[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 27, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2184-S2185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, 
 UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 
    AND HUMAN SERVICES RELATING TO ``ENSURING ACCESS TO EQUITABLE, 
AFFORDABLE, CLIENT-CENTERED, QUALITY FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES''--MOTION 
                               TO PROCEED

  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, for too long, Americans' taxpayer dollars 
have been used as a backdoor way to help promote abortion as a family 
planning service. President Trump put a stop to this. Back in 2019, he 
barred the Federal Government from providing these funds, the funds 
through the title X Family Planning Program, from going to entities 
that refer or provide abortions, organizations such as the big business 
that is known as Planned Parenthood.
  Now, understand, it didn't reduce title X funding. It didn't cut one 
penny of it. Instead, it directed it to organizations that do not 
perform and do not promote the taking of innocent life.
  Last year, unfortunately, the Biden administration, as was to be 
expected, pulled the plug on this vital protection, and now we see 
taxpayer money flowing once again to these abortion providers and to 
their referrers. This has to stop, and that is why I have worked with 
Representative Tony Gonzales in the House to introduce the 
Congressional Review Act of title X to ensure that not one more 
taxpayer dollar is used to fund the abortion industry.
  By reversing this administration's ruling, abortion clinics will once 
again be excluded from receiving this taxpayer money, and it would put 
more money toward improving and saving lives instead of ending them.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to be really clear about what this 
vote is actually about. This vote is about birth control. This is about 
lifesaving pelvic and breast exams to detect cancer early, and it is 
about STI testing and treatments. That is the basic reproductive 
healthcare that title X providers deliver to communities--especially to 
women with the tightest budgets.
  Republicans are here tonight fighting to undermine healthcare. It is 
really that simple. And we are here fighting to protect it.
  I fought long and hard against President Trump's disastrous gag rule. 
It was a rule that cut title X provider networks in half. It forced 
entire States, including my home State of Washington, out of the Title 
X Program. It forced doctors and nurses to withhold information from 
their patients on all the options they have, including abortion, and 
ultimately resulted in patients traveling farther, paying more, or 
going without care. In short, it made it harder for women to

[[Page S2185]]

get birth control and other critical reproductive healthcare, and that, 
to me, is unacceptable.
  That is why I was really relieved when, after years of fighting back 
against Republicans' extreme agenda, President Biden acted quickly to 
reverse that dangerous gag rule, and we could finally start rebuilding 
the title X network and providing patients with critical reproductive 
healthcare.
  And I know that patients and providers in my State were relieved too. 
I heard from them firsthand earlier this month about what this means 
for our communities. It means that patients in Washington State and 
across the country can get the birth control they need to plan a family 
on their own terms, breast and pelvic exams to detect cancer early, STI 
testing and treatment, and more.
  But as has been so often the case, most Republicans were not 
listening because, tonight, they are leading a resolution to bring back 
the gag rule and deny women across the country access to services made 
possible by title X. We are talking about basic lifesaving healthcare 
like cancer screenings. We are talking about STI screenings, which, by 
the way, are especially important as cases, which are already 
underreported due to decreased screenings, have been spiking now.
  We are talking about birth control that so many patients depend on to 
stay healthy, to treat health conditions, to plan their families, and 
control their own reproductive health.
  Talking about these issues, it is just unthinkable to me that anyone 
would not support this program. What are Republicans here talking 
about? They are talking about once again taking this healthcare away 
from millions of patients, and tonight they are forcing a vote on it. 
And some extreme Republicans, by the way, are even talking about how 
they think Griswold v. Connecticut--that is the U.S. Supreme Court case 
that first struck down a ban on birth control--might have been wrongly 
decided. This is chilling.
  The message Republicans are sending tonight with this vote--loud and 
clear--is that they won't just stop at banning abortion with cruel laws 
like the ones we have seen in Texas and Oklahoma and across the border 
from Washington State in Idaho; they are determined to restrict access 
to all kinds of reproductive healthcare, from abortion to birth 
control, to STI testing and treatment.
  Well, we should not stand for this. We can't just let Republicans rip 
away healthcare again from women and families. Patients, providers, and 
families across my State and across the country have spoken out loud 
and clear on this, and I am going to make sure that they are heard here 
in Washington, DC.
  I will work hard to make sure we protect title X from these attacks, 
and I am going to make sure everyone who supports this resolution owns 
what this vote means and whom they are voting against: women who want 
birth control--and that is, by the way, two-thirds of women in this 
country; patients who are seeking STI screenings; patients who need a 
cancer screening; people who are just looking for affordable healthcare 
and information from providers that they trust because--you know what--
women are not going to forget this, which party is fighting to protect 
birth control and which party is doing everything they can to rip your 
birth control away.
  I urge every single one of my colleagues to join with me in voting 
against this resolution.
  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 355, S.J. 
Res 41.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 41, a joint resolution 
     providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of 
     title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the 
     Department of Health and Human Services relating to 
     ``Ensuring Access to Equitable, Affordable, Client-Centered, 
     Quality Family Planning Services''.


                             Vote On Motion

  Mr. RUBIO. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion to proceed.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) 
and the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Wyden) are necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 49, nays 49, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 140 Leg.]

                                YEAS--49

     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Manchin
     Marshall
     McConnell
     Moran
     Paul
     Portman
     Risch
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Tuberville
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--49

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Lujan
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Whitehouse

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Murphy
     Wyden
       
  The motion was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

                          ____________________