Schumer Floor Remarks on the Congressional Review Act Allowing Discrimination Against Women’s Health Care Providers

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today delivered remarks on the Senate floor urging senators to vote against the Congressional Review Act aimed at rolling back protections provided by Title X. Below are his remarks:

Mr. President, I rise this afternoon on the pending business, the CRA that would allow states to discriminate against women’s health care providers.      

Before I begin, I want to recognize the ranking member on the HELP committee, Sen. Murray, who understands this issue as well as anyone in our caucus and speaks powerfully about it. She’s been just a great leader on these issues, even in these difficult times when we’re in the minority, and I think our entire caucus is grateful to her and all of the members of the HELP Committee. It is an outstanding group of people.

Now, Mr. President, as my colleagues have explained, this CRA would empower states to discriminate against health care providers – specifically, Title X family planning providers. The practical result of this measure is that state legislatures would pass laws to deny certain providers the funding they need to operate, preventing access to family planning and preventative care to millions of American women.

Mr. President, this CRA is just another example of the Republican war on women. It would let states treat women as second class citizens who don’t deserve the same access to health care as men.

Some states say this is about abortion, but let me be clear: this is not about abortions. In fact Title X funding cannot be used to pay for abortion services. So some of our Republican friends are tying themselves in a knot about abortions, saying they’re for contraception and other things like that. But this would take that away.

So our Republican friends couldn’t get TrumpCare through, which sought to shut down Planned Parenthood for a year, so now they have moved on to this measure.

It’s just bad policy. Title X clinics are a critical resource for women, especially in rural areas. This bill would hurt those areas most. Many of my Republican friends represent rural areas. I’d like to remind them that in many of these places – and I have several in Upstate New York – these clinics are the only family planning and preventative care services available; sometimes they are the only health care services available at all.

I’m sure that’s why two of my colleagues with a great deal of courage, two of my Republican colleagues, the Senators from Maine and Alaska, voted against moving to debate on this measure. They know it would hurt women. It would hurt families in their states, particularly in the rural areas – and Maine and Alaska are both rural states.

So for the second time this year, the Republicans had to beckon Vice President Pence down from the White House to break a tie here in the Senate on a measure that has bipartisan opposition. President Trump – who once said that “nobody has more respect for women than I do” – sent Vice President Pence down here to the Senate to break a tie on a bill that would allow states to discriminate against women’s health providers. The next time the President says no one has more respect for women than I do, I would ask the women of America to not look at his words but his actions, because this is just another example where the President has said one thing but his policies do exactly another.                    

I urge my Republican friends, particularly those in rural states where this could really hurt: please think about it, vote against this CRA. We only need one more vote to stop this bill, which would allow states to dramatically reduce the access for women to essential health care services. I urge each of my Republican friends to consult their conscience before they vote in the next hour.