[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2804-S2805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Women's Healthcare
Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I rise to express my objections in
opposition to the Trump administration's constant attacks on women's
healthcare, such as taking action to undermine the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act and finalizing administrative rules that allow
discriminatory practices to family planning providers and women seeking
reproductive healthcare.
Women and their healthcare should not be under constant threat. As a
country, the United States has made great efforts to promote equal
rights for both women and men. Yet in the 21st century, the Trump
administration and congressional Republicans continue to push the
policies that set this country back.
The Trump administration's attacks on women's healthcare are
unconscionable. Trump has taken several administrative actions that
allow employers, insurance companies, and hospitals to refuse
healthcare coverage and services based on their personal beliefs. For
example, the recently finalized refusal rule allows virtually any
individual or entity involved in a patient's care--from a hospital's
board of directors to a receptionist who schedules procedures--to put
their personal beliefs ahead of a patient's healthcare needs.
Letting hospitals, pharmacies, and a range of people involved in
healthcare deny services means that women will lose critical care. Rape
survivors could be denied emergency birth control. Same-sex couples
could be denied fertility treatment. Women with an unintended pregnancy
could be denied information and counseling on their options. The rule
represents a radical departure from HHS's mission and long history of
combating discrimination, protecting patients' access to care, and
eliminating health disparities. It is outrageous that President Trump
continually implements policies that discriminate against women in
healthcare. We cannot allow women to be treated this way.
One of the most egregious acts of this administration is gutting
title X, the Nation's only federal grant program dedicated solely to
providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related
preventive health services. The Trump administration finalized a rule
that would bar providers from giving their patients complete medical
information and block care at popular family planning providers like
Planned Parenthood, even though Planned Parenthood serves approximately
40 percent of title X patients.
Last year, title X funding allowed nearly 4,000 health centers to
provide over 4 million low-income women and men basic primary and
preventive healthcare services such as pap tests, cervical cancer
screenings, contraception, breast exams, and HIV testing. In Maryland
there are 55 title X-funded health centers spanning my State. These
include federally qualified health centers, local health departments,
Planned Parenthood clinics, and school-based health centers. In fiscal
year 2015, Maryland received over $3.8 million in title X funding and
provided health services to over 64,000 patients. These are low-income,
underinsured, and uninsured individuals who would otherwise lack access
to healthcare.
In addition to attacks on women's healthcare, the Trump
administration has proposed a title IX rule that weakens the existing
protections for victims of campus sexual assault and allows
universities to roll back their responsibilities to ensure students
receive an education free of discrimination. Recently I was on the
campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, speaking to
students from College Park and Bowie State University regarding issues
related to higher education. At College Park students are guaranteed
housing on campus only for their first 2 years of education. Under
Secretary DeVos's title IX rule, the university would no longer be
responsible for investigating any claims of sexual assault for
incidents that take place off campus, even though it may involve two
students. In fact, 9 out of 10 sexual assaults do take place off
college campuses.
This rule and the administration's failure even to listen to the
concerns of sexual assault survivors on campus show a callous disregard
for victims. We should be working to ensure protection for victims, not
minimizing their experiences. In order to do just that, I have fought
for funding for the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights to
have adequate staffing to investigate these claims and other
[[Page S2805]]
claims of violations of a student's civil rights. I have also
cosponsored bipartisan legislation, such as the Campus Accountability
and Safety Act, which seeks to find a commonsense solution to this
difficult issue that holds colleges accountable without traumatizing
victims when reporting an assault.
We should also take up and pass the reauthorization for the Violence
Against Women's Act. Last month, the House passed this critical
legislation, which would reauthorize funding of these programs and
authorize new programs; amend and add definitions used in the VAWA
programs; amend Federal criminal law relating to firearms, custodial
rape, and stalking; and expand Tribal jurisdiction over certain crimes
committed on Tribal lands.
The American people deserve better from their elected officials. I am
committed to opposing President Trump's reckless and outrageous actions
that would harm women and their families in Maryland and across our
Nation.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. JONES. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(The remarks of Mr. Jones pertaining to the introduction of S. 1453
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills
and Joint Resolutions.'')
Mr. JONES. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Romney). The Senator from Illinois.