[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 121 (Thursday, July 21, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3590-S3593]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will now resume legislative 
session.
  The senior Senator from Connecticut.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 4550

  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am honored to appear with a group of 
my colleagues on behalf of the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act.
  We are here to talk about this essential measure in the post-Roe 
world. That is a phrase I never thought I would ever utter anywhere, 
not to mention on the floor of the U.S. Senate. But we are living in 
the post-Roe world where reproductive rights are under assault as never 
before and critical reproductive healthcare services are more necessary 
and also are more at risk than ever before. That is why a consistent, 
strong source of funding for title X Family Planning Programs are 
absolutely critical and urgent. That is the purpose of the Expanding 
Access to Family Planning Act.
  What it means for the State of Connecticut is, in the past, $2.5 
million in title X funding, allowing patients, mostly women--45,000 of 
them--critical access to comprehensive family planning and preventive 
healthcare services. What we are talking about here is not only family 
planning but also testing and treatment for sexually transmitted 
diseases, lifesaving cancer screening, and other essential health 
services. And they are all now at risk.
  What they need is the strong and consistent source of funding that 
this measure would provide, doubling--literally, almost doubling the 
number of dollars but also guaranteeing over a 10-year period that 
clinics will receive this funding.
  In the State of Connecticut, most of this funding in the past has 
gone to Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. The Cornell Scott-
Hill Health Center has received some. They have done absolutely 
extraordinary work in delivering health services, particularly to women 
who are uninsured, women who are of lower incomes, and women who are 
younger--under 30. And that is the primary patient pool that needs 
these services.
  Let me be very blunt. If my Republican colleagues truly care about 
supporting families, they can show it by supporting this measure and 
funding title X. In the past, since its inception 50 years ago, it has 
been bipartisan because people agree that families ought to be a 
priority, that decisions about when and whether to have children are 
the most important that we make, that caring for families and 
particularly prenatal care, screening for sexually transmitted 
diseases, cancer screening--these health services are vital to all of 
us, whether we are the patient or not, and that they stay funded in the 
long run. Preventive healthcare is pound-wise, and it will save money.
  We know that the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs strips women of a 
vitally important freedom and puts it in the hands of government 
bureaucrats: the decision about when and whether to have children. The 
least we can do now is to fund the reproductive healthcare services 
that will save lives and save futures.
  Dobbs has put women at risk. It has put reproductive healthcare in 
grave jeopardy. This measure is necessary to mitigate the effects of 
Dobbs--more necessary now than ever before. We will never stop fighting 
for a woman's right to choose when and whether to have children. We 
will never stop fighting to protect a woman's right to access 
healthcare that is vital to her own and her children's health.
  In the face of mounting attacks on women's health, now is the time to 
strengthen title X, and that is why we need this legislation. Passing 
the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act will strengthen our entire 
healthcare system.
  It is simply critical for this $500 million--providing birth control, 
cancer screening, other kinds of testing and treatment--to be passed. 
And if my Republican colleagues are serious about supporting families, 
they ought to be eager to join us. And I am proud to be supporting this 
measure, and I am eager to see it signed into law.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Expanding 
Access to Family Planning Act, which will help ensure millions of 
Americans can continue receiving family planning services through the 
title X program.
  For more than 40 years, title X has helped ensure hundreds of 
thousands of women--regardless of income, background, insurance status, 
or hometown--have access to basic reproductive healthcare, including 
wellness exams, cancer screenings, birth control, and testing and 
treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.
  While this program, which was created with bipartisan support, has 
been around for decades, we have seen what happens when MAGA 
Republicans are in control. President Trump slashed funding for title X 
and imposed a dangerous domestic gag rule that banned doctors from 
telling people how they could access abortion services. The gag rule 
wreaked havoc across the country. It forced providers to decide whether 
they wanted to receive title X funding--knowing that healthcare 
providers wouldn't be able to provide women with accurate and 
comprehensive information--or say no to this critical family planning 
funding that supports women across the country through clinics like 
Planned Parenthood and other nonprofits.
  In my home State of Hawaii, the entire network of title X clinics 
said no to this dangerous rule and rejected the funding, forcing our 
State to foot the bill. On the other hand, the State of Hawaii, the 
clinics in Hawaii, because they rejected this funding, could provide 
the full range of care for their clients, but ultimately the gag rule 
resulted in a loss of services to thousands of women.
  Across the country, Trump's rule slashed title X's patient capacity 
in half, jeopardizing family planning and contraceptive care for 1.6 
million patients nationwide. While President Biden reversed this rule, 
we can't take anything for granted.
  As the rightwing Supreme Court and MAGA Republicans work to eliminate 
reproductive freedom, it is critical we protect and strengthen title X. 
That is

[[Page S3591]]

exactly what the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act will do. This 
bill will nearly double funding for title X family planning services by 
providing $500 million in mandatory funding for title X for each of the 
next 10 years. It will also ban title X providers from discriminating 
against patients and require pregnancy consulting services receiving 
title X funds to provide patients with all of the information about all 
their reproductive care options, including abortion.
  Republicans have made clear they will do anything to get rid of our 
reproductive freedoms, so we must pass this bill to make sure this 
program isn't at the whim of those trying to strip us of our 
healthcare. While Republicans continue to attack our fundamental 
rights, Democrats are doing everything we can to protect them. That is 
why, in addition to this important bill, earlier this week, I 
introduced legislation to codify the right to contraception. All of 
this is about who gets to make decisions about our bodies--women or a 
bunch of rightwing politicians.
  I believe--and the American people overwhelmingly agree--individuals, 
not politicians, should be making these deeply personal decisions.
  Our Right to Contraception Act and the Expanding Access to Family 
Planning Act will help ensure they can.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Hawaii 
for making these very important remarks today with respect to expanding 
access to family planning.
  And, Senator Hirono, let me also, while you are on the floor, tell 
you how much I appreciate your leadership on the My Body, My Data Act. 
I am thrilled to be, I believe, one of your sponsors here in the 
Senate. It is hugely consequential, because we have known from even the 
draft Alito opinion that women were going to have their personal data 
weaponized against them.
  I know you have a busy schedule, but I just wanted the body to know 
how extraordinarily important this is, because when we look at 
technology and, particularly, what technology can do today, what your 
legislation does--with our colleague from the House, Congresswoman 
Jacobs--is it gives us a chance to get back to the fundamental issue of 
privacy rights. We are going to start looking more at the contractual 
relationships between women and various companies because a lot of 
those privacy policies aren't worth the paper they are written on.
  I just want you to know I am so honored to be your cosponsor on a 
very related piece of legislation. Your leadership has made a big 
difference.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, just very briefly.
  Senator Wyden, I am really glad to be able to sponsor the My Bodies, 
My Data bill with you, because, as we know, any time any of us presses 
the button and uses our internet, somebody is collecting data, all of 
this data. And can you imagine there are all of these clinics that 
purportedly provide information relating to contraception and whatever 
else relating to reproductive care--these entities are also collecting 
all kinds of information. And they are not there to make sure that 
women--mainly women but individuals who access their services--they do 
not know that these are not institutions that will give them all of the 
information they need; but, instead, they are collecting a lot of 
information that can be weaponized.
  Thank you very much. This is yet another whole area of concern in 
this environment, in this climate, where individuals do not have 
control over our own bodies.
  Mr. WYDEN. I just say to my colleague, sometimes it is a little 
difficult to figure out where a piece of legislation is going. That is 
not the case with your bill. My Body, My Data sums it up.
  Again, thank you so much for your leadership.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 4550

  Mr. President, I also want to briefly touch on the important 
legislation that Senator Smith--my Pacific Northwest colleague--Senator 
Murray, and Senator Warner have recently introduced. They have an 
important proposal called the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act. 
I am proud to cosponsor this legislation. This is another area where 
Chair Murray and I work very closely together because a lot of these 
issues can often involve Medicaid, for example. And I just so 
appreciate my colleague bringing up her important bill with respect to 
family planning.
  The proposition behind this is pretty straightforward. The Supreme 
Court overturned Roe against the will of the American people. States 
are criminalizing abortion. Many women and girls are now being forced 
to carry pregnancies to term and give birth. If they are going to stand 
by this forced-birth agenda, then you better guarantee basic health for 
women and families. That is really Senator Murray's challenge to Senate 
Republicans. You can't be pro-life and pro-family if you are against 
healthcare that saves lives and protects families.
  The Murray legislation, with Senator Smith and Senator Warren--I am 
pleased to be for it today--is centered on a significant increase in 
what is known as title X funding, which goes to basic essential 
services like HIV tests, contraception, treatment for infections, and 
pregnancy counseling.
  And one of those services is really so vitally important. I just want 
to mention it, and that is cancer screenings. Cancer screenings are a 
particularly important issue now that the Supreme Court has overturned 
Roe. Over the last few weeks there have been a wave of these horrendous 
stories, as Senator Murray knows better than anyone, about the chaos 
this radical Supreme Court ruling has unleashed on women's healthcare--
drawn-out miscarriages, potentially fatal complications left untreated, 
physicians unsure of what treatments they are legally allowed to 
perform.
  And we know one of the absolute nightmares for women living in 
forced-birth States is getting pregnant and having cancer at exactly 
the same time. And the question is: In a world where a miscarriage 
could lead to criminal charges, how do you treat a pregnant woman with 
cancer?
  So we ought to think about that. And could getting chemo be a crime 
in a forced-birth State, Senator Murray? In forced-birth States, how 
many Americans are going to die because they waited too long to begin 
treatment for breast cancer or cervical cancer or because they didn't 
maybe get treated at all?
  It is appalling that Americans are facing this kind of awful, I 
think, unthinkable situation, all because six Republicans on the 
Supreme Court threw 50 years of settled law on abortion rights into the 
dustbin.
  In the parlance of the Senate, Senator Murray, I yield to you. I 
think your legislation is extraordinarily important.
  Uh-oh. I have to reverse some parlance of the Senate and yield to 
Senator Klobuchar, who also has been a champion of this issue. And I 
just want the Senate to know, because we are in the Pacific Northwest, 
we talk about these issues. People ought to make no mistake about it--
Senator Murray has put years and years into the cause of women's 
health. And I really enjoy being junior partner in the whole effort and 
look forward to her leadership.
  And I yield to Senator Klobuchar.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, thank you so much. I join my 
colleagues. Thank you, Senator Wyden, for your on-point remarks and, of 
course, Senator Murray, for her incredible leadership, not only of the 
committee but on taking this issue on and making clear to the State of 
Washington, yes, but also to the country that this should be a woman's 
decision, a woman and her doctor, family's decision, and not a decision 
made by politicians.
  And part of this is making sure there is access to family planning. 
Since this decision has come out, I could not believe the number of 
women that have come up to me at home or in airports, flight 
attendants, saying things like: Is this really happening? You mean, I 
am going to have to go to another State just to get reproductive 
healthcare?
  So how about contraception? There are people talking about 
contraception. People all over the country have realized how extreme 
this decision is. And one of the people who has been leading

[[Page S3592]]

this fight--and, in fact, has been leading this proposal on expanding 
access to family planning is my colleague Tina Smith. And she is here 
in spirit today. She has a mild case of COVID. I know she is watching 
right now because she has been fighting for the rights of women to make 
their own decisions about their healthcare her entire life. She is the 
only Senator in the history of the U.S. Senate that actually worked at 
Planned Parenthood and has a firm understanding and has shown so much 
leadership in this area. So we thank her. I am speaking for my 
constituents, of course, to thank Tina Smith for her work and her 
leadership.
  As I noted, 26 days ago, the Supreme Court issued this rule shredding 
nearly five decades of precedent protecting a woman's right to make her 
own healthcare decisions. Now women are at the mercy of a patchwork of 
State laws governing their ability to access reproductive care, leaving 
them with fewer rights than their moms and their grandmas.
  Last week, Senator Murray and I joined several of our Democratic 
colleagues, including Senator Cortez Masto, who led this bill to 
preserve a woman's right to travel to other States to access 
reproductive care. Republicans blocked us. So we are back today because 
if the Supreme Court won't protect a woman's right to make her own 
healthcare decisions, if Congress can agree to put the protections of 
Roe v. Wade into law, then everyone in this Chamber has to decide 
whether they will protect women's healthcare or not. And that includes 
making sure women have a right to abortion services, but it includes 
having reliable access to family planning services.

  Let's start by passing the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act to 
protect and expand funding for title X clinics, which support maternal 
health, cancer screening, contraception, and other essential 
healthcare.
  In 2020 alone--get this number--1.5 million Americans received 
services through title X. But currently, Federal funding is not enough 
to serve the number of people who need care. And in the wake of the 
Supreme Court's ruling attacking the freedom and the autonomy of women, 
it is likely that there will be even more demand in the years ahead. 
That is why Expanding Access to Family Planning Act gives title X the 
funding needed to serve women and families for the next 10 years.
  This legislation is far from radical. The title X program was 
actually created under a Republican administration. And the original 
bill passed with broad bipartisan support. This is about making sure 
women have a way to take care of themselves, especially when they are 
pregnant.
  Right now, I am thinking about all the women in this country facing 
an unacceptably uncertain future. We should all be able to agree that, 
at the very least, we should make sure that they have access to the 
basic health services that title X provides--a provision that passed 
during a Republican administration, created under a Republican 
administration, that understood that women should be able to access to 
healthcare.
  There is a better path forward: We pass this bill, fund family 
planning, and save women's lives. I call on my colleagues to join me in 
supporting this necessary and completely pragmatic and sensible 
legislation for the women of this country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues Senator 
Klobuchar, Senator Wyden, Senator Hirono, and so many others who have 
been out here speaking on behalf of women and their ability to make 
their own healthcare decisions after the disastrous decision from the 
Supreme Court. And it has been now almost a month since the Supreme 
Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ended the right to abortion, and really 
upended healthcare for women across this country.
  And every single day, women and providers and patients have been 
shouting from the rooftops about how damaging this is, how women's 
lives are now at risk. Every single day we are seeing the horrors 
caused by Republicans' oppression: women forced to stay pregnant and 
give birth when they don't want to; patients denied prescriptions that 
they need; a 10-year-old forced to travel across State lines to get an 
abortion after being raped; a woman experiencing a miscarriage left 
bleeding for 10 days as providers were not clear if they could treat 
her due to Republicans' extreme bans.
  And all the while, Republicans have been trying to ignore the 
devastation that they have caused. And even more cruelly, they have 
been trying to distract us, telling us that what we are seeing isn't 
really happening. They have tried to say it won't undermine birth-
control access, even as patients have been denied Plan B. They have 
tried to say we don't need to protect the right to travel for abortion 
care, even as some Republicans are already writing and introducing 
bills to take that right away.
  They have even tried to say their extreme bans won't undermine care 
for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages, even as providers have already 
been forced to change the standard of care because Republicans' 
dangerous abortion bans making them perform riskier, invasive surgeries 
than would otherwise be necessary or even sit on their hands until 
patients' vital signs drop before they can do what is needed to save 
lives.
  It really is unconscionable. And despite what we have heard from 
Republicans, it is happening right now in this country. And I know I am 
not the only one who is entirely unconvinced by Republican words about 
wanting to support women and families.
  I am skeptical when one Republican Senator said:

       We have to start thinking in terms of some of these things 
     . . . to be more supportive of families and mothers.

  I am skeptical when another one said:

       It's not just a matter of saying, ``We are pro-life.'' It's 
     a matter . . . of promoting and allowing these people who are 
     making very difficult decisions with their lives to make sure 
     we can help.

  I was, frankly, surprised when, just last week at a hearing that I 
chaired on how this Dobbs decision threatens women's health, the junior 
Senator from Kansas claimed he believes that ``family planning 
opportunities need to be expanded.'' He even promised to continue 
supporting ``robust funding.''
  Here is the chance to match that rhetoric with action because Senator 
Smith and Senator Warren and I have a bill right here that would do 
exactly that. In fact, it is even called the Expanding Access to Family 
Planning Act. I know Senator Smith cares a lot about this. While she 
can't be here right now due to COVID, I want to thank her for her 
leadership on this and explain what this bill does for her.
  This bill is pretty simple. It almost couldn't be simpler. It takes 
our Nation's longstanding Family Planning Program, title X, and 
provides the strong mandatory funding title X needs now to support 
patients across the country. That is it. It is very easy. It is very 
straightforward.
  If Republicans really mean what they are saying, if they are really 
serious about expanding access to family planning, there is no reason 
why we cannot get this done right now. After all, we are talking about 
a program that has a long history of bipartisan support. We are talking 
about a program that was signed into law by a Republican, President 
Nixon, way back in 1970. We are talking about a program that helps 
patients get the birth control they need, the STI testing and the 
treatment they count on, the cervical and breast cancer screenings that 
could save their lives, and the support they need to plan a family on 
their own terms.
  This isn't just the popular thing to do, although helping patients 
get the birth control they need is an overwhelmingly popular thing to 
do; this is the right thing to do. Let's get this done. It should not 
be controversial. It simply expands our Nation's longstanding Family 
Planning Program--a program, I should note, that we included in our 
bipartisan funding bill earlier this year.
  Just a few months ago, some Republicans were adamantly against any 
increases for this program, but now, as we hear, they are changing 
their tune and claiming they do want to support families. They do want 
to expand family planning services. They want to do exactly what this 
bill does--unless, of course, they don't mean it, and it is simply 
rhetoric or just another Republican distraction from the reality that 
has been ushered in.

[[Page S3593]]

  Right now, the Republicans will have a chance to go on the record on 
whether they actually support family planning, whether they actually 
want to help people get birth control. And believe me, the same people 
Republicans have been trying to ignore--the same people who are having 
their healthcare undermined, their lives upended, their controls over 
their own bodies taken away--are going to be watching us closely, and 
they are not going to forget how much or how little Republicans' 
promises are worth.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration 
of S. 4550 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration, that 
the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the 
motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. King). Is there objection?
  Ms. ERNST. Reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, this bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. 
While the language touts supporting access to family planning, in 
reality, it is likely a $5 billion gift for Planned Parenthood and 
other abortion-related providers.
  Prior to the Trump administration's protect life rule, Planned 
Parenthood received nearly $60 million per year in title X funds. The 
Biden administration reversed this rule and has aggressively deployed 
title X funds to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.
  Under this bill, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers 
would be allowed to use the funds to build clinics, and abortion 
counseling referrals would be mandatory. The bill would also force 
religious providers to violate their beliefs. Congress should not green 
light family planning dollars at the expense of family destruction.
  For those reasons, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, there you have it--the real Republican 
position on expanding family planning summed up in two simple words: 
``I object.''
  As much as Republicans are talking now about supporting women's 
health, as hard as they might try to pretend that they do support 
family planning services, when they have been given a chance today to 
do exactly that--to expand a program with a long track record of 
helping women get the care they need; a long history, I remind all of 
us, of bipartisan support--they stood in the way.
  Let's be clear. The bill that the Republicans blocked today does not 
fund abortion. The truth is, title X only provides services like birth 
control, STI testing, cancer screenings--services Republicans claim to 
support.

  We are not proposing anything radical or groundbreaking; we are 
simply saying we should expand the national Family Planning Program 
that already exists, the one President Nixon signed into law decades 
ago, the one we have already funded before in a bipartisan way many 
times.
  Title X is a program that is already providing patients family 
planning services and contraception, STI testing and treatment, 
screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer, and more. I know that 
because I have met with title X providers and patients in my home State 
of Washington many times. I would strongly urge my colleagues who block 
this bill to do the same. Listen to those patients. Listen to the 
doctors. Listen to the nurses in their States. This is a program we 
already know helps so many people, and it can help more.
  I can't say I am surprised by Republican objections today. I can't 
say this is the first time Republicans have said one thing about 
women's health and done the opposite, and I think we all know full well 
it won't be the last.
  My message to the American people who are witnessing this: Pay 
attention. Pay attention. The Republican agenda is no to family 
planning, no to your right to travel for the healthcare you need, and 
no to your constitutional right to abortion.
  Senate Democrats and I will not stop holding them accountable for 
empty promises or for the devastating harm their extreme abortion bans 
are now inflicting on so many patients and families.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

                          ____________________