[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 11, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 OPPOSING EXTREME ANTI-ABORTION AGENDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Ms. Tlaib) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the extreme 
anti-abortion agenda that my colleagues on the other side are 
advancing, despite clear opposition across our country.
  In November, Mr. Speaker, access to abortion care was on the ballot, 
and the American people rejected the Supreme Court's decision to 
overturn Roe and refused to allow far-right extremists to take away 
their right to bodily autonomy.
  Voters in Vermont, in the Speaker's home State of California, and in 
my home State of Michigan codified abortion rights in their State 
constitutions.
  Voters in Montana, as well as Kentucky, Senator Mitch McConnell's 
home State, rejected attempts to restrict their access to reproductive 
freedom. Still, they are advancing a policy agenda to criminalize 
abortion nationwide with no exceptions for rape or incest.
  Let me be clear: Abortion bans impact and endanger the lives of many 
of our residents, including those who live with disabilities.
  We will have many fights ahead of us, Mr. Speaker, and I will 
continue to hold the line to push back against the policy violence by 
those who want to continue to inflict on the American people the 
extreme right agenda.
  We will continue, my colleagues and I, to mobilize and organize a 
movement to secure reproductive justice across our Nation, and I will 
continue to fight like hell until abortion rights are restored as the 
law of the land.


                        Palestinian Human Rights

  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the only Palestinian American 
serving in the United States Congress.
  I feel a strong responsibility, Mr. Speaker, to humanize the 
Palestinian people who are living under increasingly oppressive and 
racist apartheid policies.
  2022 was one of the deadliest in memory for Palestinians. Dozens of 
children were killed by the Government of Israel, and many were 
targeted. Groups like DCI-Palestine that monitor these killings were 
targeted.
  We cannot look away, Mr. Speaker, and gaslight the oppressive and 
violent policies toward the Palestinian people, who are experiencing, 
right now, literally, the taking away of their human dignity and their 
right to be able to freely live and raise their children without this 
type of targeting.
  We can't keep handing over billions each year to an apartheid state 
violating human rights. We are dealing with a far-right government 
there now promising to make things worse.
  They are not even hiding it, Mr. Speaker. They are intentionally 
saying exactly what they are going to continue to do, which is the 
status quo, again, making it very dangerous for Palestinians to live 
and thrive.
  No person--not one, Palestinian, Israeli, anyone--deserves to suffer 
or die for who they are, what they believe, or where they were born. 
The sooner we end unconditional support for Israel's apartheid 
government, the sooner we can begin making good on that belief.
  Today, I am thinking of my Sity, my grandmother, who deserves to have 
human dignity. She should not be denied of who she is solely because 
she was born Palestinian, to be able to feel safe and to be able to 
have human rights.
  I am also thinking today, Mr. Speaker, of the Palestinian-American 
journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the countless Palestinians who 
deserved to live but whose lives were cut short.
  I thank the Speaker for at least trying to listen and hear from 
someone who, again, is connected to so many folks on the ground there 
who deserve to be seen and heard in this Chamber.

                          ____________________