U.S. Capitol This Week July 8-12
The White House
In an exchange with the New York Times, The Biden administration said that “it opposed gender-affirming surgery for minors, the most explicit statement to date on the subject from a president who has been a staunch supporter of transgender rights.” However, after the administration was lobbied by a large coalition of pro-LGBTQI+ organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign and the Whitman-Walker Institute, the White House clarified that while they believe transgender surgeries should be reserved for adults, families and doctors should still be free to decide whether a kid should undergo those surgeries or not.
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the University of Dallas on the accomplishments of the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis they released last year. The blueprint says that “Systemic barriers include access to comprehensive reproductive health care—including access to abortion—which is critical to promoting better maternal and infant health outcomes.” The claim that abortion promotes “better infant health” remains a mystery. The document also understands “pregnancy-related deaths” (PRD) to mean deaths up to 42-365 Days Postpartum, which made up 11.7% of PRDs in 2022. Per the blueprint, the US has one of the highest rates of maternal deaths in the world, with most of them being caused by behavioral health problems like depression, anxiety, suicide, and drug overdoses.
The White House is tightening the rules on reporters’s access to press briefings. Starting June 31, White House reporters must hold a press pass from the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, or the Supreme Court to have access to the White House briefing room.
U.S. Congress
A Congressional Resolution sponsored in the Senate by Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and in the House by Barbara Lee (D-CA), reinterprets a major international conference on population development as mandating countries to ensure access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, a euphemism used in the context of the UN as to include abortion rights. Traditional countries recently blocked any mention of abortion and homosexual/transgender issues at the thirtieth anniversary of the conference held at the UN. Seven of the last ten sessions of the annual commission have failed to produce an agreement after negotiations collapsed over these very issues. Regardless, many UN delegates from Western countries pledged to continue to promote abortion and gender ideology under the pretext of implementing the 1994 agreement.
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled “Collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.'' A couple of hours before the meeting, the committee released a staff report against the Global Alliance for Responsible Mediamarketers (GARM), which calls to unify “media agencies, media platforms, industry associations, and advertising technology solutions providers to safeguard the potential of digital media by reducing the availability and monetization of harmful content online.” The report says that GARM supports “anti-democratic views of fundamental American freedoms” and demonetized online content based on political affiliation. During the hearing, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) condemned GARM for attempting to silence conservative outlets. Jordan also expressed concerns about GARM’s partners developing AI tools that will integrate GARM's censorship effort standards “seamlessly across social media platforms.”
The Republican Chairmen of the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and of Oversight and Accountability sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken flagging that the Global Engagement Center (GEC) is contributing to the censorship of American voices through grants and collaboration with private organizations such as the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and NewsGuard. These organizations work to divert advertising revenue from conservative media outlets because of their “lack of credibility.” The letter asks several questions on the GEC with a response due by July 19. The chairmen clarified that “absent congressional action, the GEC will terminate on December 23, 2024,” when its statute terminates per U.S. law.
Department of State
Upon release of the Trafficking in Persons Report, congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) held a hearing highlighting that recent years have seen the rise of disturbing attempts to normalize “sex work,” “intergenerational sexual partnerships”, and “transactional sex.” Smith added that these terms are “pushed by certain NGOs, international organizations, and governmental organizations alike, advocate the legalization of prostitution,” and that they also attempt to normalize sex trafficking and the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The U.S. still has in place the National Security Presidential Directive NPSD-22, which says that the United States government opposes prostitution, that it is not a legitimate form of work, and it is inherently harmful and dehumanizing and contributes to trafficking in persons.
As the pride month came to an end, the President and three White House Cabinet officials “explained why protecting the rights of LGBTQI+ persons is integral to U.S. national security and foreign policy more generally.” President Biden welcomed a Pride Reception held by Anthony Blinken and the convening on U.S. Foreign Policy and the Human Rights of LGBTQI+, saying that “protecting the rights and liberties of LGBTQI+ people strengthens democracy, enhances security, supports economic development, and protects public health both at home and overseas.” Blinken cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which calls for respect for “the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. [That’s] the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” and misreads as ensuring separate unique rights for LGBTQI+ people. This year’s Human Rights Report which the State Department publishes yearly prioritized the rights of LGBT over freedom of religion and criticized other countries for their conservative stances on human sexuality and sexual and reproductive rights.
