Political Quotes

“Just a couple quick points. First of all, there is no legality issue here. This policy is clearly and unequivocally legal. As the quotes from the Hyde amendment said earlier, the Hyde amendment says that the government can't pay for an abortion or use their services for abortion. The travel policy does not do either one of those things, so there is nothing illegal and nothing unconstitutional. This is a policy choice, and we have heard some very passionate arguments on both sides about what that policy choice should be. Number one, let's put aside this ridiculous notion that this is illegal or unconstitutional. No. This is a perfectly legal policy that, on a policy ground, you disagree with. Number two, in response to Chairman Rogers' comment about this being a new policy, it is not really a new policy in the following sense: It has always been the policy of the Department of Defense that if you cannot get the healthcare that you need where you are at, they will pay to take you to where you can. Now, prior to the Dobbs decision, that was not an issue when it came to reproductive services. The Dobbs decision changed that. The Biden administration didn't support the Dobbs decision and didn't make that happen. Once that happened, servicemembers in many, many States were no longer able to get the reproductive healthcare that they needed or wanted where they were, so, therefore, the travel policy that has been a long-time existing policy then applied.…”