00:00Mr. President.
00:05Senator from Alabama.
00:06Thank you.
00:07First, I'd like to thank my colleague from Oklahoma, Senator Lankford, for putting this
00:13together today, showing that we are truly the party of life, the party of parents, the
00:20party of families.
00:22I'd also like to thank my colleague from Florida, Senator Rubio, and my colleague from North
00:27Dakota, Senator Kramer, for joining me in introducing the MOMS Act.
00:33I also appreciate the 20 additional Republican colleagues who have co-sponsored this common
00:38sense legislation.
00:40The MOMS Act is straightforward.
00:43It stands for More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed.
00:48That's exactly what this bill would secure.
00:51As a mom, I know that there is no greater blessing in this world than that of being
00:58a mother.
01:00And I understand many of the challenges that women face during their pregnancy journey
01:06and while raising their kids.
01:09And that's why I was proud to introduce the MOMS Act.
01:13The MOMS Act would provide critical support for women during typical challenging phases
01:19of motherhood.
01:20It includes the prenatal, postpartum, and early childhood development stages.
01:25At the end of the day, this legislation would help mothers and their children thrive.
01:31Let's walk through the three sections of the bill.
01:34First, the MOMS Act would establish Pregnancy.gov.
01:39This new website would feature a wide range of resources available to expecting and postpartum
01:45moms, as well as moms and families with young children.
01:49Unfortunately, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have put out flagrantly
01:54false, outlandish information about this part of the bill.
02:01These partisan smears have been debunked by several independent fact checks.
02:08But I also want to set the record straight right now.
02:11First, visiting this website is 100% voluntary.
02:19Next, no one would have to disclose personally identifiable information to use it or to access
02:28the list of its resources.
02:31There is no database of women created, there is no registry established, and there is no
02:40tracking involved.
02:43So why did Democrats make up these absurdly false claims?
02:49To be honest with you, I can't quite wrap my head around it.
02:53In my 18 months in this body, I probably have never been more disappointed.
02:58I understand that we come from things from different perspectives, but to create outlandishly
03:04false and absurd things about this bill was truly a bridge too far.
03:11But ultimately, they know they can't publicly oppose what's actually in the bill.
03:19Here are the types of resources Pregnancy.gov would connect women and families to.
03:25And I'm going to quote some exact text of the bill.
03:29So mentorship opportunities, including pregnancy and parenting help.
03:33Health and well-being services, including women's medical services.
03:38This includes OBGYN services, primary care, dental care, and mental health services.
03:45Financial assistance, work opportunities, child care resources, foster care resources,
03:50adoption services, education opportunities for parents.
03:54I could go on.
03:57It also includes material or legal support.
04:02That material support includes transportation, food, nutrition, clothing, household goods,
04:08baby supplies, housing, shelters, maternity homes, help with tax preparation, and more.
04:16Also, legal support can cover child support, family leave, breastfeeding protections, and
04:24custody issues.
04:26I could keep listing examples of resources, but we would be here for a while.
04:33Next I want to touch on the second part of the bill.
04:36So this part would actually create two separate grant programs.
04:42One grant program would help purchase necessary tools for prenatal and postnatal telehealth
04:47appointments, including medical equipment and technology for those in rural areas and
04:53other medically underserved areas.
04:56And the second program would establish a grant program for nonprofit entities to support,
05:02to encourage, and to assist women through their pregnancies, and to care for their babies
05:09after birth.
05:11The grant program would be funding many of the resources I just named, from mental health
05:16services, other medical care, child care, housing assistance, education and employment
05:21assistance, and nutritional assistance.
05:25And finally, the third part of the bill is Senator Cramer's Unborn Child Support Act.
05:33It would require states to apply child care support obligations to the time period during
05:38pregnancy if it was requested by the mother.
05:44This would be requested retroactively, and state-level requirements involving proof of
05:51paternity would still apply.
05:54The legislation is further evidence that you can absolutely be pro-life, pro-woman,
06:01and pro-family all at the same time.
06:05The Moms Act advances a comprehensive culture of life.
06:10It grows and strengthens families, and ensures that moms have the opportunities and the resources
06:17needed so that they and their children can thrive and live their American dreams.
06:24It's a perfect example of why I believe that the Republican Party is the party of families.
06:31What you're going to hear after I make my motion to pass the Moms Act will be very telling
06:37about whether or not Democrats can say the same thing of their party.
06:41They're about to answer that question.
06:45Are they more interested in scaring women and families, or helping women and families?
06:52Personally, I am proud to support women throughout the seasons of motherhood, and I am honored
07:00to lead this pro-life, pro-woman, pro-family legislation.
07:08Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
07:14and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 4296, and the Senate proceed to its
07:22immediate consideration.
07:24Further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to
07:29reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
07:34Is there objection?
07:36Mr. President.
07:37Senator from Minnesota.
07:38Thank you, Mr. President.
07:39And reserving the right to object, and with respect to my colleague and friend, Senator
07:44Britt, Mr. President, this bill is another attempt to shift the narrative for Republicans
07:49away from the fact that they have blocked every attempt to pass bills that would actually
07:54protect women's reproductive health and freedom.
07:57And by overwhelming majorities, Americans support protecting access to contraception,
08:01and IVF, and assisted reproductive technologies, and safe, legal abortion care.
08:07And Republicans know that they are out of step with the American people, and that is
08:10what we're seeing here today.
08:13Ever since President Trump's Supreme Court overturned Roe with the disastrous Dobbs decision,
08:18women's health care in this country has been thrown into chaos.
08:21And every day, we hear more stories of the cruelty wrought by these Trump-Republican
08:25abortion bans across the country.
08:28So the solution to this problem is simple and obvious.
08:31Congress should pass comprehensive protections for contraception, for IVF, and for reproductive
08:36freedom.
08:37But instead, Republicans have been blocking those bills and are putting forward bills
08:41like this one, which would create a federal government website, amongst other things,
08:46that functions basically as a crisis pregnancy center.
08:49And to be clear, health care providers that provide information about the full range of
08:54their options to women, including abortion care, would be blocked from this website.
08:59Now with this website, it would allow women to put into the website their zip code, and
09:05they could then find a list of resources for adoption agencies and crisis pregnancy centers,
09:10which Mr. President, I think we know, can intentionally mislead and pressure and shame
09:16pregnant women against seeking abortion care, and sometimes even block them from accessing
09:22that care.
09:23And I want to be clear that this bill does not require anybody to put in their contact
09:28information, but it also does not include any restrictions on how the federal government
09:33could use or share that data that people input.
09:36So Mr. President, I don't think Americans need another government website.
09:40What they need is for their government to respect their freedom and their dignity and
09:43their autonomy to make their own decisions about if and when and how to grow their families.
09:48And for this reason, Mr. President, I object.
09:52Objection is heard.
09:53Mr. President, I have a great deal of respect from my colleague from Minnesota.
10:01However, I'm disappointed that Senate Democrats have blocked the Moms Act from passing today.
10:06It's a common sense bill that would help vulnerable women and help families.
10:12My Republican colleagues are going to continue to fight for tangible solutions like this
10:17bill that do just that.
10:19I yield the floor.
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