Davis Opening Statement at Markup of H.R. 10356
(As prepared for delivery)
Mr. Chairman, mothers and families are suffering under increasing strains caused by the Trump economy. The President’s tariffs and the Iran war have driven up prices for everyday necessities, including sharp increases in food prices and record-high gas prices. Wages are not keeping up with inflation, and parents can’t find affordable child care that allows them to work.
A few weeks ago, the Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support had the honor of hearing from Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, the founder of MomsRising that represents millions of moms across the country. I asked her, “What do moms need from Congress?”
Her list was clear. Moms need affordable child care that meets their children’s needs. Moms need paid family leave when they have a new child or a serious medical issue so they can care for themselves or their families without fear of losing their jobs. Moms need the child tax credit to help them pay for the skyrocketing cost of basic necessities. And, moms need health care so they can work and care for their families.
Families need real assistance now, not an expansion of a problematic website. This bill is not what moms asked for, and it is not what they need.
Instead of truly helping moms, this bill and the Trump Administration want to help anti-abortion centers find funding and hide information about health clinics and hospitals from pregnant women. Sadly, we know from experience that so-called crisis pregnancy centers put women’s lives at risk. But my Republican colleagues have refused to even require crisis pregnancy centers to provide medically-accurate information, and now they want to direct money to them but not to families that are struggling.
Contrary to the Chairman’s assertion that this biased and inaccurate website will help moms navigate a confusing landscape of local resources, this bill will make it much harder and more confusing. This “resource directory” will intentionally exclude any resource that has even an “affiliation” with a hospital providing health care to women that a political appointee at HHS labels an abortion. As a result, the website might exclude the only provider of women’s health care in some communities and especially in tribal nations, or even exclude a home visiting program or prenatal care program simply because they partner with a hospital that honors a woman’s right to choose or even provides appropriate post-miscarriage care.
I also am alarmed that this bill lacks any confidentiality of the sensitive information it collects. HHS could sell or gift this private information to crisis pregnancy centers, other extremist organizations, or even for-profit businesses to harass Americans.
This bill provides no money for child care or paid leave or health insurance or food or job training. None. This bill is just another grift for Trump supporters to access and profit off our private data.
Even if the website envisioned by this bill wasn’t clearly intended to promote an ideological agenda, overseen only by Secretary Kennedy and his record number of political staff, Congress shouldn’t be giving women lists of private organizations to beg for help as the solution to their current struggles. Congress should invest in an economy with good-paying jobs, lower prices, and the paid leave and child care that will give all parents a fair shot at moving up the economic ladder.
Parents don’t need a website that gives their contact information to anti-abortion centers that promote ideology instead of asking people what help they need. Parents need their leaders to stand up to anyone who is driving up prices and wasting their tax dollars on vanity projects and enriching the politically connected, even if that person is the President of the United States.
This bill fails families, and I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill.
###