Frank Lautenberg: “I come to the floor now as a father and a grandfather. Bonnie and I have five daughters and are grandparents of eight…”

“I come to the floor now as a father and a grandfather. Bonnie and I have five daughters and are grandparents of eight granddaughters. Nothing in our family and nothing in families across this country have anything more critical on their minds than the health of their children and their daughters and our families. Women in this rich country have a right to expect affordable quality health care. But those rights are under attack, and the attack is coming from what I call the ``maleogarchy''. Several years ago, I initiated the name ``maleogarchy'' right here on the Senate floor. A maleogarchy is made up of men in Congress who always decide what they want to do for women, even taking away their rights. These days the maleogarchy has declared war on women's health. We saw it when the Republicans in the House tried to defund Planned Parenthood. Now we are seeing it again this week in the Republican efforts to take away affordable birth control, basic health care for women in our country. Under a historic provision of the health care reform law, health insurance companies will be required to cover contraception with no additional copays or fees. This landmark requirement is scheduled to go into effect this summer. But as women cheer this new law, the maleogarchy is looking to take it away. Here in the Senate, there is a Republican bill to get rid of these benefits for women. Imagine. This body, principally made up of males, wants to take away benefits for women.…”