Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke out this Wednesday after Republicans filibustered a bill that would have reversed some of the damage done by the Supreme Court's ruling in the Hobby Lobby case: GOP Blocks Bill to Restore Contraception Coverage After Hobby Lobby Ruling:
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked legislation aimed to reverse some of the effects of last month’s Supreme Court ruling that companies with religious objections do not have to provide contraception coverage.
The 56-43 vote fell short of the 60 needed to advance the measure. Three Republicans -- Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mark Kirk of Illinois, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska -- voted yes.
The bill was aimed at reversing the Court’s high-profile Hobby Lobby ruling that closely held companies with religious objections could opt-out of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to provide female employees with contraception coverage.
Here's a portion of Warren's remarks from her press release:
Mr/Madame President. Republicans are on the attack, once again trying to put women’s fundamental rights on the chopping block. I stand alongside my colleagues to fight back. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, and forty other Senators have stood up to sponsor new legislation to reverse the Supreme Court’s shocking decision in Hobby Lobby , where the Court gave corporations the power to deny their employees access to birth control. We will vote on our legislation tomorrow morning, and I urge my colleagues to pass it without delay.
Right now – with millions of Americans still out of work and struggling to recover from the worst economic downturn sin ce the Great Depression, with 40 million Americans dealing with student loans, with millions of people working full - time at minimum wage and still living in poverty, with big banks getting bigger, workers getting poorer, and seniors struggling to make ends meet – Republicans in Washington have decided that the most important thing for them to focus on is how to deny women access to birth control.
I’ll be honest – I cannot believe that we are even having a debate about whether employers can deny women access to birth control. Guys, this is 2014, not 1914 . Most Americans thought this was settled long, long ago. But for some reason, Republicans keep dragging us back here – over and over and over again.
After all, the Hobby Lobby case is just the most recent battle in an all - out Republican assault on women’s access to basic health care. In 2012, the Republicans tried to pass the Blunt Amendment – a proposal that would have allowed employers and insurance companies to deny women access to health care services based on any vague moral objection. Democrats said no – the President said no – and the American people said no – to this offensive idea. Read on...
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