Providing for Consideration of H.R. Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. American Dream and Promise Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Farm Workforce Modernization Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Preventing Paygo Sequestration; Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. Removing the Deadline for the Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. WAGNER. Madam Speaker, I rise in stark opposition to H.J. Res. 17, which would retroactively and unconstitutionally remove the deadline to ratify the equal rights amendment.

Ratification of the equal rights amendment will expand taxpayer- funded abortions and imperil basic pro-life protections that States have enacted based on the will of their people through their State legislatures.

I am a committed defender of rights for women and girls, and I have led efforts in Congress to end sex trafficking, address the rape kit backlog, and help women balance staying in the workforce and caring for their children.

As a mother and as a proud grandma, I want my sweet granddaughter to feel secure in the knowledge that she is entitled to the same rights and opportunities as men.

However, I cannot support this attempt to circumvent the amendment process and enshrine access to taxpayer-funded abortion in the Constitution by a simple majority vote rather than with the required support of two-thirds of Congress or the States.

Congress has twice given States time to ratify the equal rights amendment, but the deadline has long since passed. While some States ratified the ERA after the deadline, others--up to five--have withdrawn their ratification.

I strongly agree and associate myself with the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's words when she made the point: ``If you count a latecomer on the plus side, how can you disregard States that said, `We have changed our minds'?''

If Democrats want to test the longstanding bipartisan agreement on limiting taxpayer-funded abortions, they should follow Justice Ginsburg's guidance and start the process over, just as our Founders intended.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I would also like to set the record straight when it comes to the Violence Against Women Act, or VAWA. My amendment was removed, in a partisan fashion, from VAWA this Congress, stripping vital sex trafficking funding for victims, for children. This has always been included, and it was stripped out and not allowed in the amendment process. Also not allowed was my PRENDA amendment that would have stopped sex selection in the womb taking the lives of young girls.

Madam Speaker, I urge opposition to this legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source