[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 8, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2983-H2986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EQUAL REPRESENTATION ACT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 1(c) of rule XIX, further
consideration of the bill (H.R. 7109) to require a citizenship question
on the decennial census, to require reporting on certain census
statistics, and to modify apportionment of Representatives to be based
on United States citizens instead of all persons, will now resume.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
Motion to Recommit
Ms. MANNING. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to
recommit.
The Clerk read as follows:
Ms. Manning of North Carolina moves to recommit the bill
H.R. 7109 to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
The material previously referred to by Ms. Manning is as follows:
Ms. Manning moves to recommit the bill H.R. 7109 to the
Committee on Oversight and Accountability with instructions
to report the same back to the House forthwith with the
following amendments:
[[Page H2984]]
Strike section 1 and all that follows and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Right to Contraception
Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Contraception.--The term ``contraception'' means an
action taken to prevent pregnancy, including the use of
contraceptives or fertility-awareness-based methods and
sterilization procedures.
(2) Contraceptive.--The term ``contraceptive'' means any
drug, device, or biological product intended for use in the
prevention of pregnancy, whether specifically intended to
prevent pregnancy or for other health needs, that is
approved, cleared, authorized, or licensed under section 505,
510(k), 513(f)(2), 515, or 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355, 360(k), 360c(f)(2), 360e,
360bbb-3) or section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 262).
(3) Government.--The term ``government'' includes each
branch, department, agency, instrumentality, and official of
the United States or a State.
(4) Health care provider.--The term ``health care
provider'' means any entity or individual (including any
physician, certified nurse-midwife, nurse, nurse
practitioner, physician assistant, and pharmacist) that is
licensed or otherwise authorized by a State to provide health
care services.
(5) State.--The term ``State'' includes each of the 50
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, and each territory and possession of the United States,
and any political subdivision of any of the foregoing,
including any unit of local government, such as a county,
city, town, village, or other general purpose political
subdivision of a State.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The right to contraception is a fundamental right,
central to an individual's privacy, health, well-being,
dignity, liberty, equality, and ability to participate in the
social and economic life of the Nation.
(2) The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the
constitutional right to contraception.
(3) In Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479 (1965)), the
Supreme Court first recognized the constitutional right for
married people to use contraceptives.
(4) In Eisenstadt v. Baird (405 U.S. 438 (1972)), the
Supreme Court confirmed the constitutional right of all
people to legally access contraceptives regardless of marital
status.
(5) In Carey v. Population Services International (431 U.S.
678 (1977)), the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional
right to contraceptives for minors.
(6) The right to contraception has been repeatedly
recognized internationally as a human right. The United
Nations Population Fund has published several reports
outlining family planning as a basic human right that
advances women's health, economic empowerment, and equality.
(7) Access to contraceptives is internationally recognized
by the World Health Organization as advancing other human
rights such as the right to life, liberty, expression,
health, work, and education.
(8) Contraception is safe, essential health care, and
access to contraceptive products and services is central to
people's ability to participate equally in economic and
social life in the United States and globally. Contraception
allows people to make decisions about their families and
their lives.
(9) Contraception is key to sexual and reproductive health.
Contraception is critical to preventing unintended pregnancy,
and many contraceptives are highly effective in preventing
and treating a wide array of medical conditions and decrease
the risk of certain cancers.
(10) Contraception has been associated with improved health
outcomes for women, their families, and their communities and
reduces rates of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.
(11) The United States has a long history of reproductive
coercion, including the childbearing forced upon enslaved
women, as well as the forced sterilization of Black women,
Puerto Rican women, indigenous women, immigrant women, and
disabled women, and reproductive coercion continues to occur.
This history also includes the coercive testing of
contraceptive pills on women and girls in Puerto Rico.
(12) The right to make personal decisions about
contraceptive use is important for all Americans, and is
especially critical for historically marginalized groups,
including Black, indigenous, and other people of color;
immigrants; LGBTQ+ people; people with disabilities; people
paid low wages; and people living in rural and underserved
areas.
(13) Many people who are part of the marginalized groups
described in paragraph (12) already face barriers,
exacerbated by social, political, economic, and environmental
inequities, to comprehensive health care, including
reproductive health care, that reduce their ability to make
decisions about their health, families, and lives.
(14) State and Federal policies governing pharmaceutical
and insurance policies affect the accessibility of
contraceptives and the settings in which contraception
services are delivered.
(15) People engage in interstate commerce to access
contraception services.
(16) To provide contraception services, health care
providers employ and obtain commercial services from doctors,
nurses, and other personnel who engage in interstate commerce
and travel across State lines.
(17) Congress has the authority to enact this Act to
protect access to contraception pursuant to--
(A) its powers under the Commerce Clause of section 8 of
article I of the Constitution of the United States;
(B) its powers under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States to enforce the
provisions of section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment; and
(C) its powers under the necessary and proper clause of
section 8 of article I of the Constitution of the United
States.
(18) Congress has used its authority in the past to protect
and expand access to contraception information, products, and
services.
(19) In 1970, Congress established the family planning
program under title X of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 300 et seq.), the only Federal grant program dedicated
to family planning and related services, providing access to
information, products, and services for contraception.
(20) In 1972, Congress required the Medicaid program to
cover family planning services and supplies and the Medicaid
program currently accounts for 75 percent of Federal funds
spent on family planning.
(21) In 2010, Congress enacted the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) (referred to in this
section as the ``ACA''). Among other provisions, the ACA
included provisions to expand the affordability and
accessibility of contraception by requiring health insurance
plans to provide coverage for preventive services with no
patient cost-sharing.
(22) As of June 2023, at least 4 States tried to ban access
to some or all contraceptives by restricting access to public
funding for these products and services. Furthermore,
Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas have infringed on
people's ability to access their contraceptive care by
violating the free choice of provider requirement under the
Medicaid program.
(23) Providers' refusals to offer contraceptives and
information related to contraception based on their own
personal beliefs impede patients from obtaining their
preferred method of contraception, with laws in 12 States as
of the date of introduction of this Act specifically allowing
health care providers to refuse to provide services related
to contraception.
(24) States have attempted to define abortion expansively
so as to include contraceptives in State bans on abortion and
have also restricted access to emergency contraception.
(25) Justice Thomas, in his concurring opinion in Dobbs v.
Jackson Women's Health Organization (142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022)),
stated that the Supreme Court ``should reconsider all of this
Court's substantive due process precedents, including
Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell'' and that the Court has
``a duty to correct the error established in those
precedents'' by overruling them.
(26) In order to further public health and to combat
efforts to restrict access to reproductive health care,
congressional action is necessary to protect access to
contraceptives, contraception, and information related to
contraception for everyone, regardless of actual or perceived
race, ethnicity, sex (including gender identity and sexual
orientation), income, disability, national origin,
immigration status, or geography.
SEC. 4. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to provide a clear and comprehensive right to
contraception;
(2) to permit individuals to seek and obtain contraceptives
and engage in contraception, and to permit health care
providers to facilitate that care; and
(3) to protect an individual's ability to make decisions
about their body, medical care, family, and life's course,
and thereby protect the individual's ability to participate
equally in the economic and social life of the United States.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XIX, the
previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit.
The question is on the motion to recommit.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Ms. MANNING. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This will be a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 203,
nays 207, not voting 20, as follows:
[Roll No. 192]
YEAS--203
Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Amo
Auchincloss
Balint
Barragan
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Bowman
Boyle (PA)
Brown
Brownley
Budzinski
Bush
Caraveo
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carter (LA)
Cartwright
Casar
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Cherfilus-McCormick
Chu
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Clyburn
[[Page H2985]]
Cohen
Connolly
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Craig
Crockett
Crow
Cuellar
Davids (KS)
Davis (IL)
Davis (NC)
Dean (PA)
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
Deluzio
DeSaulnier
Dingell
Doggett
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Fletcher
Foster
Frankel, Lois
Frost
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Garcia, Robert
Golden (ME)
Goldman (NY)
Gomez
Gonzalez, Vicente
Gottheimer
Green, Al (TX)
Harder (CA)
Hayes
Himes
Horsford
Houlahan
Hoyer
Hoyle (OR)
Huffman
Ivey
Jackson (IL)
Jackson (NC)
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Kamlager-Dove
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim (NJ)
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lee (NV)
Lee (PA)
Leger Fernandez
Levin
Lieu
Lofgren
Lynch
Manning
Matsui
McBath
McClellan
McCollum
McGarvey
McGovern
Meeks
Menendez
Meng
Mfume
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Moskowitz
Moulton
Mrvan
Mullin
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Nickel
Norcross
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pascrell
Pelosi
Peltola
Perez
Peters
Pettersen
Phillips
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Quigley
Ramirez
Raskin
Ross
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Ryan
Salinas
Sanchez
Sarbanes
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Scholten
Schrier
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Sherrill
Slotkin
Smith (WA)
Sorensen
Soto
Spanberger
Stansbury
Stanton
Stevens
Strickland
Suozzi
Swalwell
Sykes
Takano
Thanedar
Thompson (CA)
Titus
Tlaib
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Trone
Underwood
Vargas
Vasquez
Veasey
Velazquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Wexton
Wild
Williams (GA)
Wilson (FL)
NAYS--207
Aderholt
Alford
Allen
Amodei
Armstrong
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Baird
Balderson
Barr
Bean (FL)
Bentz
Bergman
Bice
Biggs
Bilirakis
Bishop (NC)
Boebert
Bost
Brecheen
Buchanan
Bucshon
Burchett
Burlison
Calvert
Cammack
Carey
Carl
Carter (GA)
Chavez-DeRemer
Ciscomani
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Collins
Comer
Crane
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curtis
D'Esposito
Davidson
De La Cruz
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donalds
Duarte
Duncan
Dunn (FL)
Edwards
Ellzey
Emmer
Estes
Ezell
Fallon
Feenstra
Ferguson
Finstad
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flood
Foxx
Franklin, Scott
Fry
Fulcher
Gaetz
Garbarino
Garcia, Mike
Gimenez
Gonzales, Tony
Good (VA)
Gooden (TX)
Gosar
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Greene (GA)
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Harris
Harshbarger
Hern
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Hinson
Houchin
Hudson
Huizenga
Hunt
Issa
Jackson (TX)
James
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (SD)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Kean (NJ)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kiggans (VA)
Kiley
Kim (CA)
Kustoff
LaHood
LaLota
Lamborn
Langworthy
Latta
LaTurner
Lawler
Lee (FL)
Lesko
Letlow
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Luttrell
Mace
Malliotakis
Maloy
Mann
Massie
Mast
McClain
McClintock
McCormick
Meuser
Miller (IL)
Miller (OH)
Miller (WV)
Miller-Meeks
Mills
Molinaro
Moolenaar
Mooney
Moore (AL)
Moore (UT)
Moran
Murphy
Nehls
Newhouse
Norman
Nunn (IA)
Obernolte
Ogles
Owens
Palmer
Pence
Perry
Pfluger
Posey
Reschenthaler
Rodgers (WA)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rosendale
Rouzer
Roy
Rutherford
Salazar
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Self
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Spartz
Stauber
Steel
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Strong
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Tiffany
Timmons
Turner
Valadao
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Van Orden
Wagner
Walberg
Waltz
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams (NY)
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Yakym
Zinke
NOT VOTING--20
Banks
Burgess
Carson
Carter (TX)
Cleaver
Foushee
Granger
Grijalva
Hageman
Jackson Lee
Jacobs
LaMalfa
Landsman
Luna
Magaziner
McCaul
McHenry
Sessions
Thompson (MS)
Tokuda
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). There are 2 minutes
remaining.
{time} 1809
Ms. De La CRUZ changed her vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
So the motion to recommit was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This will be a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 206,
nays 202, not voting 22, as follows:
[Roll No. 193]
YEAS--206
Aderholt
Alford
Allen
Amodei
Armstrong
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Baird
Balderson
Barr
Bean (FL)
Bentz
Bergman
Bice
Biggs
Bilirakis
Bishop (NC)
Boebert
Bost
Brecheen
Buchanan
Bucshon
Burchett
Burlison
Calvert
Cammack
Carey
Carl
Carter (GA)
Chavez-DeRemer
Ciscomani
Cline
Cloud
Clyde
Cole
Collins
Comer
Crane
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curtis
D'Esposito
Davidson
De La Cruz
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Donalds
Duarte
Duncan
Dunn (FL)
Edwards
Ellzey
Emmer
Estes
Ezell
Fallon
Feenstra
Ferguson
Finstad
Fischbach
Fitzgerald
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flood
Foxx
Franklin, Scott
Fry
Fulcher
Gaetz
Garbarino
Garcia, Mike
Gimenez
Gonzales, Tony
Good (VA)
Gooden (TX)
Gosar
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Greene (GA)
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Harris
Harshbarger
Hern
Higgins (LA)
Hill
Hinson
Houchin
Hudson
Huizenga
Hunt
Issa
Jackson (TX)
James
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (SD)
Jordan
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Kean (NJ)
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
Kiggans (VA)
Kiley
Kim (CA)
Kustoff
LaHood
LaLota
Lamborn
Langworthy
Latta
LaTurner
Lawler
Lee (FL)
Lesko
Letlow
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Luttrell
Mace
Malliotakis
Maloy
Mann
Massie
Mast
McClain
McClintock
McCormick
Meuser
Miller (IL)
Miller (OH)
Miller (WV)
Miller-Meeks
Mills
Molinaro
Moolenaar
Mooney
Moore (AL)
Moore (UT)
Moran
Nehls
Newhouse
Norman
Nunn (IA)
Obernolte
Ogles
Owens
Palmer
Pence
Perry
Pfluger
Posey
Reschenthaler
Rodgers (WA)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rose
Rosendale
Rouzer
Roy
Rutherford
Salazar
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Self
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smucker
Spartz
Stauber
Steel
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Strong
Tenney
Thompson (PA)
Tiffany
Timmons
Turner
Valadao
Van Drew
Van Duyne
Van Orden
Wagner
Walberg
Waltz
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams (NY)
Williams (TX)
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Yakym
Zinke
NAYS--202
Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Amo
Auchincloss
Balint
Barragan
Beatty
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Blunt Rochester
Bonamici
Bowman
Boyle (PA)
Brown
Brownley
Budzinski
Bush
Caraveo
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carter (LA)
Cartwright
Casar
Case
Casten
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Cherfilus-McCormick
Chu
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Craig
Crockett
Crow
Cuellar
Davids (KS)
Davis (IL)
Davis (NC)
Dean (PA)
DeGette
DeLauro
DelBene
Deluzio
DeSaulnier
Dingell
Doggett
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Fletcher
Foster
Frankel, Lois
Frost
Gallego
Garamendi
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Garcia, Robert
Golden (ME)
Goldman (NY)
Gomez
Gonzalez, Vicente
Gottheimer
Green, Al (TX)
Harder (CA)
Hayes
Himes
Horsford
Houlahan
Hoyer
Hoyle (OR)
Huffman
Ivey
Jackson (IL)
Jackson (NC)
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Kamlager-Dove
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim (NJ)
Kuster
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Lee (NV)
Lee (PA)
Leger Fernandez
Levin
Lieu
Lofgren
Lynch
Manning
Matsui
McBath
McClellan
McCollum
McGarvey
McGovern
Meeks
Menendez
Meng
Mfume
Moore (WI)
Morelle
Moskowitz
Moulton
Mrvan
Mullin
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Nickel
Norcross
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pascrell
Pelosi
Peltola
Perez
Peters
Pettersen
Phillips
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Quigley
Ramirez
Raskin
Ross
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Ryan
Salinas
Sanchez
Sarbanes
[[Page H2986]]
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Scholten
Schrier
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Sewell
Sherman
Sherrill
Slotkin
Smith (WA)
Sorensen
Soto
Spanberger
Stansbury
Stanton
Stevens
Strickland
Suozzi
Swalwell
Sykes
Takano
Thanedar
Thompson (CA)
Titus
Tlaib
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres (NY)
Trahan
Trone
Underwood
Vargas
Vasquez
Veasey
Velazquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Wexton
Wild
Williams (GA)
Wilson (FL)
NOT VOTING--22
Banks
Burgess
Carson
Carter (TX)
Cleaver
Foushee
Granger
Grijalva
Hageman
Jackson Lee
Jacobs
Krishnamoorthi
LaMalfa
Landsman
Luna
Magaziner
McCaul
McHenry
Murphy
Sessions
Thompson (MS)
Tokuda
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). There are 2 minutes
remaining.
{time} 1815
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to require
a citizenship question on the decennial census, to require reporting on
certain census statistics, and to modify apportionment of
Representatives to be based on United States citizens instead of all
individuals.''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Stated against:
Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have
voted NAY on Roll Call No. 193.
____________________