[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 26, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1456-S1457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 S. 311

  Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina. Mr. President, I was necessarily absent 
from yesterday evening's vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 
311, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. On vote No. 27, 
had I been present, I would have been a yea vote on the motion to 
invoke cloture.
  Let me say that a little differently. As I sat, waiting for my plane 
to leave Charleston, SC, to come to the Nation's Capital--a trip that 
typically takes about 63 minutes--3 hours later, I had not yet arrived 
in Washington, DC.
  On a vote that, to me, should not be a vote at all--this should be 
common sense, but it certainly was not common sense, so we had to have 
a vote on an issue that is very near and dear to my heart.
  I will say without any question that the frustration I felt at being 
late to that vote was one that was incredibly irritating and 
infuriating. I had planned to be on the floor of the Senate voting yes 
on a commonsense piece of legislation, the Born-Alive Abortion 
Survivors Protection Act, but was unable to make it because a 1-hour 
flight took more than 3 hours, and I arrived here about 4 minutes after 
the close of the vote, which also is quite frustrating.
  But what is even more frustrating than that is that in a nation of 
good conscience, we would be debating and having a conversation about a 
child who is born, sitting there, alive, separated from her mother, 
that there would be a question of whether that child should be able to 
continue to live.
  This is an issue that has been raised by people coming out of New 
York and more recently by people coming out of Virginia and by the 
Governor--who happens to be, from my understanding, a pediatric 
surgeon--who suggested it is OK to allow that child to die.
  Whether you are pro-life, as I am, or pro-choice, as others, I cannot 
imagine that this would even be an issue of debate or discussion 
between the two sides. There is no side on this topic. There cannot be 
a side about life separated from the mother and whether that life 
should continue to live. This is common sense. This is human decency. 
This is not an issue of being pro-life or pro-choice. This is being 
pro-child, which we all should be.
  So I find myself at a loss for words, standing on the floor of the 
U.S. Senate--where a vote yesterday failed by several votes--having to 
discuss what doesn't make sense.
  I have recently spoken to a group in Charleston, SC, during Black 
History Month, where the GOP and African Americans were in the same 
room having a great conversation about the issues that are important to 
our Nation. We talked about so many of the powerful issues of economic 
opportunity and opportunity zones. There may have been some 
disagreement on whether we should have higher taxes or lower taxes, but 
there was no disagreement on the issue of infanticide. There was no 
disagreement whatsoever. In the room, whether you were to the left

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or to the right, there was one thing that was common, and that was the 
value of life.
  I traveled to Little Rock, AR, this weekend to speak at another Black 
History Month event, where Republicans and Democrats were coming 
together at the Governor's Mansion to have a conversation about moving 
this Nation forward and about reconciliation. In the room, we had 
conversations about the tragedies in Virginia, from the blackface 
tragedy to the issues with the three ranking members in the 
Commonwealth of Virginia. When I started talking about the value of 
human life, the intrinsic value of each human being, there was 100 
percent support that we are a nation that should always value the life 
of a born-alive child. There was not a single dissent in a room of 
nearly 400 people.
  To have to have a debate on the floor of the Senate about something 
that every American with whom I have spoken, in airports or at events, 
agrees there is nothing to debate, frustrates me. So while I am 
saddened and frustrated, I have been encouraged by my fellow 
Americans--from Arkansas to South Carolina, to Tennessee--who have all 
come to the same conclusion, and that is that a born-alive child 
deserves to live.
  We may disagree on other points, but this is a place where there is 
universal agreement with the folks I have spoken to. These are folks 
who don't vote for Republicans or Democrats; they all vote for 
children. They all vote for life.
  We are a nation that must continue to value life. For some reason, 
somehow, this body missed that opportunity to reinforce that value 
system before the American public, to say to each child born: No matter 
your State, no matter your challenges, you have intrinsic value.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cruz). The Senator from Washington.