FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2017
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NARAL Launches Campaign Demanding the Senate Carefully Consider Each Cabinet Nominee, Ensure Adequate Time for Full Vetting of Highly Controversial Candidates
As Senate Republicans plan to hold hearings on five controversial nominees on a single day, NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue issued the following statement:
“Just one week into the new Congress and Republicans are already overreaching, breaking with tradition, and pulling out all the stops to cover up for Donald Trump. By holding five hearings on a single day–the same day as Trump’s first press conference in six months and votes on a budget resolution that could lead to millions of Americans losing health care–Republicans in Congress are cynically trying to hide these nominees, many who are unqualified, from the public in order to skirt even basic accountability.
“Democrats in the Senate cannot treat this as business as usual, because it isn’t. Many of these nominees have yet to complete the most basic aspect of their job applications, and Senate Democrats must use every tool at their disposal to ensure that each of the nominees can receive a hearing with the time and public viewing that the American people deserve. If the roles were reversed, you can bet that Senate Republicans would be demanding the same.
“Cabinet Secretaries are entrusted with extreme power over nearly every aspect of our nation’s affairs. They work for the American people and the public has the right to know whether they are qualified for the job they seek and whether they have conflicts of interest that would prevent them from performing their duties. We cannot allow Republicans to break with established tradition to skirt accountability and ram these controversial and unqualified picks through the Senate.”
NARAL launched a campaign today demanding the Senate slow this process down. NARAL members from across the country will be contacting their senators and urging them to delay these hearings.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
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