On the recordJuly 27, 2021
I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut. As I would want her to know, I am ecstatic about the great leadership of her chairwomanship as well as all the Cardinals who have worked, and I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, many of whom really know that this is a very, very fine response to the needs of the American people. Might I just say to the chair of the Appropriations Committee, just very quickly, that I was here for the Hyde amendment. I was on the Judiciary Committee. I think my colleagues need to understand that for all the years of the Hyde committee, women who were poor, who were Medicaid recipients, many of them might have died in childbirth and might have had other important emergency health issues because they were subjected to decisions that they did not make for themselves. In that instance, we have discriminated against women just because of their poverty. Again, abortion is that of the woman, her faith, and her family. I believe this eliminating of the Hyde amendment is finally saying to all women in America that we respect you and your bodies. I am very grateful for the support of an amendment that recognizes the crisis of diabetes and the need for research professionals and patients participating in clinical trials. Diversity in medical trials is essential to ensuring that cures, especially vaccines and therapies, work for the greatest number of persons.…
