“That desire to turn the clock backwards, to undo the progress of our lifetimes, and to punish America for evolving over time is basically at the heart of the Republican Agenda”
Washington, DC –-(ENEWSPF)–October 8, 2015. Today, Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL) spoke during the 10 am hour (ET) on the House floor about Planned Parenthood, Donald Trump, Ben Carson and the Republican agenda to take the United States back to the “Dark Ages.”
The Congressman said: “For most Americans, Mad Men was a good TV drama set before racial integration, before the women’s movement really took hold, before gays and lesbians dared come out of the closet, and before we removed racial quotas from immigration. But some in the Republican Party see it as a reality TV show or something that we should aspire to turn into a reality TV show.”
Speaking about his own daughters, his mother, and his wife’s health care and reproductive rights, the Congressman said:
“It seems to me that we should not be looking for ways to limit choices women have, to force them into back alleys or across state lines for health care or to treat them as if only wise men in Washington can make their decisions for them. But that desire to turn the clock backwards, to undo the progress of our lifetimes, and to punish America for evolving over time is basically at the heart of the Republican agenda…”
He concluded by invoking the phrase used by GOP Presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who said in reference to the recent massacre in Oregon that “stuff happens.” The Congressman said:
“Stuff does happen. A lot of stuff has happened since the 1950s and 1960s. Our laws and our culture have evolved to become more inclusive and we are a more diverse and egalitarian society because of it. Many Republicans call that stuff the problem. Most Americans call that stuff progress.”
Rep. Gutiérrez’ remarks (as prepared for delivery) are below
A video of the Congressman’s speech is here: https://youtu.be/LifwDwRHk7c
Rep. Gutiérrez represents the Fourth District of Illinois, is a Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is a Member of the Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, and is the Co-Chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Republicans and the Dark Ages — Floor Speech
As Donald Trump and Ben Carson have turned up the volume with more and more outrageous statements and policy proposals, Members of Congress have been trying to keep up.
Now, Republicans in the House not only have to play to the small but extremely vocal segment of the electorate that feels Washington is quote “out of step with the American people” but they also have another audience to woo: each other – because a lot of our colleagues are currently running for leadership positions.
But is it really Washington that is out-of-step with America or is it the most vocal, most active, and most vitriolic elements of the Republican base that are out of step with America?
Last week’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll was pretty startling.
It showed on issue after issue that on the positions adopted by the leading GOP candidates, vast majorities of Americans disagree with the Republicans.
On abortion restrictions, immigration, LGBT equality, racial diversity, and reproductive health, some in the Republican base demand we go back to the dark ages.
But it is not, in fact, the direction that most Americans want to go.
For most Americans, Mad Men was a good TV drama set before racial integration, before the women’s movement really took hold, before gays and lesbians dared come out of the closet, and before we removed racial quotas from immigration.
But some in the Republican Party see it as a reality TV show or something that we should aspire to turn into a reality TV show.
The latest throw-down from the right has been over Planned Parenthood and reimbursing this respected organization for health services it provides to women across the country.
In many cases, Planned Parenthood is the only source of affordable and accessible reproductive health care, contraception, HIV and STD testing, cancer screenings, and basic health care.
Under federal law, our tax dollars cannot pay for abortions and there are no credible claims that this is being violated.
And under law, abortion is legal in the United States despite all of the restrictions imposed and proposed by Republicans.
But this goes farther than abortion rights and a woman’s right to control her own health care and reproduction.
Some Republicans here and around the country are frankly not too comfortable with the whole family planning thing.
In my family, I have two daughters who are brilliant and whom I trust to make decisions for themselves.
They were born eight years apart and not by accident. My wife and I planned her pregnancies around her career as an investment banker and had our children when we were ready.
That is an option that opened a world of opportunity and self-determination to my wife that my mother never had.
Puerto Rican women in my mother’s day had one thing forced on them by the government and that was sterilization. Period.
So when I hear talk about shutting down the government to appease the far-right on Planned Parenthood, I think of the progress we have made from my mother’s generation to my wife’s generation and now to the world in which my daughters live.
It seems to me that we should not be looking for ways to limit choices women have, to force them into back alleys or across state lines for health care or to treat them as if only wise men in Washington can make their decisions for them.
But that desire to turn the clock backwards, to undo the progress of our lifetimes, and to punish America for evolving over time is basically at the heart of the Republican agenda as driven by their most active and vocal base.
Republicans run for office and legislate as if they want gay people back in the closet.
As if they want Latinos and Asians to be invisible.
As if they wish women were just in the kitchen or the bedroom.
As if we could go back to those golden days before the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and Brown vs. Board of Education when everything was separate and some people were more equal than others.
Well, with all due respect to Dr. Carson and Emperor Trump, every poll indicates that the American people are just not with them and that is especially true for young people.
Dr. Carson must be nostalgic for the anti-Catholic days before John Kennedy was elected because he is now raising doubts that people of certain religions are qualified to serve their country as President.
Senator Cruz must like the old days when we turned away refugees based on their religion as we did for Europeans in the 1930s and 40s when anti-Semitism gripped the country. Now he wants to send Muslims back to die in Syria.
And then there is Donald Trump.
He wants to deport about a quarter of the 50 million Latinos in the United States.
If mass deportation was good enough for President Eisenhower, he feels, it should be good enough for us.
But he leaves out the U.S. citizens wrongly deported in roundups because of racial profiling, not their actual immigration status.
I will agree with one leading candidate – Governor Bush – who recently said that, quote, “stuff happens.”
Stuff does happen. A lot of stuff has happened since the 1950s and 1960s.
Our laws and our culture have evolved to become more inclusive and we are a more diverse and egalitarian society because of it.
Many Republicans call that stuff the problem.
Most Americans call that stuff progress.
Source: www.gutierrez.house.gov
