Diane Black

Mrs. BLACK

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber).

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus).

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Thomas J. Rooney).

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler), chair of our Values Action Team.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), one of our freshman Members.

Mrs. BLACK. That is correct.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I must, once again, talk about what this resolution really does. This resolution empowers States. It empowers States that are able to choose to invest in women's health care over abortion by sending those title X dollars to clinics that do not destroy innocent life. My colleagues on the other side talked about how this is destructive to women's health. I want to just mention that the true destruction to women's health is abortion. That is the little girl who is aborted that will never know about being a woman. This bill does nothing to prohibit States from deciding where to best use their dollars, but in States such as mine in Tennessee for the last 6 years, who have made that decision to send their dollars to facilities that they believe give the best women's health care, comprehensive health care, to over 75,000 women in our State, more than many States that surround us that have larger populations. If this were prohibiting women from getting services, we wouldn't be so successful with providing services to more than 75,000 women in our State. We haven't seen a decrease in services. We have seen an increase in services. If you were to ask these women what they thought about services that they are getting in these other facilities such as Department of Health and federally qualified health centers, you would see they are very satisfied because they get comprehensive services that go beyond what places like Planned Parenthood can even provide for them. They do mammograms, they do procedures if there are cancer cells found in a woman's cervix. So this whole ruse that this is a war on women and that we are taking away women's right to healthcare services is a ruse. All this does is to say, if a State like Tennessee decides this is the best place to give the best quality of care for a woman, and hopefully their babies and their children--which, if you go to these clinics, you will see them all running around, they have life--it just gives them the choice to do that. Don't take away that choice from my State. Don't punish my State because we do what we believe is the best thing for women's health. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BLACK

Ms. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACK

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I include in the Record letters from March for Life Action, Christian Medical and Dental Associations, and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. March for Life Action, Washington, DC, February 15, 2017. Representative, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Representative: On behalf of March for Life Action and the hundreds of thousands of our supporters and fellow marchers, I urge you to vote in favor of H.J. Res. 43., sponsored by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN). When H.J. Res. 43 comes to the House floor for a vote we will be scoring the vote in our annual scorecard for the First Session of the 115th Congress. In the waning days of his Administration President Barack Obama, using his power at Health and Human Services, issued a rule that locked down federal grants for abortion-giant Planned Parenthood but also usurped state's rights by blocking states seeking to defund the abortion industry and redirect funds to county health departments, community health centers and other clinics that put women's health above an abortion agenda. H.J. Res. 43 does not reduce funds for family planning, but allows states to assure that taxpayer funds do not support or underwrite abortion providers when so many Americans have ethical reservations about this procedure. The time has come for a clean break between government support of family planning activities and abortion. Again, on behalf of March for Life Action, I strongly encourage your vote for H.J. Res. 43. March for Life Action will score this vote in our annual scorecard. Sincerely, Thomas McClusky, Vice President of Government Affairs.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, the 10th Amendment of the Constitution reads pretty clearly to me: ``The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.'' I understand that there is a diversity of views represented in this Chamber on matters of health care and human life. I am not asking my colleagues to set those views aside with this vote. I am simply asking them not to substitute their judgment for the will of the States. With this resolution, we are letting States care for their citizens the best way they know, just as they have had that ability for the past 45 years, and we are maintaining access to care for women and families. I urge a ``yes'' vote on this resolution. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACK

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the rule to provide consideration of H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act. This bill is, quite literally, the least we can do for American taxpayers and our voiceless unborn. Frankly, the fact that we are even here discussing this, and that there is opposition to this bill at all, really does break my heart, and it speaks to the depths of the entanglement with the big abortion industry that exist in some corners of this Chamber. Because, at the end of the day, you know what this bill really is about? The right to choose. We hear our friends across the aisle use the phrase a lot. But what about the other right to choose, the right of the taxpayer to choose not to pay for the practice that violates everything that they believe? That is what we are here to protect. The American people support this policy, with 6 in 10 surveyed saying that taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund abortions. And these are both pro-life and pro-choice. So today, Madam Speaker, I am asking my colleagues across the aisle to honor the will of their constituents. I am asking them to remember the good old Democratic rallying cry of safe, legal, and rare abortion. Obviously, abortion is not rare today when over 330,000 abortions are performed in 1 year. If my colleagues still believe these words, they will join us in supporting this modest solution to keep unsuspecting taxpayers off of the hook for this practice. And if they can't vote for this bill then there is truly not a single limit on abortion that they will accept, and that is a sad commentary on the state of politics. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule.

Mrs. BLACK

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 55, I call up the bill (H.R. 7) to prohibit taxpayer funded abortions, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material on H.R. 7, currently under consideration.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in strong support of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, and I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his unflinching leadership on this issue. It was just a week ago that groups of women marched in the streets of D.C. and other cities across the country apparently ready to write off this Presidency as it just began. There were millions of pro-life women who were explicitly told that they were unwelcome at this event. So today, the people's House is giving them and the more than 60 percent of Americans from all political persuasions who oppose taxpayer funding of abortions a voice. The legislation before us will protect Americans' conscience rights by ensuring that their hard-earned tax dollars are not used to fund the destruction of innocent life. That is a principle that Members of both parties have supported in this Chamber before. Every year, Democrats and Republicans alike have come together to support funding bills that maintain the law called the Hyde amendment, which prohibits the direct Federal funding of abortion, with limited exceptions. This 40-year-old law has saved an estimated 2 million lives, but it is not permanent, meaning that this time-honored protection could be taken away on a whim. What is more, the law, in its current form, has clear loopholes. A 2014 GAO study found that taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies could be used to pay for abortions on over 1,000 ObamaCare plans nationwide. That is why today we have the opportunity to make this life-affirming law permanent and governmentwide. As a mother, a grandmother, and a nurse for more than 40 years, this measure is especially meaningful to me. During my years in the healthcare industry, I saw the joy in young parents' eyes when they met their newborn for the very first time. I held the hands of grieving spouses and children as they said good-bye to their loved ones. And, sadly, I witnessed a young woman lose her life due to the effects of a botched abortion. These experiences informed my view that all life is a precious gift from God. I pray that in time this truth will be reflected in our Nation's laws. Until then, can't we at least do this much. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), who is the chair of the Judiciary Committee and a longstanding supporter of pro-life.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Chair, it is my honor to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam), one of my Ways and Means colleagues and a long-time supporter of pro-life.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem), a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I referenced in my opening remarks that there has been bipartisan support for this measure, the Hyde amendment, on a yearly basis. I just want to make mention that the former gentlewoman from California who just spoke did vote for this measure in the fiscal year 2016 omnibus bill. Madam Speaker, it is my honor to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), who is the sponsor of the bill and is a champion for the unborn. It is really an honor for me to have served with him on this particular issue.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks), who has been a longstanding supporter of life.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I want to once again mention that there has been longstanding bipartisan support for the support of the Hyde amendment. As a matter of fact, the gentlewoman from California who just spoke voted for this on three different occasions; most recently in the MACRA that was passed in 2015; the omnibus, which was passed in December of 2015 and also in December of 2016; and in the fiscal year 2017 CR. It is now my honor to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Mrs. Roby), a member of the Appropriations Committee and a strong supporter of pro-life.

Mrs. BLACK. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.