California conservatives haven't exactly been riding a wave of great news lately, but last week's special election was a victory everyone can savor. Former Navy fighter pilot Mike Garcia (R) stunned the media with a landslide victory outside Los Angeles, flipping the seat, and joining Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.) as the House's newest members. Now, barely hours into their new jobs, the two men aren't just giving House Republicans a shot in the arm -- but their pro-life plans too!
Tiffany and Garcia had barely put their hands down from their congressional swearing-in Tuesday when they set to work chipping away at the liberal agenda. As House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) points out, the GOP didn't just put two more Rs in their column, they also added two champions to their unborn crusade. Garcia, who campaigned as "pro-life without exception," and Tiffany, who already had practice voting for born-alive protections in Wisconsin, made one of their first official acts signing the Republicans' discharge petition.
"This is a really big deal," Steve told me on "Washington Watch." While New York and other states think it's just fine to kill a newborn and call it abortion, House Republicans are fighting to give full protection to babies who were born alive. "[Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.] doesn't want to bring this bill to the floor. So we have one tool that's rarely used in Congress called the discharge petition. And what it means is if 218 members of Congress sign on to that, then even though Nancy Pelosi doesn't want it to come the floor, it automatically comes to the floor for a vote." Why is this so important, he went on? "Because we now have -- with today's action, [205] signatures on this discharge petition. That's how close we are -- the closest probably any pro-life bill has ever come to being forced onto the floor over the pro-abortion speaker."
Of course, Steve pointed out, the news that Republicans actually flipped a seat from in California for the first time since 1998 was "earth shattering." "The media didn't never reported it, because they don't want this narrative to go out [that] we can get the House back in November... and fire [Nancy Pelosi]." But even better than that, he explained is that both men -- Garcia and Tiffany -- made this born-alive effort a priority. "It's a major victory for the pro-life community that this has now become a rite of passage, that as soon as you get sworn in as a Republican member of Congress in a special election, the first thing you want to do is sign that discharge petition to protect life. And they both did it today. It was it was great to see that commitment to life by these two new members, including a Republican member of Congress from Los Angeles."
As a lot of us have argued all along, there's no reason for this to be a partisan issue. Extending the most basic rights to a child who survives an abortion is a matter of human dignity. And many Americans -- Steve included -- think it will be one of the big defining issues in November.
"Joe Biden has taken the complete pro-abortion position. He's against this born-alive act. President Trump's been a great champion, as we all know. He wants to sign this bill. And so, number one: we've got to keep President Trump in office. But we also need to get a Republican House. And I think we will..." Americans are tired of Democrats in battleground states who campaign on things like life and guns -- and then they get to Washington and can't even stand up for life in even the most basic way -- after the baby's born.
To almost every American but the liberals in Congress, this is a consensus issue. "A majority of people who define themselves as 'pro-choice' think it's wrong to kill a baby after it's born alive," Steve explains. "And most of the most questions I get on this, Tony, is why do you need a law to do this? Because people think it's already illegal. I mean, to me, it's murder... And yet in some of these states like New York, it's legal. And so we have a chance to make it illegal. And, you know, I've been a champion of this bill since [Rep.] Ann Wagner [R-Mo.] filed it. And we're one step closer today with this action."
Help the House Republicans keep this momentum going! FRC's End Birth Day Abortion campaign is still going -- and since the coronavirus postponed our baby hat delivery to Capitol Hill, there are still opportunities to participate! Join the 82,000 Americans-plus who want to send Nancy Pelosi a message that every life counts!
