[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12109-12110]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        WOMEN VETERANS AND FAMILIES HEALTH SERVICES ACT OF 2015

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am on the floor today to discuss the 
path forward on my bill, the Women Veterans and Families Health 
Services Act of 2015. This is legislation which would end VA's decades-
old ban on fertility services, and it would take critical steps toward 
ensuring that we are

[[Page 12110]]

doing everything we can to support veterans who have sacrificed so much 
for our country and have suffered injuries on the battlefield that 
prevent them from having children on their own.
  I introduced this legislation because I believe strongly that our 
commitment to servicemembers doesn't stop at the end of their tours. I 
believe that commitment doesn't stop at all, ever. And a critical part 
of this commitment--of what our country should do to make sure those 
who sacrificed so much for us can live the lives they hoped for--is 
helping seriously wounded veterans start families so that those who put 
their lives on hold and on the line have the opportunity to achieve 
that important goal.
  Caring for our veterans should never be a partisan issue, and helping 
our wounded warriors start families should rise above the petty 
political fights we see too often in Washington, DC. So I was very 
proud to work with Republicans on the Veterans' Affairs Committee on a 
bipartisan compromise, one that should have allowed my veterans health 
care act to pass through the committee today with strong bipartisan 
support, as it has in the past. And until yesterday, that was exactly 
what I thought was going to happen. My bill was on the agenda. It was 
going to come up for a vote, and I thought it was going to pass. That 
is why I am so disappointed and truly angry that Republicans on the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee decided yesterday to leap at the 
opportunity to pander to their base, to poison the well with the 
political cable news battle of the day and turn their backs on these 
wounded veterans.
  Just a few Republicans with just a few poison-pill amendments have 
turned our bipartisan effort to help wounded veterans into a partisan 
effort to attack women's health care. I find that shameful. That is 
why, after it became clear that there was not a path to getting those 
political amendments withdrawn today, I spoke with Chairman Isakson and 
I asked him to pull the bill from the markup rather than see it become 
a vehicle for partisan, political attacks.
  I know some Republicans are trying to use this latest issue as just 
one more opportunity to roll back the clock and take away women's 
health care options. We can have that fight. We have had it many times 
before. But we should not be putting veterans in the middle of it. 
Don't take something that should be above politics--our sacred duty to 
our veterans--and pull it down into the muck of petty politics. It is 
not fair to these veterans and it is not fair to their families, who 
have been hoping and praying for the opportunity to have children. It 
is not fair to the veterans and servicemembers, who don't want to see 
their health care become just one more political football. And it is 
certainly not fair to our constituents, who send us to Congress 
expecting us to stand together and support those who sacrificed so much 
for all of us.
  I am going to keep fighting for them and for this effort. I am not 
going to let those who put politics ahead of veterans and 
servicemembers get their way.
  I truly do hope Republicans reconsider this absolutely shameful 
approach today and work with us to get this bill done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I join my extraordinarily dedicated 
and distinguished colleague from Washington State in expressing my 
regret that this bill will not be on our agenda today, and I thank her 
for championing a cause that matters so vitally to our military men and 
women, which is the cause of fairness to our veterans and putting our 
veterans above politics.
  The bill she has advocated steadfastly and so eloquently provides 
services to wounded women warriors who want to have children and cannot 
do so because of those wounds of war. It makes available to them modern 
medicine, just as we are trying to do in other areas where the 
signature wounds of war inflict such damage on our wounded warriors. 
They deserve the right to treatment that enables them to have families, 
enables them to overcome those wounds of war that interfere with their 
ability to have children.
  That is important not only to them but to their families, to their 
husbands. Many of their husbands are themselves veterans. This issue 
has ramifications way beyond the individuals involved. It is a matter 
of putting our veterans above politics, which traditionally has been 
our practice on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
  I am very proud to serve as the ranking member of that committee, to 
have worked with Senator Murray in her tireless efforts on this bill 
going back years. She has been rightly recognized for those efforts. 
Today I very much regret the tradition of our committee--putting 
veterans above politics--has succumbed to this threat; that the bill 
offered by Senator Murray will become mired down in issues that have 
nothing to do with providing IVF services to our wounded women 
warriors.
  The amendments that have been offered are completely irrelevant and 
extraneous to the objectives of the bill. Make no mistake, they have 
nothing to do with protecting women, they have nothing to do with 
enabling our women veterans to have children and overcome those wounds 
of war. They are completely irrelevant, indeed contrary to the 
objectives of that bill. Yet they will now cause this bill to be 
removed from the agenda.
  I just want to say to my colleague and fellow member of that 
committee that I am absolutely determined to find a path forward for 
this bill. It will be a priority of mine personally. I know it is a 
priority of the Senator from Washington, and I will join her in 
ensuring that our colleagues know we are determined to move forward, to 
find a path to pass this measure, and to make sure our women veterans 
are recognized for the heroes they are.
  These amendments are a disservice to them. Very simply, they are 
disrespectful to the women who sacrificed so much, who have suffered 
the same wounds as our men, and who receive less respect by virtue of 
this bill being withdrawn. I am hopeful we can work with Senator 
Isakson, chairman of the committee, to find that path forward. He has 
been very bipartisan in his approach, and I thank him for his efforts 
in that respect.
  I will redouble my efforts to make sure we keep faith with our women 
veterans, enabling them to overcome those injuries that prevent them 
from having children and giving up the benefit of their being such 
great parents and giving our Nation great children, which is our 
obligation on this committee, in this body, and in this country.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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