Online store. Browse our latest collection of cspan products, apparel, books, home decor and accessories. Theres something for every cspan fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operation. Shop now for anytime at cspan shop. Org. Now well take you live now to the u. S. Senate. A few judicial nominations on the agenda today, along with President Bidens nomination for chief counsel of the Internal Revenue service. Three vote series are planned and floor negotiations continue on Government Spending to avoid a partial Government Shutdown at midnight on friday. 20 of the federal government could close, if no deal is reached by friday, march 8th, the government would fully shut down. Speaker mike johnson is proposing the house and Senate Approve a shortterm spending bill that would shift both funding deadlines to about a week later. Well continue to bring the government funding story to you as the process unfolds. Right now we head live to the senate here on cspan2. Ficer senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. O god, our rock and redeem redeemer. By your will we came into being, and at your command, when the right hour is come, we shall one day leave this world. Do not be silent when we need to hear you speak. Let your spirit lead our senators today. May they increase in selfforgetfulness, in simplicity, in courage, and in trust, so that each day they will approach nearer to your likeness. Lord, help them to offer themselves afresh to be used in your service. Show them your ways and may they obey your precepts. Give wisdom to the perplexed, fresh vigor to the discouraged, and a clearer vision to all who seek your will. We pray in your mighty name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington, d. C. , under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable peter welch, a senator from the state of vermont, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patty murray, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved, morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. The clerk nomination, the judiciary, julie simone sneed, of florida, to be United States district judge for the middle district of florida. Alleviate health risks, increases womens earnings, increases the probability women to attend college and boost local economies. Freedom turns out to have economic value. In planned parenthood versus values were actually part of the courts holding. The court said the ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the nation has been facilitated by the ability to control their reproductive lives. Economists and researchers have since quantified the damage of state abortion restrictions to local and state economies. And the correlation is easy. The more extreme estates restrictions, the more its economy suffers. A new study estimates state abortion restrictions cost the National Economy on average 173 billion per year. In overturning roe and casey, a small rightwing majority of a captured Supreme Court inserted the government into the personal life of decisions of millions of women, moving that freedom never minding those consequences. This is a court with members on a mission. His freedom fell at their hands. Next maybe the freedom to take an abortion medication long proven safe and effective. Next get him the freedom to use contraception. Even in vitro fertilization is under the gun at the hands of rightwing extremists. I Republicanled Congress and the Second Trump Administration could mean a National Abortion ban. If reelected trump could abuse executive power to remove from markets or try to prevent abortion medications or even contraceptives from going through the federal mail. The republican effort to ban mail order medication could cause even larger economic damage than dobbs. Generations of women fought for the freedom to make their own personal decision. They fought and they won and the victories brought economic gains in which we all share. But now the extremes are trying to undo all of him leaving and women and girls in america with fewer rights than their grandmothers. Women and girls have lives with respecting and protecting, and no one should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term against their will. Stripping women of this freedom casts a long shadow over their lives, and over their families lives, and it casts a long shadow over our economy as well. Congress should safeguard access to abortion and contraception, and codify roe into law. This is something women should decide its just of the governments business i will never turn over to Ranking Member grassley. Good morning, mr. Chairman. Im sorry i missed the last three hearings. Couldnt be here. Its great to have you back and happy healthy enough to be back and participate in the hearing today. So bravo. Thank you. We are tacking, tackling a very serious topic this morning, abortion above all is a moral and legal issue. Abortion is not an issue that lends itself to being looked at solely through an economic lens. After all, life is priceless. Theres a reason this committee historically hasnt delved into this issue. Its not an issue easily distilled down to dollars and cents, typical of budget issues that this committee normally works on. In fact, it is rather dehumanizing. The Chinese Communists are the best example of this wind instituted the one child policy, targeting female babies to extermination. And they did this thinking it would help their economy. But look what happened. Now the chinese realize its backfiring and hurting the economy. I think right now we just saw statistics, they are no longer the largest population country in the world. Being supplanted by india. Look at western nations like our own. We are also realize we need more people to sustain the economy and protect social security. I guess thats one reason that we are the most emigrant welcoming nation by taking 1 Million People legally every year into our country. So yes, having and raising children has cost, but so does abortion on demand and the culture for last respect of life. That said, here we are. Im prolife, profamily, prowoman. These views are not in conflict. Worthy alternatives to abortion exists in all but the rarest of circumstances. Numerous programs at the federal, state and local levels are available to help women, children and families in need. To better assist families, congress should focus on reforms that increase coordination between all the federal programs we have. Congress should simplify access to these programs. They should reduce duplication from work or education and eliminate marriage penalties in our tax laws. For years ive been championing supporting moms and kids. Ive worked to support and approve our adoption and foster care systems. Ive long been a strong supporter of taxing cities and laws to promote adoption, reduce Financial Burdens associated with adopting a child. As then chairman of the taxwriting finance committee, now 20 years ago, i help shepherd the bipartisan tax relief package that include muchneeded update on the adoption tax credit. Additionally, im a member of the congressional, Congressional Coalition on adoption, and founder and cochair of Senate Caucus on foster youth, and ive worked for years to improve policies and support for those who open their hearts and homes to children in need. Im also an advocate of the maternal infant and Early ChildhoodHome Visiting program which asserts many mothers and children across iowa and other states. Its critical we support the most vulnerable in our society, and this program has been a successful tool to improve the livelihoods of atrisk families. This congress ive introduced the bipartisan healthy moms and babies with senator maggie hassan. The bill is culmination of my work as finance Committee Chairman where i submit ideas with senators, stakeholder including i will Healthcare Providers and advocates on ways to improve maternal child care. The public is debating many abortion issues following the Supreme Court dobbs decision. Today, this committee will hear from two witnesses who can tell us about types of programs supporting pregnant women and families. We will also hear from folks on our local communities stand up by their neighbors to let them know that they are not alone and you have options here thats the type of message anyone can get behind. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thanks to witnesses, all of our witnesses for pairing today. Thank you, senator grassley. And again welcome back. Our first witness today is professor Caitlin Myers of middlebury college. Professor myers is an applied micro economist who uses statistical methodologies to measure the causal effect of reproductive policies on demographic, health and economic outcomes. Her work has been published in leading journals in economics and public policy. She maintains and distributes data on Abortion Access to researchers and the public through the Abortion Access dashboard and open science framework. Professor myers, thank you very much for being here. Next realtor from doctor leilah zahedispung. Dr. Zahedispung is a boardcertified ob gyn in maternalfetal medicine physician in colorado. She received her bachelors degree in biology and psychology from the university of georgia and her medical degree from emory university. She serves as a member of the reproductive h. E. L. P. Committee and a member of the Education Committee to the society for family planning. Leilah zahedispung, welcome. Then we will hear from ms. Allie phillips, a lifelong tennessean, a mother and an activist. She shared her heartbreaking abortion story online and Drew International attention. Turning her pain into fashion mrs. Phillips has dedicated time to speaking out and fighting back mrs. Phillips, we appreciate very much you taking the time to join us. And i will now turn to senator lee and Ranking Member grassley to introduce their witnesses. Between you two. I have the privilege of introducing and i went from story county iowa, ms. Tamara call, msn and rn. She is executive director of the obria Medical Clinic in ames, iowa, a fully licensed Community Care clinic. It provides professional medical Services Including consultations, well women care, pregnancy testing, ultrasound, Health Education referrals. Obria employs boardcertified ob gyn physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, medical assistance and support staff. Ms. Call holds a bachelors degree in nursing at from university of kansas here im also pleased to welcome mr. Schumer mr. President. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Schumer now, mr. President , negotiators in both chambers continue working to ensure the government will not shut down at the end of the week. We continue to make very Good Progress on an agreement, and we are very close to getting it done. I met yesterday with President Biden, with speaker johnson, with leader mcconnell, and leader jeffries speaker jeffries. We all agree, a shutdown is a loser for the American People. In a shutdown, costs go up, safety would go down, and the American People would pay the price. Im hopeful that the four leaders can reach this agreement very soon so we can not only avoid a shutdown on friday, but get closer to finishing the appropriations process altogether. If our House Republican colleagues of goodwill want to avert a shutdown, if they want to govern responsibly, as they say they do, they must resist the centrifugal pull of the extreme hard right who want to burn everything down, who openly use the threat of a shutdown to push their extreme agenda. Theyre brazen about it. They are brazen. We know what the hard right has been pushing. They want to restrict womens reproductive freedoms. We saw the case in alabama. They want to rip apart gun safety laws and reward corporate pol polluters. Or else, they say, they want a shu shutdown. This is no way to govern. If our House Republican colleagues of goodwill want to do the right thing, they must accept a fundamental truth about divided government. Republicans cannot pass a bill without democratic support. It takes both sides working together and ignoring the extremes of the hard right to get anything done. Ive said this over and over again, directly to the speaker, even in my first conversation with him, the only way we will get things done is by bipartisanship, and im proud in our chamber, not just on the supplemental but in bill after bill after bill, we are working in a bipartisan way. Im proud of that record. The speaker should understand that. So, im hopeful that soon we will have an agreement for keeping the government open beyond fridays deadline. Well keep working very diligently today. And i ask my colleagues to stay flexible and be ready to act quickly when the time comes. On ukraine, mr. President , the meeting i had yesterday with President Biden and congressional leaders over ukraine was one of the most intense discussions ive ever had or witnessed in the oval office. Every single one of us yesterday understood the basic facts the situation in ukraine is getting increasingly dire. Russia has made a major advance by taking the city of av difb ca, which avdivka, which they did simply because ukraine was running short of ammo, longrange artillery and basic equipment. It wasnt the lack of will of the fighters or plan, they simply ran out of ammunition. Imagine being a brave soldier, fighting for freedom, fighting for your country, and you no longer have the ammo. Without more aid from the United States, ukraine will lose. In fact, one american leader over there told me that he wouldnt be surprised if russian tanks were on the polish border if we didnt give any aid. What kind of legacy would that leave for the House Republicans who seem to want to stall that aid . Its not all of them, of course, but too many. Everyone in the room, with the exception of the speaker, agreed that Congress Must finish the work on the supplemental asap, because the future of ukraine and the west is at stake. Speaker johnson said he wants to continue to think it over. I was candid with the speaker that i hope he gives it careful thought, because the eyes of history are upon him. I said to the speaker, if youre the one stopping ukraine aid, then no matter what the consequences may be in the short term, you will regret your decision two years from now and could potentially regret it for the rest of your life, because this will be remembered as a turning point in america, for our strength, our credibility on the world stage, for our National Security. If we dont provide this aid, every year the United States could lose out to its enemies, the autocrats of the world, the putins, the xis, heads of north korea and iran. We could losous economically, militarily, diplomatly, politically, because of a shortsighted decision not to provide the muchneeded aid. The speaker has a legacydefining decision to make on ukraine. If he lets this bill move forward, he can go down as a fierce defender of americas core values, but if he shrinks from the importance of the moment, it will be the greatest gift putin, other autocrats and enemies of our country could possibly ask from the american congress. On the alabama ivf decision, after last weeks stunningly radical decision by the alabama Supreme Court jeopardizing ivf access, the United States has become an embarrassment to the world when it comes to reproductive freedom. Even sadder, mr. President , this didnt happen in a vacuum. The hard right maga Supreme Court decisions to overturn roe v. Wade opened the floodgates for republicans to force their antireproductive freedom, their antiwomen agenda down the throats of all americans. The decision by the alabama Supreme Court is as cruel as it is enraging. There are countless people today who have the joy of children because of ivf. But now families have to worry that this option could be taken away. Make no mistake, republicans own the consequences of the alabama Supreme Courts decision. Republicans know it. Thats why republicans are scrambling desperate to backpedal and try to sound reasonable and supportive of ivf all of a sudden, because they see what they have done. Republicans in alabama, even a conservative state like alabama, are now trying to save face by introducing legislation they claim will protect ivf providers. Even they know how the American People are reacting to th