Category: US Senate

Source: United States Senator for Michigan Debbie Stabenow

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Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) yesterday joined a group of Senate colleagues in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), bicameral legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion across the nation. The bill’s introduction follows the Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments in a case that directly threatens 50 years of precedent protecting access to abortion, and comes as states like Texas continue to pass anti-choice laws.

 

“It is 2021 and the fact that there are states across the country that still consider women’s health a political issue instead of a human rights issue is unconscionable,” said Sen. Menendez. “It’s time we guarantee full access to abortion for women in every city, town and state in our nation. Turning back the clock half a century is simply not an option, and I urge my colleagues to pass this bill without delay.”

 

“The repeated attacks on abortion and reproductive health care are an assault to the fundamental idea that a person’s right to make their own medical decisions is an immutable, constitutional right,” said Sen. Booker. “As these injustices threaten the rights and freedoms of all people, the Women’s Health Protection Act is an important step in affirming what the Supreme Court declared decades ago, that Roe v. Wade is the law of the land and that Americans have a constitutional right to make their own decisions about their bodies.”

 

WHPA guarantees a pregnant woman’s right to access an abortion—and the right of an abortion provider to deliver these abortion services—free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient’s individual choice or the provider-patient relationship.

 

From Roe v. Wade in 1973 to Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt in 2016, the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized abortion as a constitutional right. However, anti-abortion advocates have worked for years at the state-level to pass laws meant to undermine or eliminate access to abortion care. In the last decade, state lawmakers have pushed through nearly 500 restrictive laws that make abortion difficult and, sometimes, impossible to access. Just this year, four states have passed bans on abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they’re pregnant. Lawmakers in Arkansas and Oklahoma attempted to ban abortion completely. WHPA would stop these attacks and ensure that abortion access first guaranteed under Roe is a reality for everyone, everywhere.

 

The bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and in the House by Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-Calif.). WHPA has a total of 45 Senate cosponsors and 171 House sponsors.

 

In May, Sen. Menendez introduced the Reproductive Rights are Humans Rights Act, which would permanently require the U.S. Department of State to include reproductive rights in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

 

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The majority of voters want abortion protected under federal law,” said Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “We cannot wait any longer. If Roe falls, many states will immediately take action to make abortion a crime. Even now, with constitutional protections in place, state legislators have made it impossible to access abortion in the South and Midwest. Especially for Black people and other people of color who already face barriers to health care. This bill—WHPA—would protect against the hundreds of state restrictions and bans that have pushed abortion out of reach. This is an issue of equal access, everywhere.”

 

“Abortion access is a racial and economic justice issue. The legacy of restrictions on reproductive health care has perpetuated white supremacy and anti-Black racism. Restrictions on abortion compound harm for members of communities that have historically experienced barriers to health care — namely people of color, queer and trans folks, and those working to make ends meet. We appreciate that the Women’s Health Protection Act bill language recognizes that Reproductive Justice is a human right and that every individual should be able to decide whether and how to have children based on their own circumstances and without interference or discrimination,” said Danielle Hurd-Wilson (they/them), Interim Deputy Director of Field and Programs at URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity. “The future I want to see is one where anyone can get an abortion with dignity and without barriers. The Women’s Health Protection Act would help cut the tangled web of restrictions that anti-abortion politicians have enacted to shame and stigmatize our decisions and deny us timely health care.”

 

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Source: United States Senator for Idaho Mike Crapo

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Source: United States Senator for Colorado Michael Bennet

Washington, D.C. – Today, Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet, John Hickenlooper, and a bipartisan majority of the Colorado Congressional Delegation invited Vice President Kamala Harris to visit Colorado and its thriving space industry. Harris was recently appointed Chair of the National Space Council, and as she works to identify the Council’s priorities, Bennet, Hickenlooper, and the lawmakers are inviting the vice president to visit Colorado to experience firsthand the innovation of the state’s private and public space industry.

“Colorado is the largest space economy per capita in the country. Our state is home to over 500 space-related companies and suppliers, including nine of the nation’s largest aerospace contractors,” wrote Bennet, Hickenlooper and the lawmakers in the letter. “Colorado aerospace companies directly employ more than 30,000 people, while an additional 200,000 work in space-related jobs. This concentration of technical expertise from the Eastern Plains to the Western Slope drives cutting-edge innovation that benefits our entire country.”

They continued: “Our skilled workforce is one of the primary reasons why Colorado is at the nexus of space operations for the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense.”

In the letter, Bennet, Hickenlooper, and the lawmakers also reaffirm that due to Colorado’s robust space industry and national security missions and installations, Colorado should be the permanent home for the U.S. Space Command. Following the Trump Administration’s decision to permanently move Space Command from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama in January, Bennet, Hickenlooper, and their colleagues have continued to urge the Biden Administration to review the decision. 

In addition to Bennet and Hickenlooper, the letter was signed by U.S. Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), and Ken Buck (R-Colo.).

The text of the letter is available HERE and below.

Dear Madam Vice President: 

Congratulations on your recent appointment as Chair of the National Space Council. As you work to identify the Council’s priorities, we invite you to visit Colorado to experience firsthand the dynamism of our state’s private and public space industry.

Colorado is the largest space economy per capita in the country. Our state is home to over 500 space-related companies and suppliers, including nine of the nation’s largest aerospace contractors. Colorado aerospace companies directly employ more than 30,000 people, while an additional 200,000 work in space-related jobs. This concentration of technical expertise from the Eastern Plains to the Western Slope drives cutting-edge innovation that benefits our entire country. 

As our nation’s space economy continues to grow, its future depends on dynamic education and research. Colorado is at the heart of this work. The U.S. Air Force Academy has the nation’s top undergraduate aerospace engineering program. The University of Colorado Boulder receives more NASA funding than any other public university. The Colorado School of Mines’ Space Resources Program is the world’s first multi-disciplinary graduate program focused on space resources. Across the state, there are 21 universities and institutions that participate in the Space Grant Consortium, providing students from all backgrounds an opportunity to partake in space research. With each investment Colorado makes in space education, our state contributes to a highly-trained workforce with the specialization necessary to ensure the nation’s primacy in space. 

Our skilled workforce is one of the primary reasons why Colorado is at the nexus of space operations for the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense. Our state is home to the National Space Defense Center, U.S. Northern Command, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, Buckley Space Force Base, and the National Reconnaissance Office’s Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado. Eight of the nine current Space Force Deltas are based in Colorado. The ongoing success of these missions and installations in assessing and mitigating vulnerabilities in space further reaffirms Colorado as the best permanent home for the U.S. Space Command. At a time when the threats in this domain are growing by the day, our nation can ill-afford the delay, expense, and attrition associated with relocating Space Command. 

We look forward to working together on these and other priorities in your capacity as Chair of the National Space Council and invite you to visit Colorado to see how our state leads the country in space security, innovation, and education.

Sincerely, 

Space Command Background

In 2019, Bennet and former U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) led the Colorado delegation in writing to Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and to Acting Secretary of the Air Force Matthew Donovan and Commander of U.S. Space Command General Jay Raymond to emphasize what Colorado offers to be the permanent home of U.S. Space Command. Bennet and Gardner also published an op-ed in the Colorado Springs Gazette advocating for the basing decision. Following the White House’s official announcement of the creation of U.S. Space Command in August 2019, the entire Colorado Congressional Delegation reiterated their call to re-establish the headquarters in Colorado. In the original basing decision process, of the six possible locations that the Air Force named, four were in Colorado: Peterson Air Force Base (AFB), Schriever AFB, Buckley AFB, and Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. In the fall of 2019, the Air Force named Peterson AFB the temporary home to U.S. Space Command.

In December 2019, Bennet met with Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett and spoke with the Commander of U.S. Space Command General John W. Raymond to discuss the importance of a focus on national security space and to reiterate his support for basing Space Command in Colorado.

In May 2020, the Air Force announced a new basing decision process that evaluated self-nominating communities, like Aurora and Colorado Springs, on their ties to the military space mission, existing infrastructure capacity, community support, and cost to the Air Force. The Air Force also announced Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs would remain the provisional location of the command until 2026. Later in May, Bennet and Gardner wrote a letter to Polis calling for him to support military spouse licensure reciprocity in the state, which Polis then signed into law in July 2020. Spouse licensure reciprocity was a component of the Air Force’s evaluation of each nominating state’s support for military families. Following passage of Colorado House Bill 20-1326, the entire Colorado Congressional Delegation, Polis, and Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera wrote to Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Barrett to highlight the new Colorado law and further demonstrate that Colorado is the best state to serve as the permanent home of the U.S. Space Command.

In June 2020, Bennet welcomed Polis’ endorsement of the self-nomination of both the Aurora and Colorado Springs communities to compete to be the permanent home for U.S. Space Command. At the end of August 2020, the Aurora and Colorado Springs communities submitted their questionnaire responses to the Department of the Air Force completing the next step in the basing process.

In August 2020, Bennet visited Peterson AFB and Schriever AFB for an update on the U.S. Space Command mission and stand up. He also met with General Dickinson, who assumed command in August, and learned about advancements at the National Space Defense Center.

In November 2020, the Air Force announced Colorado Springs as a finalist for the U.S. Space Command headquarters.

In December 2020, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined more than 600 state, federal, local, county and municipal officials, businesspeople, philanthropists, civic leaders, military officials, entrepreneurs and Coloradans from across the state in a letter urging Trump to keep the Command in the Centennial State.

In January 2021, following the relocation announcement, Bennet and Hickenlooper released a statement denouncing the decision and expressing concern that the Trump White House influenced the decision for political reasons. 

In January 2021, Bennet also led a letter from the entire Colorado Congressional Delegation that urged President Joe Biden to suspend the Trump Administration’s decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama until the administration conducts a thorough review.

In May 2021, Bennet and U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, urged President Biden to fully consider how the move may affect Intelligence Community dependencies and missions as well as the country’s ability to maintain superiority in space.

Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth

June 09, 2021

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and U.S. Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX) in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), bicameral federal legislation to guarantee equal access to abortion, everywhere. The bill’s introduction follows the Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments in a case that directly threatens fifty years of precedent protecting access to abortion, and comes as states like Texas continue to pass anti-choice laws.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed a person’s constitutional right to make their own reproductive decisions, making clear that the government has no place getting in between individuals and their doctors,” said Senator Duckworth. “But for decades, conservative lawmakers have worked to whittle down that constitutionally-protected right. I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act, so that every person in this country has equal access to their constitutionally-protected rights, including all of their family planning options.”

“When there is a direct threat to Roe v. Wade and individuals’ reproductive rights, we must act,” said Durbin. “The Women’s Health Protection Act sends a clear message that people have the right to make their own decisions about when and how they will have a family regardless of where they live.”

“With the Supreme Court set to consider a direct attack on Roe and as emboldened and extremist lawmakers viciously attack women’s reproductive rights in statehouses across the nation, the Women’s Health Protection Act has never been more urgent or more necessary,” Senator Blumenthal said. “These demagogic and draconian laws hurt women and families as they make personal and difficult medical decisions. This issue is about more than health care, it’s about human rights—all our rights. I’m proud to join this historic coalition of lawmakers in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act and look forward to taking the next step towards seeing it passed into law by holding a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee on the bill next week.”

WHPA has 48 total co-sponsors in the Senate and 176 total co-sponsors in the House of Representatives.

WHPA guarantees a pregnant person’s right to access an abortion—and the right of an abortion provider to deliver these abortion services—free from medically unnecessary restrictions that interfere with a patient’s individual choice or the provider-patient relationship.

From Roe v. Wade in 1973 to Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt in 2016, the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized abortion as a constitutional right. However, anti-abortion advocates have worked for years at the state-level to pass laws meant to undermine or eliminate access to abortion care. In the last decade, state lawmakers have pushed through nearly 500 restrictive laws that make abortion difficult and, sometimes, impossible to access. Just this year, four states have passed bans on abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they’re pregnant. Lawmakers in Arkansas and Oklahoma attempted to ban abortion completely. WHPA would stop these attacks and ensure that abortion access first guaranteed under Roe is a reality for everyone, everywhere.

The text of the Senate bill – including the full list of cosponsors – is available here. The text of the House bill – including the full list of cosponsors – is available here.

 

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Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth

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