Bill Lee: “Let me thank our ranking member for yielding and for his tremendous leadership on so many issues. Mr. Speaker, I rise in…”

“Let me thank our ranking member for yielding and for his tremendous leadership on so many issues. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3762, the so-called Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act. This bill would attack women's health and the Affordable Care Act once again. This bill would defund Planned Parenthood for 1 year, leaving millions of women across the country without access to critical healthcare services. It would also prevent individuals or organizations that provide comprehensive reproductive healthcare services from treating women enrolled in Medicaid, stripping women of their fundamental right to choose their own healthcare provider, and leaving thousands of women out in the cold. Now, let's be clear. Family planning services are critical to reducing unintended pregnancies, and they make economic sense also. For every $1 spent on family planning services, we save more than $7 in other costs. Mr. Speaker, denying access to healthcare providers such as Planned Parenthood and other safety net providers will hurt women who need these services the most: low-income women and women of color. It is past time to stop these ideological attacks on women's right to health care. Instead of continuing with these callous attacks and cuts, we should work to replace the damaging sequester and get a responsible, long-term budget deal. Mr. Speaker, this bill reconciles nothing. It is divisive, it is misguided, and it is dangerous.…”