Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. This has been a good debate this evening. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for the time you have allowed this body to stand and have this debate. There has been a lot said. A couple of things, I think, do need to be corrected.

Mr. Chair, we are thinking about the American taxpayer, and we are thinking about our responsibility to the taxpayer. This is not a debate about a vendetta; this is not a debate about Planned Parenthood; this is not a debate about something that is extreme. What this is tonight is a debate about our stewardship and our responsibility to the American people.

Our discussion tonight--and I thank Mr. Pence for his leadership on this--is how we fund this government in a responsible manner and how we get this government back on track. The taxpayers are weighing in. They're reminding us that we, the Members of the House, are the keepers of the purse of this great Nation, and that it is important that we have these discussions. They want us to do it respectfully; they want us to do it responsibly; and they want us to make wise decisions.

Quite frankly, Mr. Chairman, to give $363 million in taxpayer funds to an organization that has not conducted itself in a manner that suggests it deserves those funds is not respectful of the taxpayer.

I want to go back to what Mr. Pence said at the beginning of the debate, that this is a debate about who pays. No one is saying that Planned Parenthood has to stop operating or has to stop being an advocate for abortion. What we are saying is that the American taxpayer should not have to foot the bill, especially for an organization that is facing criminal charges, that has admitted wrongdoing, and that is accused of endangering the safety of Americans. The American taxpayers should not have to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on this.

I encourage my colleagues to stand for appropriate stewardship of the taxpayer dollars and to support and vote ``yes'' on the Pence amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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