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Floor Speech

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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Again, for the fourth or fifth time, I am fighting against taxpayer-funded abortions--funding from taxpayers that was never, ever approved by this Congress.

By the way, poll after poll shows that Americans agree with exactly what I am doing. The American people do not support taxpayer-funded abortions. Period.

Democrats have had a few retired Secretaries, in the last few weeks, agree with them; but other retired military leaders and thousands of servicemembers and veterans just happen to agree with me, just like the majority of Americans. In fact, earlier today, a letter representing more than 3,000 servicemembers and veterans was sent in full support of my hold. Those servicemembers and veterans said:

This policy is not just illegal, it shamefully politicizes the military, circumvents the authority of Congress, and exceeds the authority of the Department of Defense.

They sent that letter to Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell. I would encourage them to please read it.

Also, earlier today, retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin and retired Lt. Gen. James Carafano penned an op-ed condemning the Pentagon's policies. They said:

The Pentagon's new abortion policy has everything to do with activist politics and nothing to do with Congress's obligation to raise and maintain armed forces to provide for the common defense.

I will end with one comment from the retired military leaders' op-ed:

America is a global power with global interests and responsibilities. We can't afford a military distracted by politics. The quickest way to make this right is for Secretary Austin to immediately rescind his radical abortion policy.

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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, I rise to object. I continue hearing about this word ``readiness'' from my colleagues.

We have had a law in place for nearly 40 years. The law provides taxpayer-funded abortion in case of rape, incest, or threat to the life of the mother. Nobody, in 40 years--nobody--on either side of the aisle has complained about this. This was a bipartisan consensus 40 years ago.

The law was not affected by the Dobbs decision. The Dobbs decision did not apply to Federal military installations.

On July 8, 2022, just 2 weeks after the Supreme Court ruling, the Biden administration said they needed to expand abortion to counteract the Dobbs decision. By memo, they said the VA would pay for abortion travel and time off. By memo, they said HHS would pay for late-term abortions. By memo, they covered all Federal workers, and they acted to expand abortion at the Pentagon.

The Pentagon is now giving servicemembers and their dependents reimbursements for travel and additional paid time off for elective abortions.

We are not talking about cases of rape, incest, or threat to the health of the mother. Despite what some of my colleagues have said, we are talking about elective abortions. Despite what some of my colleagues have said, that is what this is all about.

Ordinary servicemembers get 30 days off a year--30 days off. Under this policy, servicemembers who get abortions would get 30 days off plus an additional 3 weeks. Servicemembers who get abortions get paid more time off than servicemembers who do not get abortions.

The Pentagon is spending money without the consent of Congress. This money was never authorized. It was never appropriated. Nobody voted for this. Even my friend from Connecticut didn't vote for this policy. The Democrats' strongest abortion supporters never voted for this. Nobody voted for this, and now Senators are down here defending this.

They are outsourcing the work of the U.S. Senate. Follow the law or change the law in this building.

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