- 2 months ago
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) slammed Republicans' Protect Children's Innocence Act, a law to block children from receiving gender-affirming care.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The gentlelady from Vermont is recognized.
00:03I have an amendment at the desk, Mr. Chair.
00:07Point of order.
00:08Point of order reserved by the gentleman from Arizona.
00:13Amendment to the amendment in the nature.
00:18Without objection, the amendment will be considered as read.
00:20The gentlelady from Vermont is recognized to explain her amendment.
00:23Thank you, Mr. Chair.
00:24I want people to understand what's going on here today.
00:29My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are continuing their obsession with being in your kid's pediatric appointment.
00:38I find it insulting and creepy.
00:42And it's astonishing that we are allowing this even to come before the committee today.
00:49It's an attempt to interfere with your health care decisions for your kids.
00:56Essentially what's going on here is they want to criminalize health care.
01:02These are decisions that should be made by doctors, by parents, by trans young people.
01:07Not by, with all due respect, by Mr. Jordan, the chair of the committee, or by any other member of this committee.
01:15And we've been in this committee hearing today talking about the incredible amount of federal crimes on the books.
01:23And yet we are sitting here talking about adding another one for no good reason.
01:30As I alluded to earlier, this has absolutely no business in front of the committee.
01:38We have other really important work to do here.
01:41Whether it's on prescription drugs, lowering the cost of insulin, or as my colleague said from the state of Washington, pushing back against incredible corporate greed and corruption in health care.
01:55These are all things worthy of our attention. In fact, these are the things that our voters want us to be focused on.
02:02But once again, no, we are here. We are beating up on trans kids and their families, and we are trying to criminalize doctors and parents.
02:12My amendment strikes the bill's prohibition on providing health care to trans youth.
02:17That's what we're talking about.
02:18We do not need to be criminalizing doctors or parents for doing what they feel like is in the best interest of the child.
02:25We need to be focused on things that our constituents are clamoring for, which is protecting Medicaid, which is making sure people have health care and food assistance.
02:38And it's frankly pretty incredible that we're here today doing this just a few weeks after, as far as I can tell, every single member except for Mr. Massey over there voted to kick some of their constituents off Medicaid and by extension shut down rural hospitals as they lose those Medicaid dollars.
03:03And if you think that we won't all be impacted by massive cuts to Medicaid, you're wrong.
03:08It will impact the doctors, the hospitals, the communities. And this isn't new.
03:14We know that this is something that President Trump went after in his first term proposed cuts to Medicaid.
03:22That was the plan. It continues to be the plan. And if you think you won't be impacted by Republicans wanting to make medical decisions for your kids and for your family, you're wrong, too.
03:34My Republican colleagues have no business being in the doctor's office with your kid.
03:42Now, this bill is an attack on parents and doctors and on kids.
03:46This bill would throw parents in jail if they help their transgender child access evidence based treatments, throw doctors in prisons for providing medically necessary life saving care to transgender youth.
03:58Care support supported by every major medical association in the United States and strip parents of the right to make medical decisions about their own kids health care.
04:09I mean, really, really, this this is what requires our attention today.
04:16We've sunk this low. We've sunk so low to jailing parents for trying to do what's right for their kids.
04:24Parents and doctors already have to worry about state laws banning medical care for trans kids.
04:31This bill would introduce the risk of federal criminal prosecution for basic medical care.
04:38And let's not forget the hypocrisy of all of this, the hypocrisy of banning medical care for trans kids while permitting that very same care for everyone else.
04:49Apparently, my Republican colleagues don't have a problem with puberty blockers or hormone therapy only with the trans people who need them in order to live.
05:01It's cruel. As many people have said today, it's cruel.
05:06And there's no medical evidence behind this bill. It is hatred. It is bullying.
05:11And it's rotten through and through. And this amendment strikes at one of the worst aspects of this truly reprehensible piece of legislation.
05:20And I urge my colleagues to support my amendment and keep Republican congressmen and women out of your kids doctor's office.
05:29I urge a yes vote on my amendment and I yield back.
05:32General A yields back. General A from Wyoming is recognized.
05:35Just very quickly, this bill does not add a new crime.
05:38It just simply amends an existing statute, as we've already talked about.
05:42And if you're going to use the word creepy, I think it's pretty fair to define as creepy bodily mutilations and chemical prostration of minors.
05:51It doesn't prevent counseling. It doesn't prevent other treatment for so-called transgender youth.
05:58But it does prohibit bodily mutilations and chemical castrations.
06:03Something that I believe many people, in fact, I'd say 80 to 90% of the people in this country agree with.
06:10Most specifically, I know that we have the support of Prisha Mosley, Chloe Cole, Amelia Schmidt, L'Rell Herbert,
06:17Per Joseph, Annika Bigel-Lyson, and Simon B. Amaya Price, all of whom signed this letter.
06:24I would ask unanimous consent for putting this letter in the record.
06:30This is a letter from folks who have detransitioned after having gone through some of the things that we're talking about.
06:40With that, I yield back.
06:42General A yields back. General A from California is recognized.
06:46Thank you, Mr. Chair.
06:48I want to support this amendment and speak to the underlying bill.
06:55You know, I love the title, Protecting Children's Innocence Act.
07:01Because what a misnomer that is.
07:04You know, the bill does just the opposite.
07:07You actually protect a child's innocence by not bombarding them with adult ideology and ignorance and immoral calcification.
07:18Why don't we let our children figure out who they are on their own without us inserting our judgments onto them?
07:30How about this? Why don't we love our kids?
07:33Why don't we love our kids and trust their parents to let them figure out who they are, who they want to be in this world?
07:42I am struck by the fact that we're actually talking about genital mutilation and trying to prevent that from happening.
07:51When, hey, we were trying to do that in our Foreign Affairs Committee with USAID.
07:57Because there is real genital mutilation happening on young girls, mostly young girls in other countries around the world.
08:05But you know what? We cut that funding, pun intended, and yet we're here talking about it.
08:12When this is something, I mean, if it was so prevalent that young kids were being snatched and taken into doctor's offices
08:20and all these crazy medical things were happening to them without their parents' consent, that would be on the news 24-7.
08:30And it's not happening. This bill is continuing to push a false narrative about something that, quite frankly, we should be talking about the cuts that Republicans just passed to the medical community.
08:50You know, we're going to be dealing with hospitals and doctors closing their doors because of the cuts that you all passed.
08:58We're going to be dealing with our grandmothers not being able to get their Medicaid benefits because of what you just passed.
09:06You know, what about folks who are trying to get fertility treatments?
09:10Well, they're not going to have access to any of that because of what you all have been doing.
09:15And then how is any of this going to be interpreted or even enforced?
09:21We have been ricocheting in this committee today around states' rights.
09:26You know, it's wholly inconsistent.
09:30Two weeks ago, like no states' rights when you want to have a national, you know, carry law, everybody can get a gun, boom, boom, shoot them up.
09:37And then it's state laws, you know, only I guess when it fits your narrative.
09:43This right here, this right here should not be debated in this committee.
09:48It should be left to states and it should be left to the parents.
09:52There are legions of young people who are living in a gray area as they figure out who they are.
09:58Heck, there are legions of adults and even some congressmen and women living in the gray area.
10:03Give them space, but don't criminalize them or prevent them from getting the medical attention that they need.
10:10This bill goes after children and their parents and medical professionals.
10:14And then how does this thing get enforced, get interpreted?
10:18I mean, are we going to have goon squads?
10:20Are you going to have troops stationed at a, at a, at a, at a doctor's offices or in schools?
10:28And therapists offices, yanking down kids' pants to see what they've had done or what they're preparing to have done?
10:37I mean, what kind of world are you trying to create and force us to live in?
10:46You know, I don't want you in my life, you probably don't want me in yours.
10:49Which is why we shouldn't even be debating this bill, let alone passing this bill.
10:54And let me just say something else.
10:57I have run into so many members of the trans community.
11:02Young people, adults, and you know where we meet?
11:06We meet in church.
11:09We meet at the farmers markets.
11:11We meet in the parks.
11:14We meet at family reunions.
11:17We meet in the grocery stores.
11:20And we are all talking about the same things.
11:25How we can live our own lives without people that we don't know.
11:32Without people that we know want to harm us.
11:34Who don't love us or care about us.
11:37Coming up with crazy definitions about what a male is and what a female is.
11:41We want to live without that in our lives.
11:44So vote yes on the amendment and no on the bill.
11:46And with that, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
11:48Gentle lady from Washington is recognized.
11:54Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
11:55I want to thank my colleague, Representative Ballant, for introducing this amendment that
12:01I think makes it clear.
12:03The most common types of care young trans people receive are safe and medically necessary.
12:11And so I would once again turn to the American people and ask you, do you think that you or
12:19your doctor should be locked up for getting the care, getting your child the care that they need?
12:27For all the talk from the other side about big government staying out of people's lives,
12:32they want to get between you and your doctor.
12:34That's what this bill is about.
12:36This is Republicans in Congress forcing their way into your doctor's office and telling
12:41you that they know better than you, the parent, better than your doctor, about what medical
12:47care is appropriate for your child.
12:49And by the way, if you disagree with them, this bill allows them to lock you up for 10
12:56years.
12:57And listen, if they can do this on this issue, they can do it on any issue.
13:03They can get between you and your doctor on any issue.
13:08And I'll go back to the truth that most U.S. medical organizations through lengthy independent
13:15review processes back gender affirming care, which normally involves therapy, puberty blockers,
13:24and hormone therapy.
13:26And let's remember too, as I said before, just because I think we've got to repeat these things,
13:32trans children make up around 2% of minors in the United States.
13:38And out of this already very small population, only 11% are even prescribed hormone therapy.
13:46And that's with the advice and consent of parents and doctors.
13:50So we're literally over and over again talking about this tiny fraction of kids here, instead
13:56of talking about anything that's going to help your lives.
13:59For the vast majority of trans youth, care comes in the form of puberty pausing medications.
14:06And I bet if I were to go through and do a little survey of all my colleagues on the other side
14:10and ask you to define what these are, you wouldn't be able to tell me.
14:13I bet you wouldn't be able to tell me.
14:16And feel free to come up and tell me later.
14:18Maybe the doctor on the front row would.
14:20These medications have been prescribed safely for both non-transgender and transgender kids
14:27for decades to treat a whole range of issues.
14:30They're well-researched.
14:31They're standard clinical care.
14:33And trans patients use them at exactly the same doses and for exactly the same reasons
14:42as their non-transgender counterparts.
14:45So this isn't like crazy treatment that's only used for one small group.
14:48This is actually treatment that can be used by everybody.
14:52And let's be clear, while the effects of these medications are reversible,
14:57puberty can have irreversible effects on a young person's body.
15:02And these life-saving medications prevent trans young people from going through the wrong puberty
15:08and preserve their ability to make a choice down the road without any permanent impact to the body.
15:15Gender-affirming surgery, which we talk about a lot in all kinds of ways here on this committee,
15:21is so rare that a child in America is more likely to die from a gunshot wound than to receive that care.
15:31And I don't see a single bill being brought up in this committee that tackles the epidemic of gun violence against young people.
15:39To make this point abundantly clear, I want to read a testimonial from a parent of a trans child on what this care means to them.
15:50Alana says,
15:52If not for the support and care my 14-year-old doctor received over the past three years, she might not be alive today.
16:00Before beginning gender-affirming care, my daughter would cry herself to sleep, feeling disconnected from her body and from herself.
16:10She often expressed a desire not to live and was overwhelmed by feelings of despair and alienation.
16:18Her mental health was fragile and she seemed lost in a sea of confusion and pain.
16:26It was heartbreaking to witness her suffering and to realize how much she needed support.
16:33Since starting gender-affirming care, everything has changed.
16:38My daughter now presents fully as herself, confident and authentic.
16:43She is an engaged student and actively participates in band roller derby and cherishes her friendship.
16:50She has blossomed into a joyful, resilient young person who embraces her identity and her future.
16:57Her experience is a testament to the transformative power of acceptance and appropriate medical care.
17:04And it is a reminder that every young person deserves the chance to live authentically and happily.
17:11I proudly support your amendment, Ms. Ballant, and I yield back.
17:14The gentlelady yields back.
17:15The question now occurs on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from Vermont.
17:19All those in favor say aye.
17:20Aye.
17:21Those opposed, no.
17:22No.
17:23In the opinion of the chair, the no's have it.
17:24The amendment is not agreed to.
17:26Roll call being requested by the ranking member.
17:30The clerk will call the roll.
17:31Mr. Jordan.
17:32No.
17:33Mr. Jordan votes no.
17:34Mr. Issa.
17:35No.
17:36Mr. Issa votes no.
17:37Mr. Biggs.
17:38Mr. Biggs votes no.
17:39Mr. McClintock.
17:40Mr. McClintock votes no.
17:41Mr. Tiffany.
17:43Mr. Massey.
17:44No.
17:45Mr. Massey votes no.
17:46Mr. Roy.
17:47No.
17:48Mr. Roy votes no.
17:49Mr. Fitzgerald.
17:50Mr. Klein.
17:51Mr. Gooden.
17:53Mr. Van Drew.
17:55Mr. Nels.
17:56Mr. Moore.
17:58Mr. Moore votes no.
18:00Mr. Kiley.
18:01Mr. Kiley votes no.
18:02Ms. Hageman.
18:03No.
18:04Ms. Hageman votes no.
18:05Ms. Lee.
18:06Mr. Hunt.
18:08Mr. Fry.
18:09Mr. Grothman.
18:10Mr. Grothman votes no.
18:12Mr. Knott.
18:14Mr. Harris.
18:16Mr. Onder.
18:17Mr. Onder.
18:18No.
18:19Mr. Onder votes no.
18:20Mr. Schmidt.
18:21Mr. Schmidt votes no.
18:23Mr. Gill.
18:24Mr. Baumgardner.
18:25No.
18:26Mr. Baumgardner votes no.
18:27Mr. Raskin.
18:28Aye.
18:29Mr. Raskin votes aye.
18:31Mr. Nadler.
18:32Aye.
18:33Mr. Nadler votes aye.
18:34Ms. Lofgren.
18:35Aye.
18:36Ms. Lofgren votes aye.
18:37Mr. Cohen.
18:38Mr. Johnson.
18:39Aye.
18:40Mr. Johnson votes aye.
18:41Mr. Swalwell.
18:42Mr. Liu.
18:44Ms. Jayapal.
18:46Ms. Jayapal votes aye.
18:48Mr. Correa.
18:49Ms. Scanlon.
18:51Mr. Nagus.
18:53Ms. McBath.
18:55Ms. Ross.
18:57Aye.
18:58Ms. Ross votes aye.
18:59Ms. Ballant.
19:00Ms. Ballant votes aye.
19:01Mr. Garcia.
19:02Mr. Garcia.
19:04Mr. Garcia.
19:05Mr. Garcia.
19:06You're not recorded.
19:07Mr. Garcia votes yes.
19:10Ms. Kamlager Dove.
19:11Ms. Kamlager Dove.
19:12Ms. Kamlager Dove.
19:13Mr. Moskowitz.
19:14Mr. Goldman.
19:15Mr. Crockett.
19:16Ms. Crockett votes yes.
19:21Mr. Klein.
19:24Mr. Klein votes no.
19:27Mr. Fry.
19:28Mr. Fry votes no.
19:33Mr. Fry votes no.
19:35Mr. Chairman, there are 10 ayes and 15 noes.
19:51Mr. Chairman, there are 10 ayes and 15 noes.
Recommended
5:01