Tag Archives: Darrell Issa

Rep. Trent Franks Blocks Rep. Norton From Testifying at Hearing on DC Abortion Restrictions | Video Cafe

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Rep. Trent Franks Blocks Rep. Norton From Testifying at Hearing on DC Abortion Restrictions | Video Cafe.

It appears the House Republicans, this time lead by Arizona Rep. Trent Franks are about to give us a sort of a rerun of the Sandra Fluke debacle, only this time the woman they’re refusing to allow to testify before a Congressional hearing is D.C.’s only elected representative, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton:

Trent Franks Blocks D.C. Representative From Testifying About Proposed D.C. Abortion Ban:

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) wants to restrict abortions in the District of Columbia, but he refuses to allow D.C.’s delegate from testifying on behalf of the city’s residents during a hearing about his proposal. Franks’ “fetal pain” bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in D.C. even though there is no scientific proof that a fetus can feel pain at that point and a fetus is not viable.

Del. Eleanor Norton (D), D.C.’s only elected represetative, asked Franks last week if she could testify about the bill at an upcoming Thursday hearing. Franks denied her request, which Norton said breaks tradition of allowing members of Congress to testify about a bill that affects their constituents. Similarly, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) prevented women from testifying on a panel about contraception back in February.

Norton told the Huffington Post that her constituents are “up in arms” about the proposed abortion ban:

“This is the first bill in history that attempts to take the residents of the District of Columbia outside of the protection of the Constitution,” she continued. “The right to have an abortion until viability is a mandated right under Roe v. Wade. I think it takes a lot of nerve to single out the constituents of another member’s district for discriminatory treatment, and we deeply resent it.” [...]

D.C. is an easy target for anti-abortion bills, Norton said, because it doesn’t have any elected officials who can vote in Congress.

“Why wouldn’t they put this bill in for the entire country if they feel so deeply about it?”

In December, House Republicans forced a ban on funding for abortion services in D.C. to avoid a government shutdown and even prevented the city from using local taxes to pay for abortion care, reinstating a 13-year ban on abortion funding in D.C. that President Obama overturned in 2009.

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Carolyn Maloney, Eleanor Holmes Norton walk out of contraception hearing

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Carolyn Maloney, Eleanor Holmes Norton walk out of contraception hearing – J. Lester Feder – POLITICO.com.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (left) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton are pictured. | AP Photos

Maloney and Norton left when the committee chair refused to seat a female witness. | AP Photos

By J. LESTER FEDER | 2/16/12 11:04 AM EST

Two female Democrats walked out of a House oversight committee hearing on the contraceptive coverage rule Thursday morning, accusing Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) of manipulating committee rules to block female witnesses from testifying.

“What I want to know is, where are the women?” asked Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) before walking out. “I look at this panel [of witnesses], and I don’t see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventive health care services, including family planning.”

The five witnesses on the first panel were all male religious leaders or professors, including a Catholic bishop. Two women were listed on the committee website as witnesses for a second, later panel, also dominated by conservatives. The first panel, however, tends to draw the most attention at hearings.Democrats withdrew the name of a witness Issa had accepted, Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, because they wanted a woman to testify. Lynn submitted a written statement instead.

Maloney pressed Issa to allow Sandra Fluke, a law student from Georgetown University, to testify about the impact of the new requirement that most health plans offer contraceptive coverage with no co-pay. Issa shot back that Fluke was rejected because she was “not found to be appropriate or qualified” to testify about religious liberty. He said liberty, not contraception, was the topic of the hearing.

Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.), the only female Republican lawmaker at the hearing, agreed with Issa.

“I really find it so objectionable that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would characterize this as something so narrow as being about contraception,” she said. “This is a fundamental assault on one’s conscience.”

Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings (D-M.D.) also accused the Republican majority of silencing women in the discussion even though they are most affected by the policy.

“This committee commits a massive injustice by trying to pretend that the views of millions of women across this country are meaningless, or worthless, or irrelevant to this debate,” he said.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) attempted to force a vote on seating Fluke, saying the chairman was breaking committee rules. When he ignored her motion, Norton and Maloney walked out. Maloney later returned. Norton did not.

Norton accused Issa of “pretzel turning of the rules so as to deny us a witness” in a press conference convened in the hallway. She said the hearing was “the kind you expect in an autocratic regime.”

Fluke told the gathered reporters about a friend’s experience that she had hoped to include in her testimony. The woman had lost an ovary to an illness that could have been treated with contraceptives that she couldn’t access and now was facing the possibility of infertility, Fluke said.

“It’s striking that the chairman would say that the reason I cannot speak is that I’m not qualified to speak on the matter,” she said. “I feel that the women this affects are the most qualified to speak on this matter.”

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If you “poopoo” this happening, just wait, if it hasn’t happened already, until they leave out those who represent your beliefs.

Source: Online protest threatens piracy bill – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs

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Source: Online protest threatens piracy bill – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs.

The growing Internet protest–including a planned blackout by some websites Wednesday– against an online anti-piracy bill moving through Congress is “daunting,” a Senate Democratic aide said Tuesday.

The aide said the protest may be powerful enough to keep senators from voting to even take up the bill that until recently commanded rare bipartisan support.

- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker

“Before it looked like it would pass with 80 votes, and now [the online protest] looks like something that will suck the votes away,” the aide said. “We’re at a tipping point. It will either become a huge issue or die down a bit and that will determine the future of this.”

The aide said it was premature to say exactly how it will play out but acknowledged that because of protest from Internet mainstays like Google and Wikipedia “the merits of the bill are getting lost” and “sand is shifting pretty quickly” against it.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-VT, is weighing changes to the bill to address concerns in the online community. It particular, he is considering dropping a provision that would impose new requirements on Internet service providers.

Senate Democratic leaders scheduled the bill as the first order of business when the Senate returns to work next week. They considered it one key part of their overall job creation agenda.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was open to changes to satisfy critics.

In a letter last week to GOP senators concerned about the bill, Reid acknowledged the bill “is not perfect” but said it would “protect American ingenuity and commerce” and is “too important to delay.”

“It’s tough to believe that after another week of this we’re going to be able to get cloture [the 60 votes needed to take up the bill], so that would settle it for the immediate term,” the Senate Democratic aide said.

Texas Republican Congressman Lamar Smith, who is leading the effort to move a bill in the House, criticized efforts by the bill’s opponents to mount the blackout on Wednesday.

“This publicity stunt does a disservice to its users by promoting fear instead of facts,” Smith said in written statement Tuesday.

Smith has already agreed to make changes to his legislation in response to concerns by opponents. His statement stressed that the House bill “only targets foreign websites that are primarily dedicated to illegal activity. It does not grant the Justice Department the authority to seek a court order to shut down any website operated in the U.S.”

California Rep. Darrell Issa, who is pushing his own legislation as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, cancelled a hearing scheduled Wednesday on the problems that Google and others have with the bill.

But in a statement Friday, Issa said, “Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote.”

Despite signals from House GOP leaders that the bill won’t be scheduled for a vote until some of the controversial provisions are worked out, Smith announced that his committee plans to consider the bill early next month.

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