Your Congress at Work (May 11 to 15, 2015)

YOUR CONGRESS AT WORK

Week of May 11 to 15, 2015

After taking several months away from writing about Congress' actions, I am back, and I am pissed! I won't be writing about every vote that occurred last week. No matter how dumb many of the bills taken to vote are. I am focusing on two topics: abortion and water.

H.R. 36 - The House is playing doctor!

Because the House of Representatives knows more than anybody else, including scientists and doctors, this 435 member legislative body has decided to play doctor again. In a 242 vote FOR H.R. 36 (vs. 184 against), The House is sending the Senate this GOP-drafted bill that will, if passed by the Senate, outlaw abortions after 20 weeks.

Because the House has decided that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks.

So, despite the fact that there is no scientific evidence to support this belief, and despite the fact that a fetus has NO chance of survival at 20 weeks outside the womb, this Republican led House has decided that what America needs more than so many other things is to be prevented from allowing abortions after 20 weeks. There are exemptions for victims of rape and incest, and to save the mother's life. However, rape victims must receive counseling at least 48 hours before the procedure.

Roe v. Wade holds that abortion is legal up to when a fetus becomes viable (at that time thought to be after 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy), and after viability to protect the mother's health or life. Roe v. Wade's ruling gave American women the right to make decisions for themselves about when to become a parent, and how many children to have for the first time. For the first time in our history, Roe v. Wade said women have reproductive rights that could be asserted up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, for a woman's personal reasons. For the first time, women weren't accountable to anyone but their God and themselves. 

By and large, women tend to make fairly good decisions for their children and families. Especially when they are supported in doing so. Giving women reproductive autonomy did not result in the termination of more fetuses over time. Abortion is on the decline. But it is a legal and often a medically necessary option.

Now, the House thinks we should have our rights dialed back based on what Republicans think is true.

House Democrats attempted to add a broad health exemption under H.R. 36 that would have enabled women to legally have an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy to protect both their short-term and long-term health. House Republicans, of course, showed their disregard for women by voting this down in a 246 to 181 vote.

To summarize H.R. 36, if you are pregnant, and learn that your pregnancy will create short-term health issues after your 20th week, you are shit out of luck, because the House of Representatives doesn't think you have a right to make your own decisions, for your own reasons. If you're not dying, forget about doing something that could preserve your long-term health. The Republican House barely thinks women who become pregnant from rape or incest deserve to have a choice about carrying that pregnancy to term.

When one factors in the various states that may press criminal charges against women who miscarry, there is just no good reason to get pregnant right now, because you are damned if your health depends on access to abortion, and you may go to jail (in several states) if you miscarry. From personal experience, I know that miscarriages are emotionally painful enough that women should never be faced with jail time for having one.

H.R. 1732 - Who needs clean drinking water, anyway?

This Republican drafted bill proposes to kill a proposed EPA rule designed to protect headwaters, wetlands, and other waters upstream of navigable waters under the 1972 Clean Water Act. Voting to hand the bill over to the Senate, 261 representatives voted for the bill, and 155 voted against.

In a 175 FOR and 241 AGAINST vote, the House defeated a Democratic motion to ensure that new rule-making under H.R. 1732 adequately protects public drinking water and water for agricultural use, while not worsening the drought conditions in the West or the impact of storms and flooding in coastal areas.

With the voting down of Democratic motions meant to amend really bad bills to make them just the tiniest bit better for the U.S., one has to wonder what the ultimate goal is in the Republican-led House of Representatives. Is the goal to simply assert the GOP's will over everything to teach the Dems some lesson? Or is the goal to show America how little good sense the GOP has these days?