U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) says she was shocked over remarks made by U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) last week. Sessions compared pregnant women to cigarette smokers in arguing that they should pay higher health insurance premiums. (0:32)
By Travis Martinez – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) along with members of the Pro-Choice Caucus will push to remove the Stupak-Pitts amendment, which would block federal funds to support partial term abortions, from the Affordable Health Care For America Act 2009.
“We will try very hard to make sure it is not included in the final product,” Wasserman Shultz said in a conference call Monday. “I’m going to be pushing extremely hard to make sure that language is not included.”
The Florida Democrat also rebuked comments made by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who on Friday stated that women should pay higher health premiums due to the possibility that they could become pregnant.
“I’ve never seen a more disrespectful display,” Wasserman-Shultz said. “At one point in the debate, [Sessions] actually compared women to smokers and suggested women, like smokers, should have to pay more for insurance, just by the accident for their ability to get pregnant.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz describes remarks made by House Republicans as “back handed treatment to women.” According to Wasserman Schultz, members of the GOP have dismissed female members on prioritizing health care reform. (0:40)
Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz talks about how of a night Democrats are having. She also talks about how a new change for the United States will be the best thing to have happened in awhile. (0:30)
Today, Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D- Michigan) held a hearing to address the U.S. Department of Justice’s poor enforcement record in combating voter suppression. Present on behalf of the Department was Deputy Assistant Attorney General Asheesh Agarwal, Civil Rights Division.
Throughout the entire hearing there was a sense of hostility between Deputy Agarwal and the members of the committee. This could be largely attributed to the fact that Deputy Agarwal refused to answer questions in a straightforward manner. The vast majority of his responses were that he was unable to answer the question at the time, and he would need to speak with the Department before he could give an answer. The Committee did begin to lose their patience with Deputy Agarwal, as evidenced by the questioning of Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Keith Ellison (D-MN).
The main issue of contention for the Committee was that the Department continues to pursue voter fraud cases while entirely disregarding “flagrant examples” of voter suppression. In addition to this, Representative Ellison centered on the Department’s decision to support the controversial Indiana photo identification law requiring all voters to present said identification in order to vote. The committee was largely concerned with the fact that this law is problematic because it will disenfranchise minorities, the elderly, and the disabled. In addition to this, Representative Wasserman Schultz demanded that Deputy Agarwal report to the Committee in two weeks regarding letters that the Department sent to 10 states to pressure them to purge their voter rolls before the 2008 election, “which could adversely affect many voters.”
