[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 8, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H584-H585]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OBAMACARE VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Harris) for 5 minutes.
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, once again we are reminded why we need to
repeal the President's Affordable Care Act, which most Americans know
as ObamaCare. Mr. Speaker, a majority of Americans already understand
how harmful ObamaCare will be to American health care, especially to
the millions of seniors on Medicare who will have that program cut by
$500 billion if we don't repeal it.
But 2 weeks ago, the latest administration rule implementing
ObamaCare was announced by the Secretary of Health, and that rule would
impose the latest mandate, this time, a mandate on all religious
institutions to provide government-mandated coverage for drugs and
surgery that is contrary to the beliefs of those religions.
The greatest uproar was from the Catholic Church over the rule that
would force Catholic institutions to pay the full cost of all
government-mandated drugs and procedures, and that would include
sterilization and abortion-causing drugs. That mandate would put those
institutions in the position of either paying the full cost of those
drugs and procedures that violate their beliefs or paying a government
fine. I repeat: It would end up being a government-imposed fine to
practice your religious beliefs, with the administration using the
broad mandates of ObamaCare to impose those fines.
But the religious intimidation by the administration didn't stop
there. When the Archbishop for the Military Services, Timothy Broglio,
wrote a letter about this new mandate to his diocese to be read at
Sunday services, the U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains, a recent Obama
appointee, ordered his chaplain corps not to read the letter at those
Sunday services. Mr. Speaker, you know that those services are attended
not only by the military, but by family and DOD employees. And this
order was a clear violation of the First Amendment guarantees not only
of the freedom of religion but the freedom of speech.
Let me read from the letter, and you will see why the administration
was so concerned:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: It is imperative that
I call to your attention an alarming and serious matter that
negatively impacts the church in the United States directly
and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious
liberty for all citizens of any faith. The Federal
Government, which claims to be `of, by, and for the people,'
has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those
people--the Catholic population--and to the millions more who
are served by the Catholic faithful. It is a blow to a
freedom that you have fought to defend and for which you have
seen your buddies fall in battle.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced
that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will
be forced to offer their employees health coverage that
includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and
contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to
include those immoral `services' in the health policies they
write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that
coverage as part of their policies.
In so ruling, the administration has cast aside the First
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying
to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom,
that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule
is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to choose
between violating our consciences or dropping health coverage
for our employees.
We cannot--we will not--comply with this unjust law. People
of faith cannot be made second-class citizens. We are already
joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many
others of good will in this important effort to regain our
religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come
to these shores to help build America's cities and towns, its
infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture,
only to have their posterity stripped of their God-given
rights.
Mr. Speaker, after protest, the Chief of Chaplains finally allowed
most of the letter to be read, but ordered that the line ``We cannot--
we will not--comply with this law'' still not be read.
Mr. Speaker, now you can see why The Wall Street Journal--not usually
a paper that comments on religious matters--found this issue so
compelling
[[Page H585]]
that today's lead editorial deals with this under the headline,
``ObamaCare's Great Awakening,'' with a highlight line, ``HHS tells
religious believers to go to hell. The public notices.'' Yes, Mr.
Speaker, the public noticed.
Let me just read the opening of that editorial:
The political furor over President Obama's birth control
mandate continues to grow, even among those for whom
contraception poses no moral qualms, and one needn't be a
theologian to understand why. The country is being exposed to
the raw political control that is the core of the Obama
health care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the
first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty.
Mr. Speaker, in the last few days, a strategist in the President's
campaign--not the Secretary herself or an administration official--has
suggested that, well, maybe something can be done. Really, Mr. Speaker?
Are we leaving dealing with First Amendment rights violations to
campaign staff for resolution?
This latest controversy has given us yet another reason to repeal
ObamaCare, a bill forced on America by the last Congress and this
administration. Given the obvious willingness of regulators to force
their value system on all Americans regardless of religious belief, the
editorial comes to the right conclusion: ``Religious liberty won't be
protected . . . until ObamaCare is repealed.'' Mr. Speaker, the time
for repeal is now.
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