Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Chair, I thank my distinguished colleague from the great State of Wisconsin for yielding time to me on this amendment and on the underlying bill.

The question was just asked: Why do we have a White House Gender Policy Council?

It is a pretty simple answer to that question. It is because here in America there are two contrasting visions as it relates to reproductive freedom.

Democrats believe in a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. Extreme MAGA Republicans have a very different view. Extreme MAGA Republicans want to criminalize abortion care.

Extreme MAGA Republicans want to impose a nationwide ban. Extreme MAGA Republicans want us to live in a society where women have government mandated pregnancies. That is the dichotomy that we confront right now.

Reproductive freedom is at issue all across America, and you are either on the right side of that issue, Mr. Chairman, or you are on the wrong side. We believe that my Republican colleagues continue to march us toward a nationwide abortion ban.

Mr. Chairman, just look at the underlying legislation which, by its very definition, restricts hundreds of thousands of people here in the District of Columbia as it relates to reproductive freedom.

Why is it in this bill?

It is because there is a real policy difference. House Democrats support a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions. Period. Full stop.

It is a choice that should be between a woman, her doctor, her faith, and her family, and not a bunch of extreme politicians. Nevertheless, that is the vision that is being offered to us by our friends on the other side. That is the reason why the White House has taken the step forward to make sure that they are protecting women all across America from efforts to try to criminalize abortion care.

I wonder, Mr. Chairman, what lesson has been learned from the events of just this week?

What lesson was learned in Ohio?

What lesson was learned in Virginia?

What lesson was learned in Kentucky, the deepest of red States?

Why does this continue to happen?

They jam an extreme rightwing ideology down the throats of the women of America. That is what we are against. That is why we oppose this amendment. That is one of the reasons why we oppose this underlying bill.

Now, from the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have made it clear: We want to find common ground with our Republican colleagues on any issue whenever and wherever possible if it relates to making life better for everyday Americans.

House Democrats are all about putting people over politics: fighting for things like lower costs, growing the middle class, and safer communities. These are things that will make a difference and solve problems in the lives of everyday Americans.

Part of the challenge that we face is that the extreme MAGA Republican agenda continues to be focused on the wrong things. The extreme MAGA Republican agenda is focused on defaulting on America's debt, shutting down the government, crashing the economy, criminalizing reproductive freedom, cutting Social Security and Medicare, impeaching President Biden, and doing nothing to deal with affordability issues or improving the quality of life of everyday Americans.

That is a shame.

So, yes, we are going to continue to oppose Republican efforts to criminalize abortion care now, tomorrow, next month, next year, and forever until this effort to take away reproductive freedom is buried in the ground never to rise again.

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