Diana DeGette
As the top Democrat on the House Energy and Climate subcommittee, I refuse to sit back and allow my Republican colleagues to undo the progress we’ve been making to combat the climate crisis and break our nation’s addiction to oil.
In hearing after hearing this year, my Republican colleagues have sought to advance dozens of bills that will do nothing to secure our clean energy future. Instead of investing in clean technologies that will help lower our emissions and make America truly energy independent, my Republican colleagues continue to put forth bill after bill that would make us more reliant on fossil fuels and the volatile global energy market.
The only way to move this country forward is to expand the use of new energy technologies throughout the country. And, as I’ve told my colleagues on the committee many times, now is not the time for partisan politics. We have to come together to help bring down energy costs for families across this country immediately; we have to do more to protect our frontline communities from the environmental threats they face; and we have to ensure America is, once again, leading the fight to combat the global climate crisis.
As we continue fighting to protect our planet, I’m also focused on protecting women’s right to access the health care they need.
Any day now, we expect a judge in Texas to issue a ruling that may make it more difficult for women to access mifepristone, a medication that’s been available and approved by the FDA for more than 20 years and is considered the gold-standard for medication abortion – which accounts for over half of all abortions in the U.S.
Mifepristone has a long history of being both safe and effective and, for many women across the country, having access to this medication is critical.
As the co-chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, I am working closely with my colleagues in Congress and the administration to ensure we are ready to take whatever steps we can to respond to this decision once it comes down.
There are many of us in Congress who believe deeply that every woman in this country should have the freedom to make her own health care decisions – including whether to have an abortion. It’s a right women in this country had for nearly fifty years, and it’s a right we are determined to restore as soon as possible.
Rep. Diana DeGette serves the people of Colorado’s First Congressional District.
