May 14, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 80 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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Women's Healthcare (Executive Calendar); Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 80
(Senate - May 14, 2019)
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[Pages S2804-S2805] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Women's Healthcare Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I rise to express my objections in opposition to the Trump administration's constant attacks on women's healthcare, such as taking action to undermine the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and finalizing administrative rules that allow discriminatory practices to family planning providers and women seeking reproductive healthcare. Women and their healthcare should not be under constant threat. As a country, the United States has made great efforts to promote equal rights for both women and men. Yet in the 21st century, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans continue to push the policies that set this country back. The Trump administration's attacks on women's healthcare are unconscionable. Trump has taken several administrative actions that allow employers, insurance companies, and hospitals to refuse healthcare coverage and services based on their personal beliefs. For example, the recently finalized refusal rule allows virtually any individual or entity involved in a patient's care--from a hospital's board of directors to a receptionist who schedules procedures--to put their personal beliefs ahead of a patient's healthcare needs. Letting hospitals, pharmacies, and a range of people involved in healthcare deny services means that women will lose critical care. Rape survivors could be denied emergency birth control. Same-sex couples could be denied fertility treatment. Women with an unintended pregnancy could be denied information and counseling on their options. The rule represents a radical departure from HHS's mission and long history of combating discrimination, protecting patients' access to care, and eliminating health disparities. It is outrageous that President Trump continually implements policies that discriminate against women in healthcare. We cannot allow women to be treated this way. One of the most egregious acts of this administration is gutting title X, the Nation's only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The Trump administration finalized a rule that would bar providers from giving their patients complete medical information and block care at popular family planning providers like Planned Parenthood, even though Planned Parenthood serves approximately 40 percent of title X patients. Last year, title X funding allowed nearly 4,000 health centers to provide over 4 million low-income women and men basic primary and preventive healthcare services such as pap tests, cervical cancer screenings, contraception, breast exams, and HIV testing. In Maryland there are 55 title X-funded health centers spanning my State. These include federally qualified health centers, local health departments, Planned Parenthood clinics, and school-based health centers. In fiscal year 2015, Maryland received over $3.8 million in title X funding and provided health services to over 64,000 patients. These are low-income, underinsured, and uninsured individuals who would otherwise lack access to healthcare. In addition to attacks on women's healthcare, the Trump administration has proposed a title IX rule that weakens the existing protections for victims of campus sexual assault and allows universities to roll back their responsibilities to ensure students receive an education free of discrimination. Recently I was on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, speaking to students from College Park and Bowie State University regarding issues related to higher education. At College Park students are guaranteed housing on campus only for their first 2 years of education. Under Secretary DeVos's title IX rule, the university would no longer be responsible for investigating any claims of sexual assault for incidents that take place off campus, even though it may involve two students. In fact, 9 out of 10 sexual assaults do take place off college campuses. This rule and the administration's failure even to listen to the concerns of sexual assault survivors on campus show a callous disregard for victims. We should be working to ensure protection for victims, not minimizing their experiences. In order to do just that, I have fought for funding for the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights to have adequate staffing to investigate these claims and other [[Page S2805]] claims of violations of a student's civil rights. I have also cosponsored bipartisan legislation, such as the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, which seeks to find a commonsense solution to this difficult issue that holds colleges accountable without traumatizing victims when reporting an assault. We should also take up and pass the reauthorization for the Violence Against Women's Act. Last month, the House passed this critical legislation, which would reauthorize funding of these programs and authorize new programs; amend and add definitions used in the VAWA programs; amend Federal criminal law relating to firearms, custodial rape, and stalking; and expand Tribal jurisdiction over certain crimes committed on Tribal lands. The American people deserve better from their elected officials. I am committed to opposing President Trump's reckless and outrageous actions that would harm women and their families in Maryland and across our Nation. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. JONES. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. (The remarks of Mr. Jones pertaining to the introduction of S. 1453 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'') Mr. JONES. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Romney). The Senator from Illinois.
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