Congress Votes On Abortion Ban After Letting Children's Health Program Expire

NEW YORK― House Republicans are anticipated to go a invoice on Tuesday that might ban abortions after 20 weeks of being pregnant ― a transfer the Trump management stated will “help to facilitate a culture of life.” The transfer comes 3 days after Congress allowed a federal kids’s well being program to run out, probably leaving tens of millions of deficient kids with out insurance plans. 

The abortion invoice, which the House has handed earlier than, would shorten the period of time by which a girl can legally search an abortion, in response to the medically unsupported declare that fetuses can really feel ache at 20 weeks. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, authored an op-ed at the anti-abortion site LifeNews.com on Monday touting the law. 

“All of us—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents—can agree that the government has a vested interest in protecting the rights of children,” Goodlatte wrote, “and that should include unborn children after 20 weeks.” 

Yet Republicans in Congress simply overlooked a time limit to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which helped states supply insurance plans to nine million kids in low-income households. The Senate had put forth a bipartisan, Five-year invoice to resume this system, however didn’t agenda a vote in time, as an alternative prioritizing law to repeal and exchange Obamacare. The House by no means even proposed a invoice to reauthorize CHIP, which expired on the finish of September. 

“Republican gridlock has put 9 million children at risk,” Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y) tweeted on Sunday. “This is unacceptable.” 

Democrats additionally identified the hypocrisy of Congress and the president doing not anything to handle gun violence, which claimed 12,000 American lives this 12 months by myself. The abortion vote comes an afternoon after the deadliest mass capturing in trendy United States historical past, by which a person with no less than 20 rifles and masses of rounds of ammunition opened hearth on a rustic song competition in Las Vegas.

There were 521 mass shootings on this nation in 477 days, and the U.S. has a a long way larger gun violence drawback than another evolved country, however the 26 expenses in Congress that might cope with gun violence in several techniques are all lately languishing with out a vote. 

“If we had an outbreak every day that had over 100,000 people a year killed and injured, Congress would be in a frenzy,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) stated at the House ground Tuesday morning. “Yesterday we found two minutes for a moment of silence, and we moved on.” 

Meanwhile, our bodies are gathering in morgues in Puerto Rico because the Trump management lags in its reaction to the Hurricane Maria crisis. Officials in Puerto Rico have no longer up to date the loss of life toll from the hurricane up to now week, however persons are reporting horrific prerequisites at the flooring ― hospitals working out of gas and provides, most cancers sufferers lacking chemotherapy therapies, moms begging for water for his or her small children. 

“It’s tantamount to Mother Nature’s atomic bomb, and we’re doing very little,” stated Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, asking her colleagues to expedite support to the U.S. territory ultimate week.

Trump criticized Puerto Ricans for no longer doing extra to assist themselves after the devastating typhoon, and lamented the logistical demanding situations of offering support to the island.

But the White House applauded House lawmakers for performing on abortion.   

“The Administration strongly supports the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and applauds the House of Representatives for continuing its efforts to secure critical pro-life protections,” the White House stated in a commentary on Monday evening. 

The invoice could be very not going to develop into legislation, as it don’t have the desired 60 votes within the Senate to go. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) stated Tuesday that the invoice is “dead on arrival” and excoriated her colleagues around the aisle for prioritizing it.  

“Is the House working on helping families who have lost their loved ones and livelihoods in Puerto Rico? No,” she stated. “Are they answering the calls from moms and dads nationwide who want to know when Congress will finally act on gun control? No.”

“There is never a good time for politicians to try to tell women what they can and can’t do with their own bodies,” she added. “But the House Republican decision to prioritize politics right now — of all times — is irresponsible and out of touch to a new extreme.”