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“But the fact is that, unless we embrace science, all the things, it’s a national security issue how we defend our country, how we preserve God’s precious gift to us, this planet, how we preserve that, how we advance health wise, how we compete [for] jobs [and] the rest. We really have to – we really have to win this fight as to what the role science is and it is certainly not contradictory to being God-given.”

“It’s a very important day; as we gather here, in the floor of the House we’re debating in the Violence Against Women Act. Some of the women engaged in the debate may be joining us to answer some of your questions momentarily – depending on the timing on the floor. Eighteen years ago it was, Members of Congress came together, in a bipartisan way, to make history: with the original passage of the Violence Against Women Act, we helped ensure that the victims of domestic violence would no longer have to suffer in silence.”

“Today, on the floor of the House, we will see a debate on the budget which clearly defines the values and visions of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. I wish that this were a statement that we could come together on what our priorities are for the education of our children, job creation for our workers, retirement and health security for our seniors, safety in our neighborhoods, and the air our children breathe, and security for our country, all done in a fiscally sound way. Nothing partisan, nothing political about that.”

“Good morning. Thank you all for your nice welcome. Thank you all for being here. I don’t know where you’ll go next year, you get larger and larger, and I think this is one of the biggest spaces in the Capitol. But it is wonderful to see so many of you here. The leadership and intellectual power that you bring to this debate, the constituents, in terms of your organizations that you represent. It’s my honor to join my colleagues on being part of this welcoming CAPAC [Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus] ceremony.”

“What we’re talking about today directly relates to what keeps people up at night. Their economic security, the education of their children, the health of their families, the list goes on. Some of those are addressed in this legislation. I think we all agree, the greatest thing the country can do, and that a family can do, is to invest in the education of the next generation. The education of our children. Imagine if we’re sitting around that kitchen table, as a family, as we are, and we say as a family ‘in order for your to go to college, we’re not going to be able to immunize your little brother or sister, we’re not going to be able to have preventative care, in terms of screening for breast cancer, cervical cancer, the list goes on and on, for your mom, or any other preventative care for men and women, in our family. That just would be wrong. As a nation, is that a statement of our values? That you must choose between the education of your children and the health of your family? It’s just not right. Especially, when you have a situation where we had this fight over and over again.”

“President Obama took the issue to the public explaining why and what the difference this makes in terms of the obligation and the burden that would be on America’s families. Apparently he made the issue too hot for the Republicans to handle because now, today, they’re saying “okay, we will postpone the increase in interest rates for one year,” by bringing a bill to the floor that says “we will do this, but we will only reduce the interest rates by making an assault on women’s health, a continuation of their assault on women’s health.” Just before we came to this press availability, the President issued a veto threat. The Administration issued a Statement of Administration Policy, which said that if the “President is presented with H.R. 4628, his [advisors] would recommend he veto the bill.” And the reason why is because this prevention fund, from which they want to take the money, is very important to women’s health.”

Unless Congress acts, the interest rates on more than 7 million students will double to 6.8 percent on July 1st. Failure to act now will add $6.3 billion to students’ debt burden in one year alone. The doubling of loan rates will… Continue

“We will not support a bill that robs Peter to pay Paul, which ostensibly supports a middle class initiative while making those very same people pay for it. I don’t know what it is that the Republicans have against the idea that there is a positive role that we can do in a public private way to make America healthier, that a woman’s health is central to the health of her family. They consider it a slush fund to pay for women’s health. We consider it an absolute necessity. And that is the difference here. So we will be whipping against the student loan bill as it is proposed by the Republicans in the House.”

“What the motion that we have here today, is to say that: ‘instead of taking the money, instead of robbing Paula to pay Peter, we should be taking the money from the tax subsidies that go to Big Oil in our country.’ That’s what we should be doing. Isn’t that a better show of what our values are? That we value the health of our women and our children. Why would we – and not only, to make matters worse, not only are they suggesting that we take the money from the prevention fund, the immunization and screening for breast cancer, and cervical cancer, and other women’s health issues, not only are they saying we should take the five or six billion dollars from there, they’re saying we should take the additional $5 billion that would be left in the account and repeal it – repeal it. We’re not even – we’re taking twice as much money as we need for the student loan bill because we want to do away, we’re going to use this as an excuse to do away with this prevention initiative that affects women’s health so directly. It’s outrageous. It’s outrageous. We prefer tax subsidies for Big Oil rather than the health of America’s women. Once again, they’re targeting women’s health.”

“It also eliminates the Affordable Care Act provisions that are in effect now. That means that $3.2 billion are saved by about 5 million seniors, by trying to close the donut hole, that would be gone. It means that the annual wellness checkup without a copay, that would be gone. It means the 2.5 million students who are on their parents’ policy until age 26, that would be gone. That means that every child, to the tune of millions of kids in our country, with a preexisting medical condition, asthma, diabetes, birth defects, you name it, they cannot be discriminated against because of preexisting medical conditions, that would be gone because of what they have done. “