Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week for a two-week stretch to deal with a potpourri of issues, headlined by the Democratic response to the leaked opinion draft by the Supreme Court that could precipitate the end of Roe v. Wade.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) late last week teed up a vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would essentially codify Roe into law. The vote is expected to take place midweek. There is little drama surrounding the vote, as it will fail, just as the vote on a similar bill did in late February. The only question at this point surrounds what three senators — Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — will do. Collins and Murkowski, the lone Senate Republicans who support abortion rights, have criticized the legislation and argue it does not offer enough protection for Catholic hospitals and other religious entities that decline to perform abortions. Collins has proposed her own narrower bill, but Schumer has declined to bring it up for a vote. As for Manchin, he was the lone Senate Democrat to side with Republicans in the February vote. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the West Virginia centrist said that he is “looking at everything” but declined to say how he would vote (The Washington Post). Nevertheless, Democratic leaders are plowing ahead.
This is about something so serious and so personal and so disrespectful of women,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “Here we are on Mother’s Day, a week where the court has slapped women in the face in terms of disrespect for their judgments about the size and timing of their families”
Along with the abortion push this week, the House will vote on a resolution granting congressional aides the ability to unionize, while the Jan. 6 select committee is gearing up for a new public phase of its investigation, with public hearings set to take place next month
The leaked opinion is also spawning renewed calls by Democrats and progressives to add justices to the Supreme Court, fueled by the possibility that the court will not end with Roe v. Wade and could overturn other landmark decisions. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said the change is needed to “restore balance” to the court, according to The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. Schumer, however, has not jumped on board, saying in recent days that his focus is on this week’s vote.
The Hill: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says Roe v. Wade created a “constitutional right that didn’t exist.”
The Hill: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) says Justice Samuel Alito is “taking us back to the 1850s.”
They will just spend our money to protect the temples of the Jesuits and the butchers. That will be an easy fix. Why aren’t church leaders screaming about this? I wonder if God will ask them one day: Where were you? This is a time Christians should stand & speak out.
Your absolutely right the Church should be out there supporting this decision!
Hey Nancy, disrespect is when you refuse to,listen to the people about what that want and don’t want put into their bodies. It is a two way steeet.