Setting Forth the Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2022 and Setting Forth the Appropriate Budgetary Levels for Fiscal Years 2023 Through 2031
Floor Speech
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. We all agree that in-person learning is a top priority this school year. Democrats actually passed the American Rescue Plan without a single Republican vote so schools have the resources to make safe, in-person learning possible. The CDC also updated its guidance on reopening, and State school districts and schools are working towards that goal.
But in addition to ensuring in-person learning, we need to encourage adherence to public health guidance, especially as this Delta variant is surging. We also need to support learning and the mental health needs of our students and much more. There is no disagreement on in- person learning, but the Scott amendment falls short on these very important points.
By the way, we need to stop politicizing this issue.
So I encourage a ``no'' vote on this amendment.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, this amendment is a serious threat to women's safety that would allow someone else's personal beliefs rather than a patient's best interests determine a patient's care.
No healthcare provider should be able to refuse to give lifesaving information about where to get care to someone who is miscarrying. No healthcare provider should be able to refuse to transfer a patient who needs an abortion. No healthcare provider should be able to turn patients away in an emergency situation for purely ideological reasons. Everyone should be able to make their own choices about pregnancy and parenting and exercise their constitutionally protected right to an abortion.
This amendment would vastly expand abortion restrictions on Federal funding.
I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, you know, this amendment is simply an attempt to force the Federal Government to interfere with local school district decisions about curriculum and academic instruction.
There are several longstanding provisions in Federal education law that prohibit the Federal Government from mandating or directing school curriculum. This amendment would contradict that bipartisan consensus and allow the Federal Government to have a say over what schools can and cannot teach our children.
I oppose this amendment because I believe States, local school districts, and educators should be in the driver's seat when making decisions about curriculum, and I urge my colleagues to vote no.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, even in the midst of a pandemic, a climate crisis, a childcare crisis, so many issues facing our working families, it is so disappointing but not surprising that Republicans continue to focus on restricting access to abortion care.
Let's be perfectly clear about this amendment. It is a clear attempt to undermine Roe v. Wade. It would impose a 20-week abortion ban with no exception for rape or incest, and it would harm women and families across the country.
In fact, leading medical groups like the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists oppose policies like this because they interfere with doctors' and patients' ability to make decisions based on science and based on what is best for their patients' healthcare.
Everyone has the right to make their own decisions about their own reproductive healthcare.
I urge a ``no'' vote on the amendment.
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