Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20151009 :

CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings October 9, 2015

I will work with Elijah Cummings and figure out the best course on what to do with these videos but just caution to members, that it is a bit of a stretch to say that i have done some conclusive investigation on all the actions of planned parenthood. Did i look at the finances and have a hearing specifically as to the revenue portion and how they spend . Yes. Was there any wrongdoing . I didnt find any. But i do think its a legitimate question for all of us, why do we send money to an organization where the revenues exceed their expenses by 127 million . Doesnt sound like an organization that needs to be supplemented by taxpayer dollars . That was my point. Happy to yield. I just want to ask the representative, whether or not you have any evidence whatsoever that planned parenthood has broken the law in any way . I think, i think some of the video that has been out there, the rumors that have been swirling, some of the testimony that weve heard causes a lot of people to legitimately ask and dive into whether or not what theyre doing is illegal. I think it is a very legitimate question from an objective point of view without getting into emotions much it. I think there will be continue to be investigations. I voted in favor of the select committee which i believe has to bo further and dive deeper into the issues but i dont think the final chapter has been written on that. My point we were talking specifically about the finances. I would remind members, there were all this criticism we were going after women, that is so false. What is the first notforprofit organization that went after in the oversight and Government Reform Committee . It was nfl. I called out the nfl. They were structured as notforprofit organization. We called out Roger Goodell making exorbitant salary. To the nfls credit, restructured. Started first of july they are no longer a notforprofit organization. In very bipartisan way with Elijah Cummings and democrat we worked on that issue and made a major transformation, major change. I think looking at another notforprofit organizations taking a lot, hundreds of millions of dollars taxpayer money that is legitimate decision in the context of a 18 plus trillion dollar debt. And that is the discussion we had. Im proud of it. I think we had a very good hearing. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Chair thanks the gentleman. Recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. Johnson for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mrs. Stoltenberg, you want to look at one of the books you compiled. Send it up to you . I will get someone to come down and get it. While we do that let me ask dr. Levitino a question. Is there any circumstance you would agree a woman should have a right to have an abortion to, abort a fetus that was, that arose from incest or rape . If i were a congressman, sir, i would support such a law. You would support a law that would ban not ban. Allow. That would allow. So you believe that its a woman, should have a right to choose in the case of incest or rape . If a woman is pregnant by incest or rape, her child is innocent all the same. Morally i have a great problem with that. Politically, i would vote for such a law. And what about you, mrs. Thayer . Two wrongs dont make a right. Sperm meets egg. Unique dna. Heartbeat at 21 days. Never okay to have an abortion. We have 57 million missing people since 1973. So you went to work at planned parenthood knowing that part of the work that planned parenthood does is terminating pregnancies . Actually, no, i didnt. You did not know that when you went to work . No, i started there as clinic assistant. Let me ask you this question. You are a woman who was fired by planned parenthood and you are a disgruntled exemployee, is that correct . Well that is what they say, but im you were fired, correct . I was, they were downsizing. You are now disgruntled is that not correct. No, that is not correct. So you love planned parenthood . I loved my work there. There were things that happened there i knew were wrong like making medicaideligible women pay for their pills. Do you believe they should be defunded . Indeed i do. I dont think one more dime of taxpayer money should go to an organization that is wrought with fraud. Well, dr. Levitino. Thank you, miss thayer. You have a lawsuit pending. I do. Whistleblower. Its a case where you will make a lot of mon in. We havent made talked about that. You will make a lot of money if you win, take it from me. I dont need a lamborghini. My ford fiesta is paid for. Money doesnt matter to you. Right. Telling the truth is what matters. Well, mr. Left tino, as far as you know, planned parenthood doesnt make political contributions, does it . I have no idea what contributions planned parenthood makes. Or if they do make contributions . They dont do it, do they, mrs. Fredrickson . Im not familiar with the entire Corporate Structure of planned parenthood. All right. Well, doctor, are you aware of the stories of the many women who have, whose lives literally been saved by planned parenthood . In what way, sir . Well, that is not my question. My question is, are you aware of that being the case . Hard to answer the question without knowing what context youre asking it. How about you, miss thayer . I guess i would ask the same question. You dont want to answer the question then. Well, you havent heard about the story of tiffany who was so broke that she couldnt afford a regular doctors visit so, planned parenthood, was her only option. And, that a routine pap smear at planned parenthood diagnosed her with Cervical Cancer. The early discovery of which, saved her life. Youre not familiar with tiffanys case . I guess i would ask how much money they asked from tiffany after they did her pap smear. Im sure it was gladly payable for her life to be saved. It would be 50 of whatever her charges were that day. Could not be more than the value of her life, i can guarranty you that. Im sure she is quite happy that the little bit she paid. If she would have gone to federally qualified Health Center would have been free. Maybe she could not have gotten transportation. Well, in my town four blockses from planned parenthood. That is in your neighborhood. There are other people with different circumstances and shouldnt you be concerned about them . Well there is 20 free clinics for everyone planned parenthood. I mean, compared to planned parenthood, theyre everywhere. The purpose of this hearing was to shut down planned parenthood because of abortion. The time of the gentleman has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Gohmert, for five minutes. Would you yield back to me briefly . I yield back. Thank you. I just want to state for the record, regarding the point must thayer just made, in the state of georgia, there are four planned parenthood locations. Most are all of which provide abortion services. In georgia there are 274 other Health Care Alternatives that provide Womens Services that do not provide abortions. So in terms of convenience and location to get to, i think there would be a good argument there is much more convenience to get to Health Care Facilities, Public Health care facilities that do not include abortion services. The gentleman [inaudible]. Thank you. Reclaiming my time. Miss thayer, there was some effort to cast doubt on your capabilities in working for planned parenthood since you were not an attorney. I dont know how many attorneys we have running planned parenthood facilities but, i hope there arent many. There is typically one probably per affiliate. Really . One lawyer per planned parenthood affiliate . Yes. They do lobbying. They run the pac, the Political Action committee. Planned parenthood has a pac . Yes indeed. They make donations how maam mammograms do those pacs do no. Planned parenthood does not do mammograms. So if we cut federal funding for planned parenthood across the country, how many women would not, would be denied mammograms . Zero. But if we cut funding for planned parenthood, there would be some lawyers that do lobbying and, some people that get political donations that would not be getting those political donations and lawyers that would have to look for some other form of money and financing, right . Yes. , my friend from california hadnt indicated, there was a myth that if we defund planned parenthood that we could provide services to all the women that planned parenthood had been helping. And yet, when we hear the actual facts, it turns out, wow, if we provided the money directly to Health Care Facilities that do nothing but help women with the full range of services for women, including mammograms and things, that planned parenthood never does, it sound like that women would have even better services, more services, even though a lot of hearts would break for the lawyers that would not be able to get the federal funding and be able to lobby and donate to our democratic friend. I was so pleased with the comment from my friend from tennessee that benghazi was politics. That is exactly what we have been trying to get to. It was politics you had people meeting here in america in washington while people were dying, while tai woods was gathering david and glen doherty and going to the rooftop to man guns trying to protect people in those facilities. Yes, benghazi was about politics. And i would love to know what the president was doing that night because i can tell you, if i had people that worked for me, my personal ambassador is missing, i could not go to bed and yet, apparently there was plenty of rest before he went to the fundraiser in las vegas the next day. Yes, my colleague is right, benghazi was about politics and we need to get to the bottom of why those four people were killed. While nobody in washington that knew what was going on lifted a finger. And why david oben doesnt get an american plane. Somebody else has to provide a plane. He is on a gurney and theyre beating his leg blown off against the sides of that little plane, while somebody in washington knows but theyre doing nothing. You bet it was politics. And a lot, four people died and a lot of people suffered because of that politics. This is a hearing about planned parenthood. My colleagues want to keep talking about benghazi. I felt like if theyre going to bring it up, we need to say yes, that was politics and we need to find out why it was so political instead of coming together as americans and protecting those people harmed. My time expired. The chair recognizes gentleman from florida, mr. Deutch. For five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, remarkable to me the two most important issues majority colliding into one hearing. A planned parenthood hearing has become a hearing on benghazi. Yesterday the house create ad select committee to investigate abortion practices. Meaning todays hearing is even more pointless than it was before. House Judiciary Committee one of four committees here in the house investigating planned parenthood. What exactly are we investigating today . Lets be clear, no one said this yet but we just need to be clear about it. The goal of the the ma is to return to a nation where roe v. Wade is not law of the land and where women do not enjoy constitutional right the Supreme Court made clear they have to make decisions about their own body. That is what this is about. I dont know why were hear. Were not here to talk about fruitless investigations undertaken by six different states including my own that failed to find any illegal wrongdoing by planned parenthood. Were not here to discuss merits of fetal tissue donation given new england journal of medicine wrote virtually every person in this can country benefited from research on fetal tissue. Were not here to discuss a court order mandate center for medical progress turn over misleading and fraudulent documentation. This is only here to smear a provider helps millions of women each year, enjoys higher Approval Rating than i guess any member in this body enjoys. Now as this committee contemplates medical ethics of womens reproductive freedoms, i ask this question, where are the medical ethics not holding any hearingses on gun violence epidemic that claims the lives 30,000 americans every year . What are the medical ethics of not holding a hearing on the 12,000 homicides and accidental gun deaths and 18,000 gun deaths by suicide that occur every year . What are the medical ethics of states trying to ban pediatricians discussing basic gun Safety Measures with parents . This house Judiciary Committee has held zero hearings on gun violence epidemic that claims american lives every day. Every day. An average of 88 americans die of gunshot wounds. Nor has this Committee Held hearings on deadly Mass Shootings inflicted so much grief in communities across america. Not after tucson. Not after aurora. Not after newtown. Not after santa barbara, and none scheduled after roseburg. Not after 200 or more Mass Shootings occurred in 2015 alone. October is domestics violence Awareness Month n 2013 alone, more than 1600 women were murdered by men and 94 of them were gun deaths. While this committee continues redundant attacks against Womens Health, it ignores reality every day american women are murdered due to domestic gun violence. As Congress Works to assure that women face more humiliating obstacles to abortion access, stand idly by and people skirt background checks and get guns to commit horrific crimes. The American People are rightly frustrated with congress, taking any action, basic action closing gun show loophole in aftermath of so much devastation. There are dozens of bills that deserve hearings in this committee of their jurisdiction, this one, Judiciary Committee. I dont have the time to name them all. I will name a few. There is bipartisan Public Safety and Second Amendment protection act introduced by congressman thompson and king that would close gun sale loopholes with comprehensive background checks for all purchases. There is congressman quigleys trace act that to empower Law Enforcement to stop the flow of guns to our streets by traffickers make a living selling guns to criminals. There is congresswoman maloneys legislation lift ban on Federal Reserve on gun violence and how to best curb it. There is my own legislation, the safe and responsibility firearms transfers act to prevent guns being sold without background checks. Not one of those bills, not one, has been the subject of a hearing from this committee, mr. Chairman. Not even a hearing where the majority can bring in witnesses tell us why bipartisan proposals supported overwhelmingly by American People an gun owners are somehow too extreme. There has not been a single hearing in 114th congress on any common sense improvements to our gun laws. The American People are already frustrated with congress for failing to act on gun violence. The time for silence on this issue is over. You know, at the beginning of the hearing today one of my colleagues talked about the selfimposed blindness, selfimposed blindness. That is the selfimposed blindness congress has to gun violence. He said that the humanity of the victims, hopes, becomes so glaring that it moves an entire generation of the American People. I can only hope that the humanity of the victims of the thousands, tens of thousands of lives lost to gun violence might move this confess to finally take action. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Chair recognizes the gentleman from idaho, mr. Labrador, five minutes. Would the gentleman yield to me briefly . Yes i will. I would like to say there are right now on the books hundreds of federal gun control laws and regulations and yet in the last six years the enforcement, prosecutions for violations of all those laws are down by 30 . It seems to me that an administration that is led by an individual who calls for more laws every time we have one of these tragedies, ought to go look in the mirror and determine what is the appropriate to. Will the gentleman yield . I will not yield, gentlemans from idahos time. It is it is problem that can be addressed with the laws that exist now. There are, by the organization that is actual subject of this hearing today, 350,000 plus or minus, abortions conducted by this organization every year. Nearly 1,000, nearly 1,000 a day. Thats why were here, focused on this hearing today to make sure that were aware of whether more laws are needed to protect the lives of unborn. I yield back to the gentleman from idaho. I thank him. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for making that point that i was also going to make. Hard to sit here and be lectured about Something Like that when apparently there is no concern for the lives of children, babies, babies born alive. Doctor levitino, can you tell me how many babies are aborted every single day, do you know. I have no idea. Do you know miss thayer . There is 3 in iowa every day. Think of it as kindergarten class every day. Do you know how many lateterm abortions in iowa. No, not exactly. Miss fredrickson . First, i dont think lateterm is actual a technical term so i dont know how to respond to that but i dont know the number of abortions that take place every day in america is. You dont. Youre an expert on issue. Im not here to talk about medical procedures. Im here to talk about the law. I was just lectured at the number of deaths and i just wanted to know if the panel knew how many children who are being killed every single day, that we know. Do you know . I believe it is almost 4,000 a day, not by planned parenthood but by the abortion industry. Do you know how many lateterm abortions over 20 weeks. Do you know those numbers . No. Thank you. Continue to emphasize this is not simply question of legality of planned parenthoods actions. We may never find the answer it the questions whether theyre legal or not legal. Reducing human beings to commodities. By selling fetal

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