Senate Democratic leadership held their weekly press briefing on Tuesday.
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NewsTranscript
00:00All right, thank you all for coming, and I thank Senators Murray and Markey and Hirono.
00:08Well, today is an important anniversary.
00:13Exactly 105 years ago, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to
00:19vote for the first time.
00:21The 19th Amendment was one of the greatest leaps ever in our march to becoming a more
00:27perfect union, and was only possible from decades of sacrifice, of struggle, of persistence,
00:35a lot of which started in upstate New York, I'm proud to say.
00:39Of course, we honor the countless women whose sacrifice struggled and persisted, but we're
00:45also reminded of the daunting but valiant fight ahead.
00:50I am wearing this yellow ribbon.
00:52It was given to me by the National Commission on Suffrage that allowed us to go downstairs
00:59and look at the original document, first time it showed in the Capitol.
01:04But it's in my pocket, not pinned on because the stem broke, appropriate given what the
01:09Supreme Court has done to human rights and women's rights in the last few years.
01:15Okay, we're going to carry so more than a century stands between this generation and
01:22the generation that made it possible for women to vote.
01:26But in many ways, we still share their struggle for greater justice and equality.
01:31We still carry the same moral duty they bore to make our nation a more faithful reflection
01:37of our founding ideals.
01:40The march for equality for women and for all Americans is certainly not over, as the broken
01:45stem indicates, and that is why we Senate Democrats are going to continue to fight for
01:55women's freedoms this week, including a vote on the right to contraception.
02:00When women are told by hard right politicians that their health care decisions are not theirs
02:05to make, the march is still not over.
02:09On this 105th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, we must confront the ugly
02:14truth that women sadly have fewer freedoms than they did just a few years ago.
02:21So tomorrow, the Senate will defend the freedom of choice with a vote on the Right to Contraception
02:28Act led by Markey and Hirono.
02:31Federal protections for contraceptives are a critical piece of protecting women's reproductive
02:35freedoms.
02:37This legislation would codify the right to conception into federal law.
02:42As MAGA Republicans continue to block protections for access to contraceptives at the state
02:48level, there are several states where the legislature is in the process of doing that
02:53right now.
02:54It is vital we protect contraception at the federal level, prevent the states from doing
02:59this.
03:00To those who think that federal action protecting access to birth control is not vital, they
03:05are wrong.
03:07Republicans are openly blocking these protections in states across the country.
03:12And there's going to be more action to come.
03:15Last night, I began the Rule 14 process for the Right to IVF Act led by Senators Duckworth
03:21and Murray and Booker to place it on the legislative calendar and make it available to consideration
03:27on the floor.
03:28I intend to bring this legislation protecting access to IVF up for a vote very soon.
03:35Millions of Americans have relied on IVF to have children, but after a stunningly radical
03:40decision by the Alabama Supreme Court that jeopardized access to IVF, families are rightfully
03:47worried that this option could be stripped away.
03:50Go to any place in America and talk to women, and this is one of the things they're talking
03:54about.
03:55So Senate Democrats will act to safeguard and strengthen IVF access for all Americans
04:00so that everyone has the chance to start a family.
04:03In coming weeks, we will put reproductive freedoms and women's rights front and center
04:08before this chamber in hopes that we can do what we did 105 years ago, create a more
04:16perfect union.
04:18Senator Murray.
04:19Well, earlier today, I chaired a health committee hearing on the damage and cruelty that Republicans'
04:29anti-abortion policies have caused over the past two years since the Dobbs decision.
04:35The shockwaves from Republicans' war on abortion are not dying down, rather they are getting
04:40louder day by day, because every day, another woman in this country learns the abortion
04:46that she needs is now hundreds of miles and thousands of dollars out of reach.
04:52Every day, another woman is confronted with the agonizing reality that she does not have
04:58control over her own body, that Republican politicians are forcing her to remain pregnant
05:05no matter what and denying her the reproductive care that she needs with sometimes dangerous
05:12and even fatal consequences.
05:14At our hearing today, we heard the reality of how the chaos and heartbreak caused by
05:19Republican abortion bans is growing day by day, and we saw how Republicans are still
05:25trying to deny the horrific realities that they have created.
05:31They're not just trying to ignore the harm they've done, they're continuing to peddle
05:35dangerous disinformation about abortion, push even more extreme attacks on reproductive
05:42rights, and pretend the most unhinged policies are somehow moderate, that the most unimaginable
05:48tragedies are somehow humane.
05:51The American people are not buying it.
05:54Republicans' experiences are too personal for Republicans to spin, and the record of
05:59the Republican Party is too clear for them to deny.
06:03Over half of House Republicans support fetal personhood becoming law of the land.
06:10That is at the extreme, in the extreme.
06:13It would mean a nationwide ban on abortion, nationwide from conception.
06:19It would ban emergency contraception like Plan B.
06:23It would ban IUDs.
06:25You should ask Republicans what the heck women with IUDs right now are supposed to do.
06:31It would upend IVF access, as we saw in Alabama, and in some states, it would make women who
06:37get abortions eligible for the death penalty.
06:41That is the policy that the majority of House Republicans have endorsed, including the Speaker.
06:48No one should write this off.
06:50No one should buy Republicans' attempts to downplay it.
06:54Everyone knows actions speak louder than words.
06:57Supporting that bill is an action, and it's a loud one.
07:01Well, another opportunity for action is coming up this week.
07:04Tomorrow, the Senate will vote on the Right to Contraception Act.
07:09The message here is a simple one.
07:11Do you support the right to contraception or not?
07:15The vast majority of Americans absolutely do, overwhelmingly.
07:20But what about Republicans?
07:22One of the Republican witnesses at our hearing this morning, someone Republicans chose to
07:27bring in to represent their arguments, is actively working to ban basic forms of contraception.
07:35That should tell you a lot.
07:37Senate Democrats believe every woman has a right to contraception, whether it's the pill
07:42or Plan B or an IUD.
07:45What could be more common sense and more uncomplicated?
07:48So tomorrow, every single Senate Republican will be put on the record about where they
07:53stand on access to contraception.
07:56You can bet the American people will be watching closely.
08:00And whatever the outcome, you can bet Democrats are going to keep fighting to restore abortion
08:06rights across our country and protect women's reproductive rights across the board.
08:12Thank you.
08:15We should all be asking, why do the Republicans have such an obsession about controlling women's
08:26bodies?
08:28So this month is almost two years since the disastrous Dobbs decision.
08:35And Dobbs wreaked chaos and havoc, but there is more to come.
08:41Justice Thomas called for revisiting Griswold, which is the 1965 case protecting the right
08:48to contraception.
08:49And he pointed to the desire to revisit Griswold in his concurrence to the Dobbs decision.
09:01Justice Alito respects his wife's right to have a flag flying upside down, but he respects
09:14his wife's right to do that, apparently, but he doesn't give a rip about telling millions
09:20of women in this country that they have to have babies.
09:24I said, what's with that?
09:27And just this year, both of those justices suggested the Comstock Act, a Civil War era
09:34law, could be used to restrict access to reproductive services in this country.
09:42Republican states across the country have been blocking or rolling back access to contraception.
09:48Virginia's governor just vetoed a right to contraception bill earlier this year.
09:54And our Republicans blocked a similar bill in their legislature.
09:58Oklahoma's legislature have advanced a bill that would ban access to IUDs and other emergency
10:05contraceptives, and the list goes on.
10:09This abuse of power and control and Republicans' obsessions with controlling women's body continues.
10:16And we should ask, why is that?
10:20So Democrats know women should make decisions about their own bodies.
10:26And for myself, one of the major reasons that I ran for office was my desire to make sure
10:34that women had access to abortion, and we did.
10:37For 50 years, I had a right, a constitutional right, to abortion, which this out-of-control
10:43Supreme Court majority just summarily took away.
10:47So our bill, the right to contraception bill, is very simple.
10:51It says we have a right to contraception and the providers of contraception have a right
10:56to provide the contraception.
10:59It would help ensure people across the healthcare dimension that we will have access to the
11:07contraceptions including IUDs and other methods, Plan B and more.
11:12It doesn't force anybody to use contraception, it doesn't force anybody to provide contraception,
11:19but it's certainly for those who want to have it, who want to allow it, who want to provide
11:23it, will not be stopped by either federal or state law to do that.
11:28And tomorrow, there's going to be a vote on this bill, and my question is, will Republicans
11:32stand with the women and families in this country, or not?
11:41Thank you so much, and thank you to you, Leader Schumer, for bringing the Right to
11:48Contraception Act to a vote.
11:53I introduced the Contraception Act right after the Dobbs decision because it was clear that
12:01the Dobbs decision was just a preview of coming atrocities that were going to put additional
12:11women's rights on the chopping block.
12:15And while the Republicans blocked my attempts in 2022 and 2023 to actually have a vote on
12:24the Senate floor, Senator Schumer is using Rule 14 to ensure that every Republican will
12:32be put on record and the American people will understand where the Republican Party is on
12:41the right to access to contraception in 2024 in the United States of America.
12:49We will vote on this bill to put every member on record, whether they support the right
12:55for people to get contraception and the right for providers to give it in all 50 states.
13:04Maggot extremists have an anti-freedom, anti-rights agenda.
13:09They are offended by the idea that people can make decisions with their doctor to decide
13:15if birth control pills, an IUD, or Plan B works for them.
13:22They are offended by people having the dignity to make personal decisions without their involvement.
13:30This is the rule, not the exception, of maggot extremism.
13:34Overturning Roe was never their goal.
13:39The Dobbs decision was just the beginning.
13:43The threat to contraception is not hypothetical.
13:47The threat to Americans' freedom was distilled by Justice Thomas's concurrence.
13:52Justice Thomas put the right to contraception in the crosshairs of this extremist Supreme
13:59Court.
14:00Just today, a Republican witness at the HELP Committee hearing could not commit to whether
14:06she supports women's access to Plan B and IUDs.
14:12Republican governors in Virginia, Arizona, Tennessee, and Nevada vetoed state-level protections
14:18for the right to contraception.
14:22This is not theoretical.
14:23This is very real and has a very powerful impact on women, on families, in our country
14:31right now.
14:33We must show the American people, unequivocally, who is willing to fight for Americans' health,
14:40for their freedom, for their equality.
14:43Republicans want to oppress, suppress, and repress.
14:47Let's know that Republicans and Donald Trump stole seats on the Supreme Court in order
14:56to be able to create the Dobbs decision.
15:02In the Thomas concurrence, he laid out where they're going in the future in terms of restricting
15:10the rights of Americans.
15:12MAGA extremists want to put themselves in the patient exam rooms but can't stand letting
15:18people examine how extreme they truly are.
15:23That's what happened in 2022.
15:26That's what happened in 2023 when they blocked the vote.
15:30But tomorrow, they're all going to be put on record, every one of them.
15:35And in November, the American people will not forget how they vote.
15:41Thank you.
15:43Thank you.
15:45Yes, Manu.
15:47Are you supporting Senator Menendez's independent bid to run for a Senate seat in New Jersey?
15:51Look, the primary is today.
15:53I'm not even going to comment at this point.
15:55Leader Schumer, do you think that Democrats have a problem with the southern border and
15:58messaging ahead of 2024?
16:00I mean, Republicans have said that this is basically a charade by the Biden administration,
16:03this executive action.
16:05Look, the bottom line is that we all know what happened.
16:09Democrats supported a strong, bipartisan bill.
16:13Republicans initially said this is a very strong, good bill.
16:17And then they turned around 180 degrees when Donald Trump was very explicit.
16:21He wanted the bill to fail to create chaos at the borders.
16:25Our preference is to have the Republicans join with us and support a strong, bipartisan
16:34piece of legislation.
16:35Yes.
16:36After the Trump guilty verdict in Manhattan, some of your Republican colleagues are throwing
16:40around terms like kangaroo court, weaponization of justice.
16:45Do you have any concerns about what things will look like after the election and whether
16:49people will accept the results of the election?
16:52Look, the jury has spoken in a process that jurors use throughout America, and Donald
16:58Trump has proven to be a felon, a convicted felon.
17:03Yes.
17:04Is there any update on when the Senate might vote on Senator Whitehouse's Supreme Court
17:08Justice bill?
17:09I'm talking to, look, first, Justice Roberts has been, in my opinion, not lived up to his
17:15responsibilities as Chief Justice.
17:17On issue after issue, he's supposed to be the guardian of the court's fairness and opinion,
17:22but on something near and dear to me, which is forum shopping, on ethics, on recusal.
17:28So Senator Durbin and I in the Judiciary Committee are discussing the best ways to move forward.
17:33Yes.
17:34Are you going to try to meet with Speaker Johnson and try to negotiate some type of
17:38deal on border legislation?
17:40Look, as I said, the Republicans turned down bipartisan border legislation that they had
17:46already agreed to.
17:47They ought to change their minds and support our bill.
17:50If not, President Biden has moved forward because he prefers legislation, we prefer
17:58legislation.
17:59The Republicans are blocking it, and so Biden is moving forward.
18:02Yes.
18:03So the House passed their tax cut bill.
18:06Senator Wyden supports it.
18:08Are you going to force a vote on that before the end of the summer to put people on record
18:12income?
18:13Look, I support the tax cut bill.
18:14It has a lot of good things in it.
18:16But we, right now, Senator Crapo and a lot of the Republicans are opposing it.
18:20We hope they'll change their minds.
18:22Senator Schumer, on Santiago, why did you come around to inviting him?