On the recordMay 4, 2011
I want to thank Chris Smith and Chairman Smith for this very simple but profound bill. Ladies and gentlemen, all this bill does is end public funding-- taxpayer funding--of abortion. The driving force behind H.R. 3 is simply to update the longstanding Hyde amendment and apply it to programs that are federally funded but outside the scope of the Labor- HHS appropriations as well as replace a patchwork system with permanent law. It takes the Hyde amendment, the Dornan amendment, the Helms amendment, the Hyde-Weldon amendment, as well as others, and makes them permanent. That's what the bill does. H.R. 3 enjoys great bipartisan support and had over 227 cosponsors. The support of this bill is in the public's hands. A CNN poll recently taken last month said 61 percent of the respondents do not want their tax dollars used to pay for abortions. And that's what this bill does. It ends the public funding of abortions. There are a host of other polls that clearly state the same thing. The Hyde amendment is in current law but it simply needs to be broadened for all the things that we do here in Congress. I ask my colleagues to vote for this very important bill.
