[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 13 (Thursday, January 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S367-S369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Biden Administration

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose the 
Democrats' radical agenda.
  For weeks now, America has been breaking records with cases of 
coronavirus. The scavenger hunt for tests has resulted in long lines 
and empty shelves. We have just had the worst jobs report of the year--
last year--with inflation at a 40-year high. Crime is out of control in 
big cities run by Democrats. The southern border is being overrun by 
hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants every single month. Our 
foreign policy is in shambles; our friends are endangered; and Vladimir 
Putin, China, North Korea, and Iran are emboldened.
  The American people are deeply worried about all of these issues. Yet 
Democrats in Washington are offering no solutions on these pressing 
problems. Democrats created many of these crises in the first place, 
often through incompetence, mismanagement, and weakness. Now, under 
President Biden, they are making them worse.
  Democrats just spent 5 months trying to pass the most expensive 
spending bill in American history. It was a bill nobody asked for 
except for the radical base of professional activists. The bill would 
have led to the largest tax increase in 50 years, trillions of dollars 
in new spending and new debt, and even higher inflation.
  Democrats tried to pass this on the narrowest of margins. Democrats 
failed. As soon as the bill was pronounced dead, Democrats scrambled to 
change the subject. Democrats know they can't solve the inflation 
crisis, the supply chain crisis, the coronavirus crisis, or any of the 
other disasters created by the Biden administration. By ignoring these 
problems, they are practically admitting that, as Democrats, they have 
no solutions.
  So what are they doing instead?
  Well, they have tried to manufacture another crisis. They have 
invented a phony moral panic about election laws. Joe Biden and Kamala 
Harris have repeatedly lied about our elections. They got Major League 
Baseball to move the All-Star Game to a Democrat State. They got 
Hollywood stars and journalists and wealthy corporations to parrot 
their talking points. Now they have former Presidents Obama and Clinton 
getting involved. It has been a shameful effort to frighten the 
American people and further divide our Nation.
  When Joe Biden was a Presidential candidate, he said he would ``heal 
the country.'' He said he would ``restore the soul of the nation.'' 
Just 1 year into his Presidency, we have found out that that was all 
for show. Joe Biden has been one of the most divisive and partisan 
Presidents in American history, and, today, he is on track to be the 
least popular President in modern times.
  I understand why Democrats are desperate to change the subject. Yet 
Democrats are failing on the election issue as well. If Democrats think 
they can win on the idea of a Federal election takeover, they are 
wrong. Joe Biden is so unpopular in Georgia he couldn't even get Stacey 
Abrams to show up to his rally in Atlanta. She is running for Governor. 
She is a political celebrity. Election law is her main issue. Yet she 
wouldn't be seen in public with Joe Biden, and, frankly, I don't blame 
her.

  Two days later, Joe Biden came to Capitol Hill to convince Democrats 
to change the rules of the Senate. He failed again. Brave Democratic 
Senators did the honorable and courageous thing. They kept their word. 
They said they would not destroy this institution for short-term 
partisan gain. They deserve the respect of every Member of this body. 
Joe Biden tried to push them around, and he failed.
  The latest Quinnipiac poll has Joe Biden with a 33-percent approval 
rating just 1 year into his term in office. He has lower economic 
approval ratings than Jimmy Carter. Yet Senator Schumer asked Democrat 
Senators to follow Joe Biden over the cliff.
  Yesterday, in his almost 2-hour press conference, President Biden 
talked about taking his message on the road and campaigning with 
Democrat candidates. I want to see which Democrat candidates actually 
want to stand with him as more and more Members of the House announce 
their retirements because they know, and they can see the writing on 
the wall.
  Senator Schumer wanted a vote in this body on the Washington election 
takeover and on changing the rules of the Senate. The American people 
have utterly rejected both of these ideas. The vast majority of the 
American people support voter identification. If you want a ballot, 
show your ID. They support making voters show a photo ID in order to 
get a ballot. This includes a majority of Democrats, who think it is an 
important thing to do for ballot integrity and accountability and 
security.
  If Democrats want to fix our election laws, they ought to do 
something about what is happening in the majority leader's hometown. 
Just last month, the New York City Council voted to let 900,000 
noncitizens vote in New York City's elections--noncitizens. This is a 
larger group than the margin of victory in this last New York mayoral 
election. In other words, this new group of voters--not citizens of the 
United States--could swing and determine the outcome of the next 
election for the mayor of New York. This is the majority leader's 
hometown.
  Where is the ballot integrity, accountability, and security there for 
American citizens?
  Before Chuck Schumer lectures the American people about our 
elections, he ought to fix the problems in his own hometown.
  Democrats are OK with vaccine passports, and they are OK with 
noncitizens voting, but they are not OK with voter ID, at least on the 
legislation that they brought to the floor. Democrats continue to fail 
to listen to and to fail the American people. Democrats are failing on 
inflation, on coronavirus, on immigration, on crime, and on national 
security. By voting on elections and on Senate rules, Democrats are 
admitting they have absolutely nothing to offer the American people on 
the key issues and concerns that are impacting the lives of people all 
across this country.
  There is plenty of work to do right now. We have to stop unnecessary 
government spending to get inflation under control. We need to support 
law enforcement. We need affordable energy. That is what people want. 
We need to make sure that our schools stay open. We need to make sure 
that they teach our children skills, not ideology. We need to secure 
our border. So, yes, there is plenty of work for this Senate to do. 
Republicans have been more than willing to work with Democrats on all 
of these important issues.
  The American people are looking for solutions. Yet the majority 
leader is giving them pointless exercises and show votes. It is time 
for the majority

[[Page S368]]

leader to abandon this political wish list. Let's get to work on the 
issues facing the American people.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 137

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, one of the aims of American foreign aid is to 
assist countries in times of need. This spirit exemplifies a trait 
Americans and Utahns rightfully value, that of giving to those in need.
  Yet, for many years, our foreign aid dollars in support of abortion 
have been used to impose violent cultural imperialism. Instead of 
helping to preserve, strengthen, and sustain the lives of women and 
children abroad, our taxpayer dollars have been used to harm women's 
lives and to end the lives of their unborn children, especially baby 
girls. In some of these countries, girls are disproportionately aborted 
precisely because they are female. U.S. aid is used not to affirm the 
equal dignity of women but to violently deny it.
  In some of these countries, abortion is forced on women who don't 
even want abortions, women in countries like Vietnam and Peru, for 
instance, who were forced to endure the coercive abortion and 
sterilization campaigns of the 1990s, just to name a couple of 
examples.
  What kind of aid does violence to women and girls? What kind of help 
is it to impose U.S. abortion extremism on countries that culturally 
and democratically reject it or contribute to international 
organizations that allow regimes to use abortion as a tool of 
oppression? What kind of progress is it to encourage sex-selective 
abortion and the denigration of human dignity for both the baby and the 
mother?
  U.S. advocacy abroad for the taking of innocent, unborn life is not 
pro-woman, it is not pro-child, and it is not pro-healthcare. It is 
pro-sexism. It is pro-violence. And we must end it.
  According to recent polling, the American people overwhelmingly 
agree. Nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose using tax dollars to pay 
for abortions, and more than 75 percent of Americans oppose using tax 
dollars to support abortions in other countries.
  Thankfully, President Ronald Reagan took steps to reverse this 
support, starting in 1984, instituting the Mexico City policy to 
prohibit foreign aid from going to organizations that provide or 
promote abortions or that advocate to change abortion laws in a foreign 
country. Since then, the policy has, unfortunately, been rescinded and 
reinstated again and again, repeating this cycle between changing 
administrations.
  Another policy that used to have lasting support is the Hyde 
amendment. This legal provision prohibited the use of Federal funds to 
pay for abortion with a set of exceptions. Recently, Democrats have 
abandoned this bipartisan position and have placed the Hyde amendment 
under threat. It, too, could become a back-and-forth, ping pong policy, 
depending on who holds majorities within the two Houses of Congress.
  The lives of babies and the dignity of women and girls are not 
political footballs. Women and unborn children everywhere have 
immeasurable dignity and eternal worth regardless of where they are 
from, and they are entitled to the right to life and protection from 
harm regardless of who happens to be in office from one moment to the 
next.
  The Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act affirms this truth. 
This bill would permanently stop the use of our foreign aid money from 
funding or promoting abortions overseas.
  In our laws and through our lives, we must uphold the dignity of each 
and every human person regardless of race, regardless of sex, and 
regardless of appearance, abilities, or age. The measure before us 
today does just that, and I urge my colleagues to support it. The lives 
of millions of women and children, born and unborn, depend on it.
  So, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 137 and that the Senate proceed to its 
immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read 
a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from the Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, my 
colleague and friend from Utah and I agree on a couple of points. Yes, 
President Biden did rescind the global gag rule, which this proposal 
would not only reestablish but make permanent and expand, disastrously, 
and yes, women and children should not be political footballs, nor 
should this issue be one. Unfortunately, that is the objective of this 
proposal.
  It is difficult to exaggerate the breadth of this proposed 
legislation or the breadth of harm that the global gag rule does. In 
fact, it prohibits foreign organizations receiving U.S. assistance from 
providing legal abortion services or referrals or even information--
information--on abortion services even when those activities are funded 
without any connection to U.S. Government money. It egregiously blocks 
organizations receiving U.S. funds from advocating for abortion 
legislation--mere advocacy--stifling their ability to champion their 
patients, even if that advocacy is not funded in any way by U.S. 
taxpayers.

  This legislation would not only codify this dangerous policy but 
expand it even beyond what was implemented under previous 
administrations--expanding it, not just codifying it.
  Thankfully, President Biden has rescinded this policy. It was an 
important effort to restore U.S. leadership abroad, promoting 
healthcare access in places it is needed most. It was a critical step 
toward what is now needed--permanent prohibition of the global gag 
rule, not codification of its expansion.
  Let's be very clear. The global gag rule does nothing to protect the 
health of people around the world. It blocks healthcare access, it 
stifles local advocacy efforts, and it undermines reproductive rights 
worldwide, putting in jeopardy the people who need those services most. 
It impedes access to a range of health services, including 
contraception, HIV prevention and treatment, and maternal and child 
care, because it cuts off funding for many of the most experienced 
healthcare providers.
  Some proponents of this dangerous policy seem to claim it will reduce 
abortions or it is intended to do so, but studies have shown that, in 
fact, it does just the opposite. The global gag rule actually increases 
rates of abortion--many of them unsafe--because it reduces access to 
contraceptives and it increases the number of unintended pregnancies.
  In short, we should be joining other countries in addressing global 
goals like creating an AIDS-free generation, ending preventable 
maternal and child deaths, and achieving universal access to sexual and 
reproductive healthcare, not putting unnecessary restrictions on U.S. 
funds that cause fear and impede access to healthcare. Unfortunately, 
that is what the global gag rule and this legislation do, impeding 
countries' efforts to improve global health, advance human rights, and 
achieve gender equality.
  I oppose the Lee bill. I urge my colleagues to come together and 
work, instead, to promote global health. Therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I have tremendous respect for my friend and 
colleague, the distinguished Senator from Connecticut. He and I both 
acknowledge that the policy we are arguing--the nature of the policy is 
one in which we have seen something of a tug-of-war, a ping pong match 
over the years.
  The Republican legislation will put in place or restore the so-called 
Mexico City policy, prohibiting U.S. foreign aid from going to 
organizations that perform or advocate for abortion overseas. It is 
backed by an estimated 75 percent of Americans who don't believe that 
we should be using U.S. taxpayer dollars especially to further the 
cause of conducting or advocating for abortions overseas.
  He and I both agree that President Biden has rescinded that. I think 
where we disagree can be highlighted and traced back to the fact that 
we call it by different names. He refers to this as

[[Page S369]]

the gag rule, a gag rule. Now, normally when we think of a gag rule, we 
think of something that tells someone who is otherwise free to speak 
that they may not speak. It is, in fact, what happens when we don't 
allow people to live. It is what happens to all these baby girls who 
are never allowed to be born precisely because they are female. And 
make no mistake, when we fund abortions overseas, that is what is 
happening. It happens a lot in countries that receive our aid in the 
absence of the Mexico City policy. Some of that goes to these 
organizations that perform abortions.
  In many of these countries, sex-selective abortions are not only 
tolerated culturally, they are commonplace. They are excessive. As a 
result, these baby girls never get to be born. They never get to become 
women. They never get to speak in the first place. That is a form of 
gagging. That is not OK.
  Regardless of how you feel about abortion, regardless of whether you 
think that is a baby, a human life, or whether you think it is 
something else--I am not sure what else it could be. When someone 
becomes pregnant, we know that is the potential of what will one day be 
a human being. Absent a death--whether a natural death or a death 
brought about by someone's actions or by the operation of a disease or 
medical condition or surgical intervention in the case of abortion--it 
is a person. We shouldn't lose sight of that.
  I have difficulty accepting the premise that the only solution to 
this is continuing to fund organizations that perform or advocate for 
abortions overseas. I reject the premise that anything we do in this 
area to withhold those funds will necessarily result in more abortions.
  As far as the suggestion that organizations could receive these funds 
and still perform abortions and that not translate into U.S. dollars 
being used to perform abortions, I reject that premise as well for the 
same reason that I reject the premise that Planned Parenthood isn't 
using taxpayer dollars to perform abortions. It is. It is spent 
differently. It is a matter of accounting, but it sustains and supports 
an organization that itself advocates for and performs many 
abortions. These are, in fact, human lives, and the American people 
are, in fact, very uncomfortable with the idea that we are funding 
abortions with their taxpayer dollars, and we are doing it overseas. We 
shouldn't do that. This shouldn't be controversial. I look forward to 
the day when it is not.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, just to be clear, I understand my 
colleague's point, but I think I have highlighted and I want to 
emphasize again the limited purposes for which our taxpayer dollars are 
used and the advocacy, the healthcare, the contraception, HIV screening 
and treatment--world health--that would be prevented by this 
legislation.
  I think that is an unintended consequence. Maybe, it is unintended 
that it is gargantuan in its potential impact, and, therefore, I 
continue my objection.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.