No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. I want to thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina
for her diligence and efforts on this issue.

Madam Speaker, I think we all are pleased to have so many of our
constituents in town today who are supporting life and supporting that
concept of life, liberty, and freedom.

It is such an honor today to come to the floor and talk about an
issue that 68 percent of the American people agree on. Listening to my
colleagues talking about how this is partisan and just for our base, I
am glad that they think 68 percent of the American people are our
base--because they do agree with us. Seventy-one percent of millennials
agree with us on this issue. And the issue is simply this: there should
not be taxpayer dollars used to pay for abortions.

The gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) has done a tremendous
amount of work on this bill. I thank him for his diligence, his
attention, and for working to get H.R. 7 in the right form, ready to
move forward and to bring this issue into the light.

We have got three things we want to focus on in this bill. Number
one, there is enormous bipartisan support--I would say near unanimous
bipartisan support--for the Hyde amendment language. Title I of this
bill is going to make that permanent.

Madam Speaker, what that means is no longer do we have to revote this
over and over and over. The Hyde amendment language will be the applied
standard.

Title II of this bill will apply that to ObamaCare.

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, what it will do is apply that to
ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act.

Now the reason it is imperative, the President promised on numerous
occasions, Madam Speaker, that there would be no taxpayer dollars,
which become Federal funds, used for abortion. This was a big debate as
we went through the Affordable Care Act.

What we have learned from not us but from the GAO is that we have in
the marketplace 1,036 plans. We have over 1,000 plans that allow those
dollars into those plans. What this bill will also do is bring
transparency not only to the plans but to the money flow, so that
hardworking American taxpayers who do not want their money used to pay
for abortion--68 percent agree with us--will have clarity and certainty
on the issue.

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, we have heard a lot of charges and
accusations that were made by some of my colleagues as they have chosen
to describe the bill before us today, H.R. 7, so I want to be clear
about what the bill before us does do and does accomplish.

This bill follows a longstanding principle, as my colleague said,
going back to 1976, the principle that the American people and Members
from both sides of the aisle in both Chambers of Congress have
supported for decades, and that is taxpayer dollars should not be spent
on abortions and abortion coverage. The vast majority of my colleagues
voted for this exact same principle in countless appropriations bills,
including a bill that we passed out of this Chamber last month. Yet
today, some Members are fighting the widely shared belief that taxpayer
dollars should not be used to take an innocent life.

The bill before us today also provides much-needed transparency
regarding which health plans on the exchange pay for abortions. The
Obama administration promised to provide Congress and the American
people a list of plans in ObamaCare that covered abortion, yet they
refused to live up to that promise. They forced Congress to act. And,
indeed, the GAO has informed us that 1,036 plans include abortion
coverage. There is no excuse--no excuse--to hide information about
abortion coverage from the American people.

Madam Speaker, 68 percent, a vast majority of the American people
believe there should be no taxpayer money used for abortion and
abortion coverage.

HHS has forced Congress to act on this issue. The commonsense
transparency requirement that is in H.R. 7 is needed, and it is
supported by all Members. So that is what this bill is about, following
an established bipartisan principle and providing transparency.

I urge my colleagues, each and every one, to vote to protect life, to
vote to protect taxpayer dollars, and to promote transparency by
rejecting the motion to recommit and supporting the underlying bill. I
urge a ``no'' vote on the recommittal.

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