The Debt

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank all of my Democratic women colleagues for coming today and speaking so passionately, as the Senator from Maryland has just done, on issues we feel so deeply about. You will be hearing from all of us because we are outraged that the price tag for a vote on the continuing resolution is to attack votes on women's health.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. I want to thank my colleague from California for her great statement, and the Senator from Maryland. And you will hear more of us.

Frankly we are here today because we are outraged. We strongly oppose the resolution on the floor that slashes health care for women and girls and middle-class families. I have to say as a woman and as a mother, I am angry that women's health care is even up for debate right now. Middle-class families in this country are struggling. When I go home to my State of Washington, I hear about people who are worried about getting a pink slip or how they are going to put food on the table, whether their job is going to be there for them, and if we are making sure our economy is working for them and their children. That is what I hear about. I do not hear about, when are you going to slash health care for women. Not once.

We have seen a smokescreen. That is why we are here. Last week under the continuing resolution that was being negotiated between the House and the Senate and the White House, one remaining open item: eliminating title X funding for women's health care. It was not about budget deficits; it was not about the debt; it was not about jobs or the economy. It was about an ideologically driven attack on women's health care.

We were able to keep that out of the continuing resolution that we will vote on tomorrow. But the pricetag the Republicans in the House gave us to get to a vote to keep government open and to move our country forward is two votes: one that defunds Planned Parenthood, and one that defunds health care. Both of those are extreme attacks on women's health care.

My colleagues have spoken eloquently about Planned Parenthood. This is not about abortion. Federal funds cannot go to abortion. We are frankly tired of having to correct the untruths that continually come out about this funding. But we are not going to give up and we are going to keep fighting and we going to keep correcting them.

Planned Parenthood is about providing Federal funds for care, such as mammograms, and cervical cancer screenings, and prenatal care, and family support and counseling. This is about preventive health care services for women, and we take it as a direct attack on every woman in this country and her ability to get the health care she needs.

The second vote is an attack to dismantle health care. Well, let's remind all of us why health care finally became an issue that we were strong enough to deal with in this country. I will tell you why. Because women finally said, we have had enough. Let's face it, women are the ones who take their kids to the doctor, they are the ones who see the bills coming in, and they are the ones who fight insurance companies on a daily basis.

They said, we have had enough. So we went through a long process here to make sure that we passed health care in a way that protected women. It was women who were denied health care coverage because of preexisting conditions time and time again. We said ``no more.'' Now they want to vote tomorrow to put that back into effect. We heard from women who were denied coverage for health care because they were a victim of domestic violence. We said ``no more.'' Now they attack that again.

There are so many reasons why this is the wrong approach. But I will let all of our colleagues know, we are going to defeat these amendments tomorrow. We are going to move on. But the Democratic women of the Senate are now vigilant, and we are here, and we are not going to allow the 2012 budget or further discussions as we go along to be a smoke screen to cover up a real agenda, which is to take away the access for health care and basic rights that women have worked long and hard and fought for in this country.

I want you to know you will be hearing more from us, but we are not going away. We are going to defeat these amendments tomorrow, and we are here to fight them until they stop being offered.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source