Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from New York for yielding and all my colleagues for their continued leadership on this incredibly important issue.

The 118th Congress has begun, and the differences between our side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle couldn't be any clearer.

Let me, of course, reiterate that, as Democrats, we look forward to trying to find common ground whenever and wherever possible to solve issues of consequence on behalf of the American people, but we will oppose extremism whenever it rears its ugly head.

Democrats have made clear that we are going to continue to work on issues like lowering costs, better-paying jobs, safer communities, defending democracy, protecting the public interest, ensuring economic opportunity in every single ZIP Code, and, yes, fighting for reproductive freedom.

My Republican colleagues, you promised to come to Washington to fight for the American people but have spent a lot of time fighting each other on politics, power, and personality, not working on issues related to the public interest. That is what the last few days have indicated, an extreme MAGA Republican agenda.

Now that you are getting into substance, on Monday, you passed a bill designed to allow the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected to cheat on their taxes, subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless, benefit millionaires and billionaires, not working-class families, not middle-class families, not low-income families, not veterans, not everyday Americans, the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. That was on Monday.

Then, on Tuesday, you came to the floor and passed a select committee on insurrection protection, a committee that is clearly designed, in the words of some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, to obstruct justice as part of your evident desire, as many of you have said, to eventually defund the FBI. That was Tuesday.

Now, on Wednesday, you come to the floor with nothing on inflation, nothing on quality-of-life issues for the American people, nothing even on public safety. You come to the floor as part of your march to criminalize abortion care, to impose a nationwide ban, to set into motion government-mandated pregnancies.

That is the distinction for today. As Democrats, we believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions, period, full stop, decisions that should be between a woman, her family, and her doctors, period, full stop.

We believe in Roe v. Wade. Do you wonder about our position? That is it. The Women's Health Protection Act, that is it. Freedom to make your own reproductive healthcare decisions, that is it. As compared to a clear effort--that is what this bill is about today, a march toward criminalizing abortion care, a nationwide ban, government-mandated pregnancies, part of an extreme MAGA Republican agenda.

So, yes, we continue to extend our hand of partnership if you truly want to work on quality-of-life issues, but we haven't seen it. We haven't seen it on Monday, we haven't seen it on Tuesday, and we are not seeing it today.

Madam Speaker, we oppose this bill. We oppose an extreme MAGA- Republican agenda. Let's get back to the business of the American people.

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