President Donald Trump‘s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Service, Georgia congressman Tom Price, would be a national disaster for women’s rights if confirmed. That’s why Democratic Senators have staged a protest against his confirmation, declining to show up to the hearing just when everyone was about to vote. Oh, the shade. The Democrats, by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, convened an impromptu news conference explaining their decision as their Republican colleagues were already waiting in a conference room down the hallway.
Part of the reason the Democrats are holding their votes is because of what Wyden called “truly alarming news,” referencing the Wall Street Journal report published on January 30 that alleged Price had a special discounted rate of stocks at Australian pharmaceutical company Innate Immunotherapeutics.
“This is contrary to congressional testimony he gave. Congressman insisted he didn’t get special access to a special deal,” Wyden said. “He misled the congress and he misled the American people.” Democratic senator Sherrod Brown (Ohio) echoed Wyden, stating that Price “outright lied to our committee.”
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The accusations of corruption come with Price’s terrifying views on reproductive rights, which would be implemented nationwide if he were to become HHS Secretary. Since becoming a congressman in 2005, Price has voted against every single measure on abortion brought before Congress. It’s that serious. He’s also outrageously tone deaf on the affordability of birth control.
He voted down the ACA’s birth control mandate in 2012, which required it to be covered by insurance plans, because “there’s not one” American woman who couldn’t afford it: “Bring me one woman who has been left behind. Bring me one,” he told ThinkProgress. “There’s not one. The fact of the matter is, this is a trampling of religious freedom and religious liberty in this country. The president does not have the power to say that your First Amendment rights go away. That’s wrong.”
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He co-sponsored a bill in 2014 that gave developing fetuses equal protection under the 14th Amendment (children born in the United States are citizens). He’s argued multiple times for the value of religious liberty over birth control coverage, stating that the ACA mandate violates business owners’ religious beliefs. And, grossly, he shouted “I object!” repeatedly in session while congresswomen tried to say why they needed the ACA. THIS is why Senate Democrats don’t want him running things.
HollywoodLifers, do you agree with the Democrats’ decision to boycott the confirmation hearing? Tell us n the comments!