Life Advocacy Briefing

Conservative Confirmed at ‘Education’

SENATE DEMOCRATS DEMONSTRATED last week that they can talk all night and still lose vote after vote.

We welcome the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, a post which can – as was shown in the previous Administration – be used for ill as regards the cause of Life. Though the DeVos confirmation was fought most openly by teacher unions, their fellow travelers in the abortion/sex education cartel have suffered a setback as well, when we consider their manipulation of public schools to foster their campaign to contribute to the sexual delinquency of minors.

Consequently, we see the DeVos confirmation as a Life issue, and we are publishing the Senate voting record near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing; we will publish the lead-up procedural motion voting record in a future edition, as space permits.

We thank Vice President Mike Pence for his deciding vote to award Mrs. DeVos her confirmation and the joyful manner in which he undertook that historic mission.

Next Up: Atty. Gen. Sessions

ONCE THE DeVOS APPOINTMENT WAS CONFIRMED, the Senate turned next to confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) as Attorney General of the United States. The confirmation was delayed not only by the general stall being perpetrated by the Senate Minority Leader but also by the Majority’s need to have Mr. Sessions present and voting in his role as Senator from Alabama, from which he has now stepped down to enter the President’s Cabinet.

“Cloture” on the Sessions nomination occurred immediately after the DeVos confirmation, setting up another 30 hours of speeches by Senate Democrats and a confirmation vote Wednesday.

Because Sen. Sessions had full support from his Senate GOP colleagues – without the two Republican “DeVos” defections which forced the tie-breaking vote from Vice President Pence – the cloture motion was adopted 52-to-47 on Tuesday, with Sen. Sessions voting “present.”

We will be publishing the procedural roll call when space permits; the voting record on the Attorney General’s confirmation appears at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Sen. Sessions announced, in a moving speech following the confirmation vote, that he would be resigning from the Senate at 11:55 p.m. Wednesday night. The next morning, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) announced the appointment of the state’s attorney general, Luther Strange, as the new US Senator from Alabama. The appointment runs through the November, 2018, election, when a successor will be elected by voters.

We rejoice in the confirmation Wednesday of a stalwart champion of Life as the Attorney General and look forward to a Justice Dept. whose attorneys will actively participate in defending already enacted pro-life laws, prosecuting violators of federal laws like the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and backing enactment of needed laws to protect taxpayers from subsidizing abortion, protect unborn babies who are well enough developed to experience excruciating pain via abortion and bar cross-border abortions on minors without parental notice in states whose laws fail to protect them, as well as enforcing federal laws against fetal tissue harvesting.

And Then, H.H.S. Secretary Tom Price

THE SENATE CONFIRMATION MARATHON CONTINUED all week, with US Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) facing a filibustered confirmation vote early Friday morning.

We offer now-Secretary Price our congratulations and look forward to this pro-life physician engineering the massive, consequential Department of Health & Human Services and leading the ObamaCare repeal-and-replace drive which we expect will dominate much of this year’s Congressional/Executive agenda.

We will publish roll calls on the Price confirmation in future editions, beginning next week.

Exposed: Another Planned Parenthood Lie

THE PRO-LIFE INVESTIGATIVE GROUP ‘LIVE ACTION’ last week hosted a news conference, attended by nine Members of Congress, to unveil another video exposing another aspect of Planned Parenthood’s perfidy, this time focusing on the abortion goliath’s lie that it offers “prenatal care” for expectant mothers.

A brief summary of the new video can be seen on the Internet’s video channel. We commend to our readers’ attention also the videos and other documents posted on the Internet website of Live Action itself.

We find some of the Congressional comments from the news conference, quoted by news media, worthy of our readers’ attention, as the “prenatal care” lie is becoming a major point in the Congressional drive to defund Planned Parenthood, a top priority for Congress as this session develops.

“‘We’re borrowing money from [Red] China to fund Planned Parenthood to kill the future of America, and it’s got to end,’ said Rep. Steve King (R-IA),” quoted by the Daily Signal.

Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) cited Live Action videos, reports the Daily Signal, in which “92 separate Planned Parenthood clinics turned away women who were searching for prenatal care, while in another video, 65 Planned Parenthood clinics refused women who wanted an ultrasound. ‘I have spent my career [as a nurse] protecting the health of women, children and families,’” said Rep. Black, “‘but as we see in these investigative videos, Planned Parenthood is not about women’s health care; it’s an abortion enterprise.’”

Declared Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), quoted by the Daily Signal, “‘The mission of this organization is to take life, not provide health care for women and their children. Two patients enter their clinics,’” noted Rep. Hartzler, “‘and only one leaves alive.’”

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) proclaimed, reports the Daily Signal, “‘The truth is, Planned Parenthood is the largest perpetrator of abortion in America, mercilessly killing some 300,000 human babies every year … , and they want taxpayers to be forced to pay for it.’”

Other Members of Congress participating in the Live Action news conference include, reports the Daily Signal, Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO) and Robert Pittenger (R-NC), as well as Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), who was quoted by Claire Chretien for LifeSiteNews.com: “‘Abortion is not health care; abortion kills children and hurts women. … Taxpayer money may not be allowed to directly fund abortions [under current law], but taxpayers do fund nearly half of the budget of the organization that commits the most abortions in America.’” We commend Rep. Wagner for her appropriate use of the verb “commits” as it applies to abortion, and we urge pro-life speakers to employ that word instead of the softer, more concessionary “performs.”

One Fell Swoop

Excerpts from Jan. 30, 2017, Daily Signal commentary by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)

            … Life may be winning in America, but it has not yet won. And it won’t ever win so long as the United States Congress permits a dime of taxpayer money to flow to the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.

            Planned Parenthood doesn’t just lead the abortion business in America – it performed nearly one million abortions between 2011 and 2013 – but abortions lead Planned Parenthood. Of the “pregnancy services” offered by the organization, 94% are abortions, according to its 2013-2014 annual report, while prenatal care and adoption referrals account for only 5% and 0.5% respectively.

            And what does this horrifying business model earn Planned Parenthood from the federal government? More than $520 million every year in taxpayer-funded subsidies.

            This is indefensible, and it must stop. Luckily, Congress will have an opportunity in the next several weeks to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood and transfer its subsidies to other women’s and community health clinics.

            When the House and Senate vote to repeal ObamaCare, as Republican leaders from both chambers have committed to do, we can attach a provision that would eliminate all taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood. The privileged status of the ObamaCare repeal measure, which requires only 51 votes to pass the Senate, presents a unique opportunity for Congress, once and for all, to revoke Planned Parenthood’s lavish government subsidies, which have long been a stain on our nation’s great history.

House Voting Record

HRes-48 – Rule for consideration of S-ConRes-3: Reconciliation Measure to Establish Repeal of ObamaCare and other purposes – Procedural Motion to close debate – Jan. 13, 2017 – Passed – 234-179 (Democrats in italics)

Voting “yes”/pro-Life: Aderholt, Brooks, Byrne, Palmer, Roby, Rogers/AL; Biggs, Franks, Gosar, McSally, Schweikert/AZ; Crawford, Hill, Westerman, Womack/AR; Calvert, Cook, Denham, Hunter, Issa, Knight, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, Nunes, Rohrabacher, Royce, Valadao, Walters/CA; Buck, Coffman, Lamborn, Tipton/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Curbelo, DeSantis, Diaz-Balart, Dunn, Gaetz, Mast, Posey, F.Rooney, T.Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Webster, Yoho/FL; Allen, Carter, Collins, Ferguson, Graves, Hice, Loudermilk, A.Scott, Woodall/GA; Labrador, Simpson/ID; Bost, R.Davis, Hultgren, Kinzinger, LaHood, Roskam, Shimkus/IL; Banks, Brooks, Bucshon, Hollingsworth, Messer, Rokita, Walorski/IN; Blum, King, Young/IA; Jenkins, Marshall, Yoder/KS; Barr, Comer, Guthrie, Massie, Rogers/KY; Abraham, Graves, Higgins, Johnson, Scalise/LA; Poliquin/ME; Harris/MD; Amash, Bergman, Bishop, Huizenga, Mitchell, Moolenaar, Trott, Upton, Walberg/MI; Emmer, Lewis, Paulson/MN; Harper, Kelly, Palazzo/MS; Graves, Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, Smith, Wagner/MO; Bacon, Fortenberry, Smith/NE; Amodei/NV; Frelinghuysen, Lance, LoBiondo, MacArthur, Smith/NJ; Pearce/NM; Collins, Donovan, Faso, Katko, King, Reed, Stefanik, Tenney, Zeldin/NY; Budd, Foxx, Holding, Hudson, Jones, McHenry, Meadows, Pittenger, Rouzer, Walker/NC; Cramer/ND; Chabot, Davidson, Gibbs, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Latta, Renacci, Stivers, Tiberi, Turner, Wenstrup/OH; Bridenstine, Cole, Lucas, Mullin, Russell/OK; Walden/OR; Barletta, Costello, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Kelly, Marino, Meehan, Murphy, Perry, Rothfus, Shuster, Smucker, Thompson/PA; Duncan, Gowdy, Rice, Sanford, Wilson/SC; Noem/SD; Black, Blackburn, DesJarlais, Duncan, Fleischmann, Kustoff, Roe/TN; Arrington, Babin, Barton, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Conaway, Culberson, Farenthold, Flores, Gohmert, Granger, Hensarling, Hurd, S.Johnson, Marchant, McCaul, Olson, Poe, Ratcliffe, Sessions, Smith, Thornberry, Weber, Williams/TX; Bishop, Chaffetz, Love, Stewart/UT; Brat, Comstock, Garrett, Goodlatte, Griffith, Taylor, Wittman/VA; Herrera-Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Newhouse, Reichert/WA; Jenkins, McKinley, Mooney/WV; Duffy, Gallagher, Grothman, Sensenbrenner/WI; Cheney/WY.    

Voting “no”/anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Gallego, Grijalva, O’Halleran, Sinema/AZ; Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Becerra, Bera, Brownley, Carbajal, Cardenas, Chu, Correa, Davis, DeSaulnier, Eshoo, Garamendi, Khanna, Lee, Lieu, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Matsui, McNerney, Napolitano, Panetta, Peters, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Torres, Vargas/CA; DeGette, Perlmutter, Polis/CO; Courtney, DeLauro, Esty, Himes, Larson/CT; Blunt-Rochester/DE; Castor, Demings, Deutch, Hastings, Lawson, Murphy, Soto, Wilson/FL; Bishop, Lewis, D.Scott/GA; Gabbard, Hanabusa/HI; Bustos, D.Davis, Foster, Gutierrez, Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Lipinski, Quigley, Schakowsky, Schneider/IL; Carson, Visclosky/IN; Loebsack/IA; Yarmuth/KY; Richmond/LA; Pingree/ME; Brown, Cummings, Delaney, Hoyer, Raskin, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes/MD; Capuano, Clark, Kennedy, Lynch, McGovern, Moulton, Neal, Tsongas/MA; Conyers, Dingell, Kildee, Lawrence, Levin/MI; Ellison, McCollum, Nolan, Peterson, Walz/MN; Thompson/MS; Clay, Cleaver/MO; Kihuen, Rosen, Titus/NV; Kuster, Shea-Porter/NH; Gottheimer, Norcross, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, Sires, Watson-Coleman/NJ; Lujan, Lujan-Grisham/NM; Clarke, Engel, Espaillat, Higgins, Jeffries, Lowey, C.Maloney, S.Maloney, Meng, Nadler, Rice, Serrano, Slaughter, Tonko, Velazquez/NY; Adams, Butterfield, Price/NC; Beatty, Fudge, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Boyle, Brady, Cartwright, Doyle/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; Cohen, Cooper/TN; Castro, Cuellar, Doggett, Gonzalez, A.Green, G.Green, Jackson-Lee, E.B.Johnson, O’Rourke, Veasey, Vela/TX; Welch/VT; Beyer, Connolly, McEachin, Scott/VA; DelBene, Heck, Jayapal, Kilmer, Larsen, Smith/WA; Kind, Pocan/WI.

Not voting: Young/AK; Costa, Huffman, Pelosi, Waters/CA; Crist, Frankel, Rutherford, Wasserman-Schultz/FL; Johnson, Price/GA; Rush/IL; Pompeo/KS; Keating/MA; Zinke/MT; Crowley, Meeks, Suozzi/NY; Evans/PA; Mulvaney/SC; Moore, Ryan/WI.

Senate Voting Record

Confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary – Feb. 7, 2017 – Confirmed – 51 to 50 (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Sessions & Shelby/AL, Sullivan/AK, Flake & McCain/AZ, Boozman & Cotton/AR, Gardner/CO, Rubio/FL, Isakson & Perdue/GA, Crapo & Risch/ID, Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Moran & Roberts/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Cochran & Wicker/MS, Blunt/MO, Daines/MT, Fischer & Sasse/NE, Heller/NV, Burr & Tillis/NC, Hoeven/ND, Portman/OH, Inhofe & Lankford/OK, Toomey/PA, Graham & Scott/SC, Rounds & Thune/SD, Alexander & Corker/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Hatch & Lee/UT, Capito/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Enzi/WY. And Vice President Mike Pence, Constitutionally designated as “President of the Senate” and authorized to cast a tie-breaking vote on any question.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Murkowski/AK, Feinstein & Harris/CA, Bennet/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Nelson/FL, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, Donnelly/IN, Collins & King(I)/ME, Cardin & VanHollen/MD, Markey & Warren/MA, Peters & Stabenow/MI, Franken & Klobuchar/MN, McCaskill/MO, Tester/MT, Cortez-Masto/NV, Hassan & Shaheen/NH, Booker & Menendez/NJ, Heinrich & Udall/NM, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Heitkamp/ND, Brown/OH, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Leahy & Sanders/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Manchin/WV, Baldwin/WI.

Confirmation of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General – Feb. 8, 2017 – Confirmed – 52 to 47 (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Shelby/AL, Murkowski & Sullivan/AK, Flake & McCain/AZ, Boozman & Cotton/AR, Gardner/CO, Rubio/FL, Isakson & Perdue/GA, Crapo & Risch/ID, Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Moran & Roberts/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Collins/ME, Cochran & Wicker/MS, Blunt/MO, Daines/MT, Fischer & Sasse/NE, Heller/NV, Burr & Tillis/NC, Hoeven/ND, Portman/OH, Inhofe & Lankford/OK, Toomey/PA, Graham & Scott/SC, Rounds & Thune/SD, Alexander & Corker/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Hatch & Lee/UT, Capito & Manchin/WV, Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Enzi/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Feinstein & Harris/CA, Bennet/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Nelson/FL, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, Donnelly/IN, King(I)/ME, Cardin & VanHollen/MD, Markey & Warren/MA, Peters & Stabenow/MI, Franken & Klobuchar/MN, McCaskill/MO, Tester/MT, Cortez-Masto/NV, Hassan & Shaheen/NH, Booker & Menendez/NJ, Heinrich & Udall/NM, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Heitkamp/ND, Brown/OH, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Leahy & Sanders/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Baldwin/WI.

Voting “present”: Sessions/AL.