The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“MARCH FOR LIFE” mentioning Shelley Moore Capito was published in the Senate section on pages S186-S187 on Jan. 28.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MARCH FOR LIFE
Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, our Nation was founded on an incredibly powerful and truly audacious idea. The idea was that every single human being was created equal, with rights that come from your Creator, from God--not from the government, not from the laws, not even from the Constitution or your leaders. You are born with those rights. Inherent in that is our powerful national commitment that I think remains to this day, the belief that everyone should have freedom and that everyone--because freedom comes with those rights--and that everyone be treated fairly.
For 244 years, our story has been that of a nation on a continuous and a steady march to live up to those ideals. Tomorrow, thousands will come to Washington once again for a different march but one that I believe is tied directly to this Nation's ongoing quest to fulfill the promise of its founding.
Almost half a century ago, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that within our Constitution, there was the implicit right to end the life of an unborn child. Since then, every single day in this country, unborn human beings have had their life ended before they even drew their first breath. They are, in essence, denied the freedom to live, not because they did anything wrong; they are denied this most basic of rights unfairly because of circumstances they have nothing to do with and do not control.
That this occurs here is shameful enough, and I believe that is how history will regard it; that we use taxpayer money to promote it and export it abroad is outrageous.
Before we even passed a bill to deal with the pandemic or to bring back good jobs to the United States or any of the other major issues confronting our country, in one of his first acts as President, President Biden decided to prioritize tearing up the so-called Mexico City policy--a policy that rightfully bans our taxpayer dollars from being sent to organizations that use them to perform or promote abortions overseas.
Abortion is a very difficult and uncomfortable topic. No one can pretend that if some 15-year-old girl is pregnant and afraid--afraid of her parents, afraid of what others might think, afraid for her future--
that she faces an easy choice. It is not.
It doesn't feel fair, it doesn't feel like freedom to have laws that tell people what they can or cannot do with their body, but in this case, the challenge we have is that it is a case that puts the fundamental rights of two people into direct conflict--the right, as most definitely exists, of a mother to choose what to do with her body versus the right of an unborn child to live. It forces us to decide which one of these two rights wins out in those circumstances.
I personally, for one, and those who march tomorrow have chosen life--not because it is an easy choice but because, to me, it is a clear one because the right to live is the one right upon which all the other rights we claim depend. Without life, there is no speech to protect, and there is no religion to practice. Without life, frankly, nothing else matters.
I would point out that being pro-life is not just about the right to be born; it also means the right to live and to thrive. Once a child is born, that child depends on their parents or whoever their guardians are who are raising them, and they have a moral and legal duty to care for them--not just to feed them, not just to clothe them, not just to house them, but also to promote a safe and stable home and the chance at a good education and a better future.
That is why I deeply believe that pro-life must also mean being pro-
parent. Being a parent is the most influential role anyone will ever have. It is the most important job any of us will ever have. That is why I worked to and we were successful in expanding the child tax credit 2 years ago. That is why I stand ready now to work with President Biden to expand it even further.
I am concerned about some of the details of the policies he has outlined. For example, his proposal appears to unfairly benefit parents who send their children to commercial childcare over stay-at-home parents or grandparents or other caregivers. But this is an area where we have a common goal and one where I believe we can find a way to work together.
It is also why I support creating the opportunity for every parent in America to have access to paid family leave, because no one should be thrown into welfare or debt or bankruptcy because they got pregnant, because they had a child.
It is also, by the way, why I support school choice. In America, rich parents can afford to send their kids to any school they want, and they do. Upper middle class parents can move to neighborhoods with good public schools. But it is unfair that the only parents in America who are forced to send their children to the school the government tells them--even if that school is failing their children--are the parents who don't make enough money to have another option.
For 21st-century America to move closer to fulfilling our founding principle of equality, of freedom, of fairness, every child deserves the right not just to be born but also the right to live and to thrive, the right not just to exist but the right to pursue and fulfill their potential.
I believe that what is at stake is nothing less than our identity as a nation. If we become a place where your right to be born and your ability to succeed is determined by who your parents are or by the circumstances of your conception, then we may remain, indeed, a rich and a powerful and an important country, but we will no longer be a special one.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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