[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 129 (Friday, August 4, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND 
               RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1996

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                               speech of

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 2, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2127) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human 
     Services, and Education, and related agencies, for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 1996, and for other purposes:

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, this Member rises today in opposition to 
the amendment by the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Kolbe] that would 
strike the language in the bill that clarifies the congressional intent 
regarding the interpretation of the Hyde amendment.
  This Member was one of the first Members of Congress to speak against 
the 1993 Clinton administration directive that required States to fund 
Medicaid abortions in cases of rape or incest. This directive is an 
unjustified and incorrect interpretation of the law and of 
congressional intent. It is certainly not the intent of Congress to 
mandate States to fund Medicaid abortions in the case of rape or 
incest, regardless of State law. The 1993 Hyde amendment to public law 
was very clearly not a mandate, but an enlargement on the limitation on 
the use of Federal funds, allowing States to use Medicaid funds to 
finance abortions in the case of rape or incest and of course to save 
the life on an indigent mother. The language in the bill we are 
considering today, would this Member hope once and for all, restates 
and further clarifies the original congressional intent in statute.
  Mr. Chairman, this Member urges his colleagues to oppose the Kolbe 
amendment.


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