Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the ``Deny Women Health Care Act.''

Madam Speaker, congressional approval ratings are at an all-time low, and here is another example of why:

Republicans in Congress have failed to fulfill their fundamental responsibility to our great Nation again.

Republicans have pushed America to the brink of another government shutdown, and we are a mere 5 legislative days away.

Republicans in Congress have refused to sit down and negotiate a bipartisan appropriations plan despite the urging of Democrats, business leaders, military servicemembers, and citizens all across America.

The bill brought to the floor today is an attempt by Republican leaders to distract the American public from their failure to do their job.

Last spring, we urged Republicans in Congress to sit down and hammer out an appropriations plan. They refused.

Instead, the Congress adjourned at the end of July. Nothing happened in August. Nothing has happened since the Congress has returned after Labor Day.

Now the Republican dysfunction in this House will have very serious consequences for our neighbors back home.

A Republican shutdown would hurt thousands of disabled veterans, disadvantaged children, small businesses, working families, and taxpayers.

The last time Republicans shut down the government for 16 days, the economy lost $24 billion and 120,000 private sector jobs.

Here is what happened: The Republican shutdown stalled veterans disability claims, creating additional needless delays for our heroes seeking help.

Hundreds of critically sick Americans were prevented from enrolling in the NIH clinical trials, with 98 percent of the National Science Foundation, nearly three-quarters of NIH, and two-thirds of CDC employees furloughed.

Head Start grantees, serving thousands of children, were forced to close. American entrepreneurs and small businesses were cut off from millions of dollars in SBA loans.

Small businesses with government contracts faced abrupt payment delays and cutbacks. Almost $4 billion in IRS refunds were delayed.

The Republican Congress' continuing dysfunction and inability to govern are having real impacts on hard-working Americans. The American people are tired of their relentless failure to govern and the culture of crisis.

Again and again Republicans have chosen to put their radical special interest agenda ahead of the priorities of hard-working Americans.

The American people deserve better, especially in this case, because the Deny Women Health Care Act is a cynical attack on the ability of women across America to receive the health services that they need at trusted Planned Parenthood clinics.

That is why the Republicans advance this bill on this topic. They know it is sure to inflame passions. But to date, despite congressional inquiries into these false videotapes, there has been no wrongdoing uncovered whatsoever, no evidence to substantiate the allegations. What has emerged since the false videos were posted on YouTube is a coordinated, broad-based smear campaign based upon false, manufactured videos that are full of distortions and misinformation.

The bill is one more assault in the long list of Republican assaults on women's health care over the last two decades because simply defunding Planned Parenthood would leave millions of American women without key preventative services, including birth control, family planning, lifesaving cancer screenings, testing and treatment of infections, well-women exams, and advice on family planning.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I will reiterate again, there is no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing, and I maintain that this is a distraction from the Republican's fundamental failure to pass a budget 5 legislative days before a government shutdown.

Madam Speaker, I am honored to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has established that not all services currently provided by Planned Parenthood could be furnished by other health clinics and medical practitioners if Planned Parenthood were defunded.

A George Washington University professor confirmed this in a column this week. The reason is that so many of the services provided relate to gynecological services and personal female healthcare needs.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy).

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Again, the repeated references to these false videos do a real disservice to this Congress and to people all across America. The false claims against Planned Parenthood have been widely discredited.

The videos that so many have referenced are heavily edited. They have edited content out, and they have edited false images in.

Politicians who are latching onto this smear campaign do so to further their personal agendas to the detriment of women's health care across America.

What has happened here since these videos were released in July is a coordinated smear campaign against trusted Planned Parenthood clinics. Let me give you some evidence directly from my home State of Florida.

In July, with absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing, Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott ordered investigations of Planned Parenthood clinics. It had all the trappings of a witch hunt.

In August, after the Agency for Health Care Administration had determined and written a draft press release that said: ``However, there is no evidence of the mishandling of fetal remains at any of the 16 clinics we investigated across the State.''

That didn't fit Governor Scott's political narrative, so his office scrubbed the press release of that language.

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. In fact, the press secretary for the agency said: ``I would have thought a line on no handling of fetal remains would be included, as that is what questions will be on.''

The agency's secretary wrote back, and she said she agreed.

Reporters subsequently obtained the scrubbed press release. Apparently, these had to go to the Governor's office to be purified and sanctified.

What happened earlier this week is that the communications director for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration resigned. This is another example of the coordinated smear campaign based upon the false videos that have captured attention. They are outrageous, but they are false, and they have been proven to be false.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, while the investigation may be ongoing, there have been no cases of born alive. The one case from some time ago, a doctor is in prison for that. This simply is not accurate. Now, what we know from ongoing investigations here currently is there has been no substantiated allegation against Planned Parenthood.

What we have seen is this Center for Medical Progress that posted these YouTube video. They have made a number of misrepresentations that may have broken several Federal and State laws, including violating Federal tax laws, violating criminal laws, violating the Invasion of Privacy Act out of California, violating California's penal code by making false charitable solicitations.

Now, we have heard that the attorneys for the director, Mr. Daleiden, for CMP, his attorneys have advised a Federal district court that he intends to invoke his Fifth Amendment in the investigation of him for his violation of Federal and State laws.

At this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Again, the videos keep being referenced here on the floor. I want Members to understand, I want the American public to understand that the first four short videos released on YouTube have 40 separate splices and edits that remove crucial context. They remove exculpatory statements like, ``Nobody should be selling tissue; that is not the goal here,'' and, ``This is not a service they should be making money from. It is something they should be able to offer to their patients in a way that doesn't impact them,'' or, ``We are not looking to make money from this. Our goal is to keep access available.'' In one of the videos there are at least 16 substantial unexplained edits, including the removal of nine instances where Planned Parenthood staff said there is no profit related to tissue donation.

Doesn't that seem misleading and fundamentally dishonest to remove statements like that, and then base a smear campaign and bring it to the floor of the United States Congress for policymaking? I think so.

That is why these videos have been denounced across the country by independent editorial writers. They have called them distorted and unfair, dishonest, grossly misleading, and politically irresponsible and swift boating.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), my friend

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

The Republican Congress has fundamentally failed to fulfill its basic responsibility to work out an appropriations plan that will keep this government open. This bill, to inflame the passion that is based on false videos, distorted clips that was part of a coordinated smear campaign all across the country, is being used as the foundation to close the government.

I hope it doesn't happen, but it appears that the dysfunction in the Republican Congress is going to lead us down that path, at the expense of women's health care, their basic fundamental services all across this country.

Last spring, we asked the Republicans in Congress to sit down and hammer out an appropriations plan. They refused. They adjourned at the end of July. Nothing happened in August. Nothing has happened here in September, except for these inflammatory bills based upon false YouTube videos.

This Republican Congress' continuing dysfunction and inability to govern are having real effects on hard-working Americans. This ``Deny Women Health Care Act'' is a cynical attack on the ability of women to receive the health services they need.

I urge a ``no'' vote, and I urge my Republican colleagues to keep the government open for hard-working Americans.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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