Removing Deadline for Ratification of Equal Rights Amendment
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, three-quarters of the States failed to ratify the equal rights amendment by the 1979 deadline set by Congress, yet House Democrats are trying to retroactively revive the failed constitutional amendment.
Congress does not have the power to do that. Congress set the deadline; it was passed; it did not get approved; and now there is an end run to go around that.
The United States Supreme Court recognized this in 1982 when it stated that the issue was moot because the deadline for ERA ratification expired before the requisite number of States approved it.
The next year, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives, acting on the same understanding, started the entire process of ERA approval over again. But that new ERA also failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority in the House on November 15, 1983.
But today, in defiance of historical reality and the clear acceptance of the situation by all relevant participants in the original debate, the Democrats have brought forward a resolution that denies the obvious. Now, the proponents of this resolution want to convince their base that if both Houses of Congress pass this joint resolution, and it is signed into law, the 1972 ERA will become part of the Constitution just because the Democrats control the Virginia State legislature and that legislature passed the ERA this year.
Even current Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg--and she is taking a lot of heat for this--a supporter of ERA since its beginning, has said, just a few months ago:
I hope someday we will start all over again on the ERA, collecting the necessary States to ratify it.
On Monday of this week, Justice Ginsburg said of the ERA:
I would like to see a new beginning. I would like to see it start over. There is too much controversy about latecomers-- Virginia, long after the deadline passed. Plus a number of States have withdrawn their ratification. So if you count a latecomer on the plus side, how can you disregard States that said: We have changed our minds.
Congress does not have the constitutional authority to retroactively revive the failed constitutional amendment and to subject the citizens of all 50 States to what may be the current political trends in just one State.
The U.S. Supreme Court has already recognized that. Past Democratic leaderships of the House have recognized that. Justice Ginsburg has recognized that. But apparently, the current Democratic leadership is intent on rewriting history.
As we have our debate today, I will show, and our speakers will show, what the real intent about this is, and it has nothing to do with equal rights. It has a lot to do with other issues that will be exposed today.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Lesko).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Walorski).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin, (Mr. Sensenbrenner).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Miller).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).
Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Georgia for yielding time.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.J. Res. 79.
As a woman who has worked all her life, often in male-dominated professions, I detest discrimination in any form against any group, and I have always done all that I can to eliminate it. Furthermore, I welcome any discussion on how to root out discrimination against women where it exists.
But do not be deceived. This is not what this legislation is about.
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution already provides women and all Americans equal protection under the law, but the goal of this legislation is different. The goal here is to expand access to abortion up to birth and to overturn the broadly supported policies that protect taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortions.
As we know all too well, Roe v. Wade has broadly legalized abortion in the United States, but the equal rights amendment that this resolution tries to ratify goes much further.
There is a broad consensus that the ERA could be used to overturn pro-life laws, legalize abortion up to birth, and mandate taxpayer- funded abortions.
The expansion of abortion is not the only harmful impact of the ERA. It would have a harmful impact on shelters that protect women from violence, eliminate women-specific workplace protections, and destroy women's sports.
Furthermore, were this resolution ever to become law, the Supreme Court would undoubtedly rule that it does not ratify the equal rights amendment.
As everyone in this room knows, when Congress initially passed the equal rights amendment, it intentionally included a 7-year deadline for the required 38 States to ratify, a deadline which has long since passed. Multiple States have also rescinded their ratification.
As such, Supreme Court precedent requires that any attempt to ratify the ERA must start at the beginning. Even Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was recently quoted saying she would like the process to start over.
To be perfectly clear, with this resolution, the Democrats are attempting to write into the Constitution the right to an abortion at all three trimesters, force taxpayers to pay for them, and eliminate all conscience protections for medical providers who wish to abstain from abortion.
This resolution is not about protecting women. It is a partisan messaging bill designed to appease radical pro-abortion groups. If the majority were serious about the equal rights amendment, it would start the process anew and give all States the option to consider the ERA again.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 232, nays 183, not voting 15, as follows: [Roll No. 70] YEAS--232 Aguilar Allred Axne Barragan Bass Beatty Bera Beyer Bishop (GA) Blumenauer Blunt Rochester Bonamici Boyle, Brendan F. Brindisi Brown (MD) Brownley (CA) Bustos Butterfield Carbajal Cardenas Carson (IN) Cartwright Case Casten (IL) Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Chu, Judy Cicilline Cisneros Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Clay Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly Cooper Correa Costa Courtney Cox (CA) Craig Crist Crow Cuellar Cunningham Curtis Davids (KS) Davis (CA) Davis, Danny K. Davis, Rodney Dean DeFazio DeGette DeLauro DelBene Delgado Demings DeSaulnier Deutch Dingell Doggett Doyle, Michael F. Engel Escobar Eshoo Espaillat Evans Finkenauer Fitzpatrick Fletcher Foster Frankel Fudge Gallego Garamendi Garcia (IL) Garcia (TX) Golden Gomez Gonzalez (TX) Gottheimer Green, Al (TX) Grijalva Haaland Harder (CA) Hastings Hayes Heck Higgins (NY) Himes Horn, Kendra S. Horsford Houlahan Hoyer Huffman Jackson Lee Jayapal Jeffries Johnson (GA) Johnson (TX) Kaptur Keating Kelly (IL) Kennedy Khanna Kildee Kilmer Kim Kind Krishnamoorthi Kuster (NH) Lamb Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lawrence Lawson (FL) Lee (CA) Lee (NV) Levin (CA) Levin (MI) Lewis Lieu, Ted Lipinski Loebsack Lofgren Lowenthal Lowey Lujan Luria Lynch Malinowski Maloney, Carolyn B. Maloney, Sean Matsui McAdams McBath McCollum McEachin McGovern McNerney Meeks Meng Moore Morelle Moulton Mucarsel-Powell Murphy (FL) Nadler Napolitano Neal Neguse Norcross O'Halleran Ocasio-Cortez Omar Pallone Panetta Pappas Pascrell Pelosi Perlmutter Peters Peterson Phillips Pingree Pocan Porter Pressley Price (NC) Quigley Raskin Reed Rice (NY) Richmond Rose (NY) Rouda Roybal-Allard Ruiz Ruppersberger Rush Ryan Sanchez Sarbanes Scanlon Schakowsky Schiff Schneider Schrader Schrier Scott (VA) Scott, David Serrano Sewell (AL) Shalala Sherman Sherrill Sires Slotkin Smith (WA) Soto Spanberger Speier Stanton Stevens Suozzi Swalwell (CA) Takano Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Titus Tlaib Tonko Torres (CA) Torres Small (NM) Trahan Trone Underwood Van Drew Vargas Veasey Vela Velazquez Visclosky Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Coleman Wexton Wild Wilson (FL) Yarmuth NAYS--183 Abraham Aderholt Allen Amash Amodei Armstrong Arrington Babin Bacon Baird Balderson Banks Barr Bergman Biggs Bilirakis Bishop (NC) Bishop (UT) Bost Brady Brooks (AL) Brooks (IN) Buchanan Buck Bucshon Budd Burchett Burgess Calvert Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Chabot Cheney Cline Cloud Cole Collins (GA) Comer Conaway Cook Crenshaw Davidson (OH) DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Duncan Dunn Emmer Estes Ferguson Fleischmann Flores Fortenberry Foxx (NC) Fulcher Gaetz Gallagher Gianforte Gibbs Gohmert Gonzalez (OH) Gooden Gosar Granger Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Green (TN) Griffith Grothman Guest Guthrie Hagedorn Harris Hartzler Hern, Kevin Herrera Beutler Hice (GA) Higgins (LA) Hill (AR) Holding Hollingsworth Hudson Huizenga Hurd (TX) Johnson (LA) Johnson (OH) Johnson (SD) Jordan Joyce (OH) Joyce (PA) Katko Keller Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) King (IA) King (NY) Kustoff (TN) LaMalfa Lamborn Latta Lesko Long Loudermilk Lucas Luetkemeyer Marshall Massie McCarthy McCaul McClintock McHenry McKinley Meadows Meuser Miller Mitchell Moolenaar Mooney (WV) Murphy (NC) Newhouse Norman Nunes Olson Palazzo Palmer Pence Perry Posey Ratcliffe Reschenthaler Rice (SC) Riggleman Roby Rodgers (WA) Roe, David P. Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rooney (FL) Rose, John W. Rouzer Roy Rutherford Scalise Schweikert Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Shimkus Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smucker Spano Stauber Stefanik Steil Steube Stewart Stivers Taylor Thompson (PA) Thornberry Timmons Tipton Turner Upton Wagner Walberg Walden Walker Walorski Waltz Watkins Weber (TX) Webster (FL) Wenstrup Westerman Williams Wittman Womack Woodall Yoho Young Zeldin NOT VOTING--15 Adams Byrne Crawford Gabbard Graves (GA) Kinzinger Kirkpatrick LaHood Marchant Mast Mullin Payne Welch Wilson (SC) Wright Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source