Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. PERDUE. Madam President, I rise today to talk about why I am here, and really why all of us are here. We are here to represent the people of our great States. We are here to do the people's business and to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

We just finished an ongoing debate about how Congress can direct and guide foreign policy in the United States. In doing so, we have seen the dangerous consequences of partisan politics right here on the Senate floor and how that can affect this process. Just last week, 42 of my Democratic colleagues supported President Obama's dangerous nuclear deal with Iran while still having serious concerns about its global ramifications.

Now we must refocus our attention on solving our fiscal crisis and tackling our skyrocketing national debt. State governments across the country set both funding levels and clear priorities for their States each year based on the needs of their people and their local communities. Washington has been distracted from this for far too long. Balancing the budget and efficiently allocating resources is what Washington has not done well for the last several years. Too many people here are preoccupied by politics of the day when getting our fiscal house in order should always be the top priority. In other words, Washington has stopped listening to the American people. Well, I--and a few of us, including the Presiding Officer--am indeed listening. The American people told us what they wanted in November of last year when the Presiding Officer and I were elected. Georgians tell me repeatedly--even now--what they want. They want less government. They want less spending. They want us to push back against President Obama's out-of-control spending and Executive overreaches that are failing the working men and women of America. The bottom line is they want us to deal with this debt crisis.

Earlier this year, the Senate Budget Committee took a great first step by passing a balanced budget for the first time since 2001. This budget outlined our conservative principles and spending limits. This budget spends $7 trillion less than the President's budget over the next 10 years. What it doesn't do is reduce the debt today or deal with the over $100 trillion of future unfunded liabilities coming at us like a freight train. It does balance in 10 years, which is quite an achievement given what we had to work with, but more can and must be done right now. So I am going to continue my focus on cutting wasteful spending and reducing Federal expenditures with the goal of developing a long-term plan to pay down this out-of-control massive $18 trillion of Federal debt.

In the last 6 years, we spent $21 1/2 trillion funding our Federal Government. That is so large that it is hard to spend. What I can't understand is of that $21 1/2 trillion, $8 trillion was borrowed. We simply cannot continue going down this road. While one side wants tax increases, the other side wants spending cuts. In my experience, neither alone will solve the equation in its entirety. Growing our economy is the only real solution. Again, the budget is just the first step. We must put our conservative principles into action and work through the regular appropriations process to determine how we responsibly allocate Federal funds.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has put forward 12 appropriations bills that adhere to the Republican budget and that reflect the priorities of the American people. Overall, these bills are under the Budget Control Act caps that were put in place by Congress in 2011 to control spending. More importantly, they better prioritize taxpayer dollars to meet the goals of the American people. For example, these appropriation bills decrease spending on ObamaCare and increase spending for border security. They end the EPA's waters of the United States rule and stop the Obama administration's onerous greenhouse gas regulations. They also prohibit the NLRB from changing the rules of the game, such as the ambush election rule and changing the joint-employer relationship, in order to prevent negative impacts to American workers and business.

They subject the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, to congressional oversight and eliminate hundreds of duplicative programs that have outlived their original mission. The list goes on and on.

The fiscal year ends on September 30. That is only a few days from now. We must move forward and debate these 12 appropriations bills that reflect Georgia values and fulfill the promises we all made to represent the American people.

While we have already seen our Democratic colleagues block such debate on these important bills, I hope we can immediately restart this critical process and return to regular order. Certainly, a full and robust debate on all of these bills is necessary to ensure that our Federal Government continues to function without overspending.

Now, I can tell my colleagues there are some things I would like to change in these bills, but they ought to be debated. It ought to be debated in the open and not blocked by more partisan gridlock that we see here every day. I hope the majority leader will continue to bring these bills to the floor and I hope the objections of my Democratic colleagues will finally end, and let's get to an open and honest debate.

Georgians sent me to the Senate to fight for them, and that is what I intend to do. This is just a start. I will not and I cannot stand by while Senate Democrats continue to block the Senate from doing the people's work as they did every day when they were in charge.

Madam President, I also wish to speak for just a moment on a bill that is going to come up this week focusing on the unborn. I wish to say a few words today in support of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act of which I am a proud cosponsor in the Senate. Simply put, this legislation protects unborn babies from unimaginable pain.

Every child is a blessing, and I am incredibly fortunate that God has blessed my wife and me with two great boys and three grandsons. I will never forget the day we found out we were going to have our first child. It was life changing. When the doctor gave us the exciting news, we were overjoyed, but, at the same time, we were a bit overwhelmed. We were young, like most parents. We were going to become parents. We were going to have a baby. There is a difference.

Like every expectant mother, my wife was glowing. She may not have felt great and maybe didn't think she was glowing, but I assure my colleagues, she was. I will never forget seeing our baby on the ultrasound for the first time, or feeling him kick. And, the day my first son was born, holding him for the very first time was one of the most incredible moments of my life.

When the doctor told us we were going to have our second child, I was concerned we couldn't possibly love this second child as much as we did the first, but, wow, how I was wrong.

Later in life, my wife and I have been blessed with three grandsons who are all great. There is no greater love than that of a parent, although it can be rivaled by that of a grandparent. Believe me, my three grandchildren know how to tug at my heartstrings.

My children and grandchildren are why I am here in the Senate, fighting for them and others like them to have a better future, for my fellow Georgians, for them, and for all Americans.

We live in the most compassionate country in the world. We send food, clothing, and medicine all over the world to help save underprivileged children and families who are struggling to find the basic things they need to survive. It is extremely troubling, therefore, that our country's compassion for life is absent here at home. Only seven countries in the world allow parents to abort a baby after 5 months--only seven. That is not a list America should aspire to be a part of.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, over 10,000 unborn babies 20 weeks or older are killed in America every year. Imagine that for a moment. Each year, more than 10,000 lives, who feel and react to pain, have their lives brutally taken from them.

In my view, this is a national disgrace. It is absolutely unconscionable. I cannot believe protecting life, especially that of the unborn, is an actual subject of debate. One would think this would be an issue of unity, but debate on this important legislation could not have come at a more urgent time.

Recent gruesome videos describe the harvesting and selling of fetal organs and remind our Nation just how barbaric the abortion industry has become. As a parent, and now a grandparent, I find it difficult to imagine that something so horrific can happen in a country as compassionate as America.

Our Nation must promote a culture that values all life. We must protect the innocent and the most vulnerable among us, especially the unborn.

We can protect unborn babies from unimaginable pain. We can protect life.

That is why I support this legislation. That is why I cosponsored it. I urge my colleagues to take it very seriously.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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