Waiving Points of Order Against Conference Report on H.R. 4818, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 and Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. 114

WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4818, CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 AND PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.J. RES. 114, MAKING FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2005, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES -- (House of Representatives - November 20, 2004)

Mr. PUTNAM. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 866 and ask for its immediate consideration.

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Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I rise to express my great regrets about the inclusion of the Weldon-authored provision that undermines the rights of a State to enforce its own laws.

If this bill passes, and I am sure it will, that means that from now on State and local governments failing to comply with the Weldon provision put at risk all of their State Medicaid funding, all their SCHIP funding, all their Head Start money, all their child care development block grant money, and all their social services block grant money. In short, anything that comes to the State or local government from the Labor-HHS bill. How is that for coming down with a pretty heavy hand?

Simply put, it restricts the States' autonomy and right to self-governance and undermines States' ability to enforce their own constitutional protections.

If a State chooses to enforce its own laws and require an HMO to provide abortion counseling or services, it will pay a very heavy price. None of us, I believe, are going to want to explain to the senior citizens that the nutrition programs are over, that Medicare is gone, that the Social Security check will not be there, denying the Federal funds for State and local governments that attempts to ensure that a woman has full access to reproductive health services and information. Information. Once again, the land of the free and the home of the brave is going to control the information going to its citizens.

In fact, the way the proposal is worded, even Federal programs could be stripped of their funds if they were to comply with this law. Moreover, it interferes with State and local governments' responsibility to set the parameters of their Medicaid programs, something that they are very concerned about. And I know that New York, which I represent, is very concerned about the cost of Medicaid.

Right now, if a woman is raped and receives her health care from Medicaid, States can force all HMOs that participate in Medicaid to either pay for her abortion or tell her that she is eligible to get that coverage and where she can get it. If this provision passes, the States will not be able to enforce this requirement and Medicaid HMOs can simply refuse to cover the woman's abortion and not give her any information that she can get coverage elsewhere. I am sure that is what the intent is.

It even interferes with, and possibly overrides, current Federal laws, such as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which ensures that women in life-threatening circumstances receive the medical care they need.

Suppose a woman comes into the emergency room of a hospital with an incomplete miscarriage which can threaten her life. Under present law, the hospital must stabilize her. If stabilizing requires completing the abortion, they have to do it no matter what their religious belief. But when Weldon passes, the hospital can say it is discrimination to force them to do this and so the woman can just die.

I call on my colleagues to understand what is happening here. I know when the women in America find out what is happening here, there is going to be great outrage.

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