On the recordMay 4, 2011
Madam Speaker, I rise to proudly support H.R. 3 for three simple reasons: Number one, this bill just simply helps codify what has de facto been our policy for 35 years through the Hyde amendment, and that is a policy that no way, shape or form outlaws abortion; it simply says Federal taxpayers will not be compelled to subsidize them. Second of all, Madam Speaker, at a time when our Nation is going broke, where we're borrowing 42 cents on the dollar, much of it from the Chinese and sending the bill to our children and grandchildren, maybe, maybe those programs that have the least consensus and are most divisive among us ought to be the first to lose their taxpayer subsidies. Third, and most importantly and profoundly for me, Madam Speaker, in my heart and in my head, I can come to no other conclusion but that life begins at conception. It is our most fundamental right, enshrined in the Constitution. No taxpayer should be compelled against their will to subsidize the loss of human life, truly the least of these.
