Providing for Consideration of Establishing a Select Investigation Panel of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, H. Res. 461 provides for the creation of a select investigative panel of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The resolution ensures the House exercises one of its most fundamental constitutional responsibilities: oversight of the use of Federal funds and compliance with Federal law.
Undercover investigations have revealed that an organization that receives hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars annually, Planned Parenthood, has also been taking the remains of unborn children and selling them to tissue collection firms.
Its staff has reportedly even altered their medical procedures to more effectively dismember unborn children, with one abortionist saying: ``We have been very good at getting heart, lung, liver...because we know that, so I'm not gonna crush that part, I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact.''
There are also allegations that children may have been born alive and left to die in order to harvest their tissue.
How can we in Congress ignore these charges? It is clear that a full investigation is not only warranted, but imperative, into these issues. Even if these abortion providers somehow managed to comply with all Federal laws while dismembering children, it is clear we need to learn more about their barbaric tactics so we can amend those laws and ensure practices like these never happen again, particularly by organizations receiving millions from U.S. taxpayers.
Madam Speaker, in order to effectively continue the oversight that the House has begun into these issues, H. Res. 461 would establish a select investigative panel at the Committee on Energy and Commerce to provide a full investigation and study into these allegations. This panel would be made up of 13 members appointed by the Speaker, 5 of which will be by the recommendation of the minority leader and chaired by a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Its operations will not require any additional appropriations of funds.
The investigation will be focused on medical procedures and business practices of entities involved in fetal tissue procurement; Federal funding and support for abortion providers; practices of providers of second- and third-trimester abortions, including partial birth abortions; medical care provided to children born alive as a result of an attempted abortion; and necessary changes in law or regulation identified by this investigation.
This type of investigation or special panel is far from unprecedented. When in the majority, my colleagues across the aisle formed the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel under the Appropriations Committee as well as a Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
The creation of a select investigative panel on the issues surrounding the sale of unborn children's tissue is clearly within precedent, and I hope Members on both sides of the aisle will agree that we must get to the bottom of this.
We have seen video evidence of children being dismembered to facilitate the sale of their hearts and other organs. Few issues can make us come together like our children. It is my hope that our partisan battles will cease for a brief moment to enable us to have a full investigation into the fate of children at the most vulnerable time of their lives.
Even for those who support abortion on demand, it should be simple to unite behind the principle that organizations receiving hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds are subject to congressional oversight, particularly when their divisive practices may violate Federal law and are, frankly, barbaric.
I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and the resulting investigation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, it is those Members across the aisle who raise the issue of Benghazi that are playing politics by trying to distract Americans from the actual issue we are debating today.
The purpose of this resolution is to establish a select panel consistent with past precedent under Democrat majorities to ensure that this House conducts a thorough investigation into the practices surrounding fetal tissue procurement and federally funded organizations that participate in these practices.
Taxpayers deserve to know what their hard-earned dollars fund. It is incumbent upon us, as Representatives, to ensure that Federal funds are directed only to organizations that operate fully within the law.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Ellmers).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the House committees who have investigated this issue thus far have done good work, but it is clear that much remains to be done. At Energy and Commerce in particular, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations has the task of conducting meaningful and necessary oversight of several other matters within the jurisdiction of the committee.
Given the large number of expected documents to be reviewed and interviews to be conducted, the select investigative panel will permit this necessary investigation to continue without impairing the other important work of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee at the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, what is unconscionable is the callous disregard for unborn babies that has been exhibited for far too long in our culture and which has been brought home to us full force by these videos that we have seen.
Mr. Speaker, the organizations and providers to be investigated by this select panel maintain a culture with a callous disregard for life.
Recently, a series of undercover videos have exposed in horrifying detail what Planned Parenthood values. They show the organization's leaders admitting to haggling over the prices for the limbs and organs of aborted children; callously recounting the harvesting of a brain from a fully intact, aborted child; admitting that clinics collect ``specimens'' without informed consent and that abortionists will alter the procedure to keep intact in-demand organs.
These videos make clear that neither women's health nor the well-being of their tiny victims will stand between Planned Parenthood and profit.
Since the release of these videos, the big money behind the pro-abortion political machine has kicked into high gear to obfuscate what services organizations like Planned Parenthood truly provide.
We hear about breast cancer screenings, but not a single Planned Parenthood clinic has a mammogram machine. We have heard repeatedly that abortions account for only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood services. The Washington Post Fact Checker assigned this data point, along with others pushed by Planned Parenthood, three Pinocchios. It is also clear from Planned Parenthood's own annual reports and testimony to Congress that a significant portion of its annual nongovernmental revenue comes from abortion.
The undercover videos alone would merit full investigation and review, but the problems at Planned Parenthood are not limited to those discussed in the series by the Center for Medical Progress.
We know that Planned Parenthood clinics in several States have failed to report sexual abuse of young girls, enabling and empowering those who would exploit them:
Just this year, the Alabama Department of Public Health found that a clinic in Mobile performed two abortions on a 14-year-old girl in a single 4-month period without reporting suspected sexual abuse.
Just last year, an Arizona Planned Parenthood counselor intentionally miscoded the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl by a serial predator as a consensual encounter.
Also last year, a Denver clinic failed to report the rape of a 13-year-old girl by her stepfather, who brought her to the clinic for an abortion.
Mr. Speaker, the list of outrageous acts by these abortion providers goes on and on. It is past time that we investigate and understand just what type of organizations our tax dollars are subsidizing.
I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, this charge laid about subpoena powers is a red herring. Every House committee holds subpoena power, though the structure differs depending on the committee. Granting this standard authority to the select panel ensures its ability to investigate thoroughly the issues within its scope. It would make little sense to convene a select investigative panel with limited investigative power.
I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the facts are clear about the budget for the select panel. The resolution does not authorize or appropriate additional resources for this panel. It will use existing funds solely.
Further, one of Congress' most important duties is oversight of how scarce funds are spent, and that oversight is a proper use of the limited budget the House and its committees receive.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
We are being told by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle that we should be comforted by the fact that the Democratic committee staff did an investigation of Planned Parenthood and found nothing wrong. I think I can say very well with tongue in cheek that is truly like putting the fox to guard the henhouse.
Mr. Speaker, in a few moments I will offer an amendment to the resolution. The amendment will make several changes to the resolution that have been requested by the minority. The amendment will change the ratio on the panel to eight Republicans and six Democrats, giving Democrats an additional one member on the panel. The amendment will also make sure that the select panel's subpoena authority is consistent with existing Energy and Commerce Committee rules.
We have no objection to the requested changes, and we hope this will encourage our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to participate fully in this important investigation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the opponents of this resolution would have Americans believe that this oversight is unnecessary and political. Nothing is further from the truth.
Oversight into entities' use of Federal funds and compliance with Federal law is a fundamental responsibility of Congress and one exercised by both parties, frequently on a bipartisan basis.
It is unfortunate that my colleagues across the aisle are refusing to join with us on this particular issue, but charges that it is a politically driven investigation are false. The investigation to be continued by the select investigative panel at the Energy and Commerce Committee is prompted by allegations that abortion providers that receive Federal funds are dismembering children to sell their body parts, possibly while violating Federal laws.
The most fundamental right our government was formed to protect is life; and when taxpayer dollars are being used by organizations flagrantly violating that right, we are morally compelled to investigate and respond in accordance with our Constitution.
The select investigative panel formed by this resolution is consistent with precedent, including two panels formed by my colleagues across the aisle when they were in the majority. It is laser-focused on the issues raised by the videos and subsequent investigation into Planned Parenthood of fetal tissue collection, abortion procedures, and the Federal laws surrounding those practices. Its existence as a separate body will allow it to complete the full investigation these allegations deserve without shortchanging the important other issues under consideration by the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the full House.
It is disappointing that some Members do not want the full truth to come out. When Federal taxpayers have legitimate concerns that their hard-earned dollars are flowing to organizations that sanction the dismemberment of unborn children and that our system of laws have loopholes allowing these atrocities to continue, we as their elected representatives are responsible for ensuring these concerns are heard and responded to.
If we as elected representatives of our great Nation can't shed our callousness toward the most vulnerable lives in our society and heed the moral cause of this issue, I have a great fear for our Nation's future and the cruelties we may someday allow other lives to be subjected to. Our freedom rests on the cornerstone right we all have to life, and I fear we have lost sight of that.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and expose the truth about these outrages through a thorough investigation. We must have the courage to follow the facts wherever they lead in order to strengthen our laws to end these barbaric practices and ensure that unwanted children are no longer discarded in the bins of parts for sale by profit-hungry abortion providers.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source