8 Concrete Things the 114th Congress Has Done to Protect Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty
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As we close out the first seven months of the 114th Congress, I wanted to give you a brief update of what I have been working on so far to protect every American’s ability to exercise their Constitutional right to religious freedom, protect the unborn, and celebrate the power of faith in our communities:
- Working to Defund. In the wake of the release of gruesome undercover videos and allegations that Planned Parenthood could be engaged in the illegal transfer of babies’ body parts, I am cosponsoring both a one year moratorium on Planned Parenthood funding, as well as a permanent funding ban for Planned Parenthood. I also sent a letter to Committee leadership, urging for swift and thorough action in the upcoming investigations of Planned Parenthood’s actions. This is not about politics. This is not about Republicans or Democrats. This is about basic humanity, and human dignity.
- Protecting every American’s right to affirm the truth about marriage. In the wake of the recent same-sex marriage Supreme Court decision, I supported the First Amendment Defense Bill, (H.R. 2802), to prohibit the federal government from ever discriminating against a person on the basis of their moral or religious belief about marriage.
- Defending the health of unborn babies and their mothers. I championed the Pain Capable Act, H.R. 36, which looks out for the health of both babies and their mothers by providing vital legal protections for unborn children and empowering the mother with a civil right of action if her baby does not receive the standard of medical care required under the law.
- Protecting faith-based adoption and foster care providers. I am one of the original supporters of the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, H.R. 1299, which prohibits discrimination against adoption and foster care providers for adhering to their own religious or moral convictions. Faith-based providers and organizations play a big role in administering adoption, foster care, and other services that provide care for some of our community’s most vulnerable children. It is crucial that faith-based providers and individuals are able to continue to serve along with other agencies and organizations, to care for children and provide adoptive and foster parents with access to a diversity of providers.
- Opposing grants for abortions. I cosponsored the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, H.R. 217, which prohibits family planning grants from being awarded to any entity that performs abortions.
- Protecting child victims of sexual exploitation. Currently, the existing restitution statute in child sexual exploitation cases doesn’t adequately accommodate child pornography cases, where the harm to the victim can sometimes be more difficult to quantify – although no less real – than other sexual exploitation cases. I cosponsored the Amy and Vicky Child Pornography Victim Restitution Improvement Act, H.R. 595, to help fix that problem. It changes the restitution statute to consider the total harm to the victim, and requires real and timely restitution.
- Observing the National Day of Prayer. On the National Day of Prayer this year, I, along with Speaker Boehner and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus Senator Lankford, led 53 other Members of Congress in writing an open letter to America on why prayer is an integral aspect of our national heritage.
- Supporting religious freedom worldwide. People of faith across the globe are being persecuted for their faith. I cosponsored the International Religious Freedom Act, H.R. 1150, to improve U.S. efforts to protect religious freedom by better training and equipping diplomats to counter extremism, address persecution, mitigate conflict, and assist the Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom to coordinate efforts worldwide.
I will keep you posted with my progress.
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