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tammy duckworth
Senate GOP Blocks IVF Bill, Showing How Extreme 'Whole Party Is'
"This is the third time they've blocked legislation to protect IVF nationwide," said the sponsor, Sen. Tammy Duckworth. "This is who Republicans are."
Jun 13, 2024
After blocking a vote on the Right to Contraception Act last week, U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday similarly prevented the chamber from weighing in on "a bill to protect and expand nationwide access to fertility treatment, including in vitro fertilization."
Only Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined with Democrats for the 48-47 procedural vote on Sen. Tammy Duckworth's (D-Ill.) Right to IVF Act, which needed three-fifths majority support to hold a final vote in the chamber.
"IVF access has helped countless American families to form and grow. This bill would have protected their access to this healthcare and all the hope it represents amidst active MAGA threats to ban IVF," Indivisible said on social media Thursday. "Following this vote on the Right to IVF Act, all those people now know exactly where their senators stand."
"This is the kind of thing Democrats need to do more of. Go on offense. Force Republicans on the record. Don't let them say one thing and do another," the group asserted just months away from the November general election. "Republicans have waffled on this for months. When finally forced to take action, the GOP was too chicken."
Indivisible emphasized that "this legislation contains basic, popular things that actually enjoy wide support among Democratic and Republican voters alike. It would have been safe and frankly smart for most of the GOP to vote for it. But this shows how loyal to anti-choice extremists the whole party is."
"This amounts to a total refusal to protect our access to reproductive healthcare. It is truly indefensible."
Senate Majority Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)—who changed his vote to "no" so he can bring the bill up again—said on the chamber's floor Thursday that "it is a contradiction to claim you are pro-family but then turn around and block protections for IVF."
"In a perfect world a bill like this would not be necessary," Schumer argued, "but after the fiasco of the Alabama Supreme Court decision, and the generally MAGA views of some on the [U.S.] Supreme Court, Americans are genuinely worried that IVF is the next target of anti-choice extremists."
The Alabama Supreme Court in February delivered what critics called a "radically theocratic" decision, recognizing frozen embryos as children. IVF clinics swiftly stopped operating in the state and fears about the future of fertility treatments mounted nationwide.
Alabama state legislators swiftly worked to pass new IVF protections, but the Mobile Infirmary Health and the Center for Reproductive Medicine said in March that "the law falls short of addressing the fertilized eggs currently stored across the state and leaves challenges for physicians and fertility clinics trying to help deserving families have children of their own."
Since then, many GOP political figures across the country have claimed to support such in vitro fertilization—including the 49 Senate Republicans who signed a Wednesday statement led by Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who also pushed a competing IVF bill. However, Democratic leaders and reproductive rights advocates warn that like abortion and birth control, fertility care remains at risk of being restricted by right-wingers unless Congress passes legislation to protect it.
"Republicans talk a big game. But they will vote to block protections for IVF, just like they did for contraception," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said before the vote. "Talk is cheap. Only Democrats are fighting to protect abortion, contraception, and IVF."
Duckworth—who led the bill alongside Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.)—declared: "This is the third time they've blocked legislation to protect IVF nationwide. This is who Republicans are."
Campaigners were similarly critical on Thursday. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising, said in a statement that "it is shameful, and it is harmful that U.S. Senate Republicans today refused to take the simple, necessary step of passing a wildly popular bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization."
"Together with Republicans' refusal to enshrine our right to contraception into federal law and to codify Roe v. Wade, this amounts to a total refusal to protect our access to reproductive healthcare. It is truly indefensible," Rowe-Finkbeiner continued. "The need for a federal law is indisputable in the wake of the appalling actions by Alabama legislators who have still not clarified that embryos are not people with the same rights as children, and legislative proposals that threaten IVF access in other states."
After listing the Right to IVF Act's provisions and noting the thousands of babies born thanks to such care, she concluded that "no family should ever have to fear that access to IVF will be denied or that they will be prosecuted for using it. But Republicans in the U.S. Senate today refused to offer that simple protection. Moms will not forget this vote."
In addition to deciding which party will control each chamber of Congress, U.S. voters in November are set to choose between Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump, who has bragged about appointing half of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
"I have long said that overturning Roe v. Wade was just the beginning of a full-on attack on fundamental freedoms, and this is the latest indication that extremists plan to go much further," Vice President Kamala Harris said in a campaign statement about the Senate vote on Thursday.
"Unlike Donald Trump, President Biden and I believe a politician should never come between a woman and her doctor—whether that be for abortion care, contraception, or treatment like IVF," she added. "In November, Americans have a chance to stand up for reproductive freedom of all forms by rejecting Donald Trump and his extremist allies."
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Senate GOP Blocks Effort to Federally Protect IVF Access
"Remember this the next time they claim to care about freedom and family," said one Democratic lawmaker.
Feb 28, 2024
Democratic U.S. lawmakers and reproductive rights defenders on Wednesday blasted congressional Republicans and former U.S. President Donald Trump after a GOP senator blocked a bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization a week after Alabama's right-wing Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) objected to a request to pass by unanimous consent a bill introduced by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to federally protect IVF access, claiming that the bill is "a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far."
Calling the bill "a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far," Hyde-Smith claimed it would legalize human cloning, gene-edited "designer babies," and commercial surrogacy, "including for young girls without parental involvement."
Duckworth accused her colleague of misreading the legislation, asserting that "it simply says you have a statutory right should you choose to pursue assisted reproductive technology."
Democratic lawmakers reacted angrily to Hyde-Smith's move—and to Republican attacks on reproductive freedom.
"Once again, Republicans have shown their true colors,"
said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). "Republicans are claiming to support IVF while voting down the very bill that would do that. Actions speak louder than words."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
said on social media: "I wish I could say I'm surprised. Senate Republicans just blocked our attempt to pass Sen. Duckworth's bill to protect nationwide access to IVF. Republicans will stop at nothing to deny women in America their fundamental rights and freedoms."
In the House, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) lamented Republicans' attack on legislation that would "protect Americans' right to start a family through IVF."
"Remember this the next time they claim to care about freedom and family," Clark added.
Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Duckworth said: "Let's be clear about what led to this moment. The overturning of Roe is what made last week's ruling even possible."
"Donald Trump is the one who bragged about taking down Roe v. Wade," she added. "Donald Trump acts as if that's something to be proud of."
Trump—the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner despite facing 91 federal and state criminal charges—appointed three right-wing anti-abortion justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. All three were part of the 6-3 majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which voided half a century of federal abortion rights.
Following last week's Alabama ruling—which prompted multiple IVF clinics to suspend operations in the state—Trump and other Republicans scrambled to distance themselves from the deeply unpopular decision.
However, Duckworth said Wednesday that "while it may now be convenient" for Trump "to claim that he had nothing to do with what happened in Alabama, we know the truth: IVF is at risk because of him. He is to blame."
"Him and every other GOP official who shamelessly kisses his ring, proving with every word that they they that they care more about protecting his poll numbers than protecting Americans' freedoms," she added.
At the Center for American Progress, senior vice president for inclusive growth Emily Gee said that "Republicans have been on a relentless crusade to strip women of their fundamental freedom to control their own reproductive destinies and medical decisions—seeking to ban abortion, restrict contraception, and limit fertility options for Americans trying to grow their families."
"They have been emboldened and enabled by Donald Trump and his hand-picked U.S. Supreme Court justices, who have misinterpreted the Constitution to rip away Americans' rights and enforce their extreme MAGA ideology on all of us," she continued.
"Senate Republicans' decision to block legislation affirming Americans' ability to obtain IVF treatment is a moral abomination as well as an insult to families devastated by the Alabama Supreme Court's recent ruling," Gee added. "Today, they have made painstakingly clear that there's no limit to their agenda to intrude upon women's most personal decisions. That is an intrusion that Americans will continue to reject."
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Manchin Says He'll Oppose Julie Su for Labor Secretary, Citing Her 'Progressive Background'
"Julie Su has already done what Sen. Manchin says she can't," Sen. Mazie Hirono argued, noting how the nominee "brought labor and industry together to avert a potentially catastrophic port strike."
Jul 13, 2023
Right-wing Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said Thursday that he'll oppose President Joe Biden's nomination of Julie Su to head the Labor Department, a move that could torpedo the progressive acting secretary's confirmation chances in a divided Senate.
"I believe the person leading the U.S. Department of Labor should have the experience to collaboratively lead both labor and industry to forge compromises acceptable to both parties," Manchin (D-W.Va.)—a recurrent obstructor of his own party's agenda—said in a statement.
"While her credentials and qualifications are impressive, I have genuine concerns that Julie Su's more progressive background prevents her from doing this and for that reason I cannot support her nomination to serve as secretary of labor," he added.
Manchin's opposition does not necessarily sink Su's nomination. However, Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) have not yet said if she will get their votes. She may not need them, as a 1946 law allows the deputy labor chief to indefinitely "perform the duties of the secretary until a successor is appointed."
Still, some Senate Democrats said they were optimistic about Su's confirmation chances.
"I think she'll be a very good labor secretary," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday. "And we're working hard to get her approved."
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) toldNBC News that "she's gonna have enough votes. We're gonna confirm her."
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said in a statement that Su is "the most qualified candidate to be our next labor secretary."
"There is no one more ready and prepared to lead the department on day one than she is," Duckworth added.
As Roll Callreports:
Su's nomination has been the subject of lobbying by outside groups, according to first-quarter disclosures. At least 23 companies and interest groups lobbied on the nomination, including 10 that publicly oppose Su and nine that support her.
Groups opposing Su—including the National Restaurant Association, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and the Flex Association, a group that represents rideshare companies—reported spending at least $3.4 million on lobbying in the first quarter of this year on the nomination and other policy issues.
Unions and civil rights groups have come to Su's defense, disclosing about $2.1 million on first-quarter lobbying spending. Supporters include the Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Government Employees, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the Society for Human Resource Management.
Su, who previously served as labor secretary of California and deputy U.S. labor secretary, made a name for herself representing some of the most vulnerable workers in the nation, including as the lead attorney in a case involving Thais trafficked in a Los Angeles-area sweatshop.
The 54-year-old has been serving as acting head of the Labor Department since former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh resigned in March to take a job leading the National Hockey League Players Association.
In April, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asserted that opposition to Su "has nothing to do with her qualifications" and "everything to do with the fact that [she] is a champion of the working class who will stand up against the forces of corporate greed."
Last week, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights reaffirmed its support for Su, tweeting that "there is no one more prepared to move into this role and lead the department as it undertakes its critical mission to protect working people."
This is not the first time that Manchin—who is up for reelection next year and is widely suspected of considering a presidential run—has opposed one of Biden's Labor Department nominations. Along with Sinema and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), he effectively ended David Weil's bid to head the agency's Wage and Hour Division by voting last year against advancing his nomination.
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