No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.

Let me first say something about the process that we are engaged in.
We have heard just in the last few weeks--and even as we opened this
Congress--the Speaker and others in the majority talk about how we will
adhere to regular order and we will get back to the process of
legislating the way it was intended to be conducted.

What happened to that? Why did we set that aside? What is the
emergency that requires us to bring this highly ideological piece of
legislation to the floor in just a few hours after it had been brought
to the Rules Committee? What happened to the previous legislation that
we were supposed to debate?

I mean, to me, this is a big problem, and it is one that I think begs
the question of whether or not those offers of returning to the regular
legislative process are sincere.

I urge a ``no'' vote on the rule for that reason, but also because
this is yet just another ideological attack on the health care rights
of women in this country who want--in some cases, we know that abortion
services are already prohibited from being funded through Federal
sources.

This is simply going so far as to say that women, with their own
money, who seek to procure insurance coverage, can't seek that coverage
if it includes these services. To me, it goes just far too far. It does
not allow even exceptions for abortions that would be required to
protect the health of the woman or serious medical concerns.

We can't continue to make this a political question and a political
football. Forty-two years ago, this question was decided at the Supreme
Court. It is a right that is protected.

Rather than continuing to just sort of pander to the base and satisfy
the ideological extremists in our country, we ought to be thinking
about the questions that people actually want us to take this precious
time on the floor of the House to debate: How are we going to put
America back to work? How are we going to rebuild our infrastructure?
How are we going to make sure that kids who want to get a good college
education the way the President outlined the other night are going to
be able to afford that?

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Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert my
statement in the Record that the House should vote for bigger paychecks
and better infrastructure instead of yet another attack on women's
access to health care.

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Mr. KILDEE. I thank my friend for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I feel compelled to point out, after listening to the
debate and the hyperbole, the passionate thoughts of what a high
priority this is for the Republican leadership to bring this bill to
the floor--such a high priority that they didn't think about it until
late last night. They didn't bring it to committee. They rushed it to
the floor without having even thought of this legislation until late
last night. Such a high priority. We know, the American people know,
this is political theater.

In listening to the debate, it is also quite revealing in listening
to some of the comments made that this is not about taxpayer funding
for the health care choices that American women legally have and the
Constitution supports and that the Supreme Court clarified 42 years
ago, but it is about preventing women from making that choice in the
first place. That is a choice that ought to be made by women, by
themselves, in consultation with their health care provider, and not by
Members of Congress.

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