

"The interesting thing is that the Republicans can never, even though they are in the majority, find the votes to pass these measures. And, so, every time they try to lard up these fiscal measures with their social agenda, they still can't get a majority vote in the House. They are going to have to turn to Democrats, as usual, to pass a responsible budget.

"There's where we will continue to fight as we always have to extract from any fiscal measure these extreme social agenda items that have nothing to do with funding our government. You can see clearly from my colleagues that we'll continue to stand firm to make sure that we don't allow Republicans to inject their extreme social agenda, especially when it attacks women's health, into a bill that funds the operations of our government."

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