Carolyn Maloney: “Thank you, Congressman Ellison, who is the chair of the Progressive Caucus. Thank you for your leadership on this and in…”

“Thank you, Congressman Ellison, who is the chair of the Progressive Caucus. Thank you for your leadership on this and in so many other areas. And thank you for having this Special Order on this disturbing vote that took place today in the Congress. There is no question and there can be no debating the fact that the bill that the Republicans put forward endangers women's health, puts their lives at risk, and intrudes on their constitutionally protected liberties. The bill extends the reach of government more cynically and in a very profoundly disturbing way. And that is why President Obama put out a veto threat on Wednesday that he would veto any bill that would restrict insurers from paying for abortions, saying, in the President's words, ``it goes too far.'' And I'd like to quote from the President's statement on this. ``Longstanding Federal policy prohibits Federal funds from being used for abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered.'' {time} 2010 The Affordable Care Act preserved this prohibition and included policies to ensure that Federal funding is segregated from any private dollars used to fund abortions for which Federal funding is prohibited. So that's very, very clear, and I don't understand why the Republicans forced a vote on this, like the other anti-women, anti-choice, anti- respect of a woman's right to choose and her judgment have failed so far in the Senate.…”