Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: Joining me now are Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas
Speaker 2: and Katie Britt of Alabama. Thank you both for joining
Speaker 2: Bloomberg Television.
Speaker 3: Here in New York.
Speaker 2: You're out with a joint up ed this morning in
Speaker 2: the Wall Street Journal the title visit will protect both
Speaker 2: life and IVF. You're announcing a bill today through this
Speaker 2: legislation that would require as a condition your words of
Speaker 2: receiving federal medicaid funding that states don't prohibit IVF. Now,
Speaker 2: concerns about IVF stemmed really, Senator Britt, from your state
Speaker 2: of Alabama.
Speaker 3: The Supreme Court came.
Speaker 2: Out they said that these embryos in iff they are
Speaker 2: considered children under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.
Speaker 2: And then Alabama legislator moved past the bill that would
Speaker 2: protect IVF. So why is a national bill needed if
Speaker 2: the legislator just acted on behalf of basically telling the
Speaker 2: Supreme Court in Alabama that's wrong and this is not
Speaker 2: where the American people are.
Speaker 4: Unfortunately, we've seen a number of people try to fear
Speaker 4: monger on this very issue, and so Ted and I
Speaker 4: came together and we believe this effort should be bipartisan
Speaker 4: to make sure that every parent across the country who
Speaker 4: wants to bring life into this world and maybe struggling
Speaker 4: with infertility or others, but wants to use IVF to
Speaker 4: create the miracle of life it bring it into the world,
Speaker 4: has a certainty that that's going to be available to them.
Speaker 4: And so we're excited about it and believe that it's
Speaker 4: something we can move forward and move forward quickly.
Speaker 3: Saat Gruzman.
Speaker 2: Why wouldn't Republicans sign up for Senator Duckwertz bill earlier
Speaker 2: this year, which then actually would have protected what happened
Speaker 2: in Alabama.
Speaker 1: Well, because that bill is a very different bill. That
Speaker 1: bill really seeks to backdoor in broader abortion legislation, which
Speaker 1: is where the Democrats are.
Speaker 3: But that's not IVF.
Speaker 1: Our bill is very simple, and it's very focused, and
Speaker 1: it is designed to protect IVF. IVF is miraculous medical technology.
Speaker 1: It enables millions of parents to have children, to be moms,
Speaker 1: to be dads of live bursts in America right now
Speaker 1: today come from IVF. It's incredible, and both Katie and
Speaker 1: I agree that IVF is incredibly pro family that we
Speaker 1: should be standing and helping parents who want to raise kids.
Speaker 1: And what happened when the Mama Supreme Court decision came out.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of confusion, there was a lot
Speaker 1: of fear, There was a lot of misunderstanding, and people
Speaker 1: did not want anything to threaten IBF. I agree with that,
Speaker 1: Katie agrees with that, and so we came together and said,
Speaker 1: let's draft a simple, straightforward federal bill that creates a
Speaker 1: federal right that you, as a parent, have a right
Speaker 1: to have access to IVF. If you want to have
Speaker 1: a child and you need medical assistance to do so,
Speaker 1: that should be your right. This is a bill I
Speaker 1: think that should be overwhelmingly bipartisan. The Senate should pass
Speaker 1: this bill one hundred to nothing. We'll see if they
Speaker 1: do or not, but on the merits, that's what should happen.
Speaker 2: Center Duckworks bill though talked about, and it clearly asserts
Speaker 2: that this is about quote assisted reproductive technology and ensure
Speaker 2: ability to cover those procedures. So in that case, do
Speaker 2: you guys think Democrats you can get a bipartisan legislation,
Speaker 2: why not just work with Senator Duckworth.
Speaker 1: Well, it depends the way the Duckworth Bill is written.
Speaker 1: It's very broad. There's a reason that no Republicans supported
Speaker 1: it because it was ostensibly about IVF. But whatever, it
Speaker 1: was written to give the federal government authority over abortion,
Speaker 1: potentially to strike down laws governing abortion and states all
Speaker 1: across the country. And that I get, that's the Democrats' agenda.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, why.
Speaker 2: Not have bipartisanship on both because overwhelmingly Americans if but overwhelmingly,
Speaker 2: and you come from states that have very restrictive abortion policies.
Speaker 2: Even majority of Republicans think abortions should be able to happen, rape.
Speaker 3: Incessant life of the mother. That's not true of both
Speaker 3: your states.
Speaker 1: Well, Listen, abortion is an issue that there are sharp disagreements.
Speaker 1: People of good faith and good morals disagree, and it's
Speaker 1: why the Supreme Court has said this is a question
Speaker 1: for the states, and every state decides it differently. If
Speaker 1: you look at our constitution, that's the way we decide
Speaker 1: really difficult issues of public policies. We leave it to
Speaker 1: the voters, and that reflects and respects democracy. IVF is
Speaker 1: very different. Nearly ninety percent of Americans believe IVF should
Speaker 1: be protected. So what we're trying to say is look,
Speaker 1: let's find an area of common ground. We're not going
Speaker 1: to find complete agreement among all one hundred senators on abortion,
Speaker 1: We're just not. People have different views. That's the beauty
Speaker 1: of a democracy that we can have different views. But
Speaker 1: on IVF, we ought to be able to unify everybody.
Speaker 1: We ought to be able to get Republicans and Democrats
Speaker 1: together and say this technology enabling people to be parents
Speaker 1: is wonderful technology and it is pro family. So there
Speaker 1: are issues on which we disagree, but this is one
Speaker 1: where we can find common ground.
Speaker 3: I very much hope and I hope so too.
Speaker 4: I mean, we actually wrote this in that way so
Speaker 4: that it would be very measured and simple and to
Speaker 4: the point, protecting IVF, protecting family's ability to bring life
Speaker 4: into this world. And we both have talked to a
Speaker 4: number of friends and family me and others constituents that
Speaker 4: tell us their story about being able to bring a
Speaker 4: child into this world through IVF and so making sure
Speaker 4: that we protect that in a way that protects religious
Speaker 4: freedom and liberty and families and others, I think is
Speaker 4: critically important. And that's what we've done here, and we
Speaker 4: hope to gain some momentum on it.
Speaker 2: I guess some of the concerns from some hard right
Speaker 2: members of your party would be is an IVF embryo
Speaker 2: considered life at conception?
Speaker 3: Well, look, I.
Speaker 1: Can tell you that there is unanimity. I believe all
Speaker 1: one hundred Senators support IVF. I don't know a single
Speaker 1: Senator that does not. I don't know a single Republican
Speaker 1: that does not. I don't know a single Democrat that
Speaker 1: does not. We ought to be able to find real
Speaker 1: agreement on a question like IVF, you know, you talk
Speaker 1: about as Katie mentioned, she and I both have dear
Speaker 1: friends who had their children through IVF and their wonderful parents.
Speaker 1: They love their their daughters, their sons. That's an amazing thing,
Speaker 1: you know. You look at since the development of IVF,
Speaker 1: there have been over eight million babies born through IVF.
Speaker 1: That is a fantastic thing, and so many families have
Speaker 1: been brought joy. That we ought to be able to
Speaker 1: find agreement, and I think we will. I hope we will.
Speaker 2: But in the discussion of IVF, abortion comes up, and
Speaker 2: majority of Americans are on the side of that least
Speaker 2: abortion should be allowed, especially in certain cases of rape, incest, life.
Speaker 3: Of the mother.
Speaker 2: So with that in mind going into this election season,
Speaker 2: how do you think about abortion, because that for Democrats
Speaker 2: is going to be one of the main rallying cries
Speaker 2: to get voters out as well as tapping funding.
Speaker 3: I think it also should be for Republicans.
Speaker 4: I mean, Henry, when you say that, I think the
Speaker 4: majority of Americans also believe you should not be able
Speaker 4: to take the life of a child the moment before
Speaker 4: the child is born. Should there be a federal plan
Speaker 4: that we saw We saw Democrats vote just the last Congress.
Speaker 3: To be able to do that.
Speaker 4: I mean, when you talk to people and you talk
Speaker 4: about a child and a woman's womb at thirty nine
Speaker 4: weeks and actually aborting that baby, the majority of Americans
Speaker 4: to agree that shouldn't be able to happen on American soil.
Speaker 4: So the problem is the Democrats are trying to deflect
Speaker 4: by how extreme they are in this position, and I
Speaker 4: think we're going to keep coming back to it, and
Speaker 4: I think where Americans are.
Speaker 2: But if you say the Democrats are extreme in that position,
Speaker 2: and you want to have this IVF bill, and you
Speaker 2: think Duckworth potentially was too far on the margins coming
Speaker 2: into abortion, then would you be open to a bipartisanship
Speaker 2: bill when it comes to things like rape incess life
Speaker 2: of the mother.
Speaker 1: So what I would say is today's Democrat position in
Speaker 1: the Senate is incredibly extreme. What Katie just told you,
Speaker 1: every single Democrat in the Senate supports unlimited abortion, partial
Speaker 1: birth abortion literally. But it is so hennery. It actually
Speaker 1: is true because they all voted for it. That we
Speaker 1: had a bill lest Congress that would strike down every
Speaker 1: limitation in the country and that would legalize abortion literally
Speaker 1: until the moment of birth. That is such an extreme position.
Speaker 1: Nine percent of American CDC.
Speaker 3: Data though there are not abortions in America.
Speaker 1: But every Democrat supports Actually, there are late term abortions,
Speaker 1: and every single Democrat.
Speaker 3: Voted extreme circumstances.
Speaker 1: Every single Democrats supported it, and ninety one percent of
Speaker 1: Americans disagree with that. The vast majority of people who
Speaker 1: consider themselves pro choice, say, listen, late term abortion, abortion
Speaker 1: in the thirty ninth or fortieth week. That that is barbaric.
Speaker 1: And that's the position of every single Democrat, which is
Speaker 1: why they don't want to talk about their position. What
Speaker 1: they want to do instead is scaremonger and IVF. They
Speaker 1: want to suggest those mean, Republicans want to take away IVF. Well,
Speaker 1: let's let's have an area of complete agreement. Let's make
Speaker 1: clear IVF is fully protected by federal law.
Speaker 2: And I think Democrats agree with you on there, and I.
Speaker 1: Will will back on this.
Speaker 2: So all of them want we will abortion till.
Speaker 1: But that is how they voted. I mean, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, what you vote for matters.
Speaker 3: And they did vote that way. And that's the thing.
Speaker 4: I just had the Secretary of HHS in front of
Speaker 4: US at and Appropriations hearing and I ask him about
Speaker 4: this administration not putting the heighth Amendment in their budget requests,
Speaker 4: something that's been bipartisan for years, and moving that forward.
Speaker 4: And then I had actually talked to a woman who
Speaker 4: performed one of these aborde at thirty nine weeks right
Speaker 4: before walking into there.
Speaker 3: She told me.
Speaker 4: About how barbaric that is about delivering the baby breach,
Speaker 4: about putting a knife up that baby's spine, opening it up,
Speaker 4: pulling out the brains, collapsing the skull, pushing that baby out.
Speaker 4: So it actually does happen, and unfortunately every Democrat voted
Speaker 4: to continue to allow that to happen. And the thing is,
Speaker 4: we have a duty to continue.
Speaker 3: To talk about that.
Speaker 4: We're one of eight countries on the entire planet that
Speaker 4: allows for that.
Speaker 3: So are you both calling for national ban?
Speaker 1: Well, there is an existing law that ban's federal partial
Speaker 1: birth abortion. It's the Democrats that are calling for changing
Speaker 1: the federal law to legalize partial birth abortion. They voted
Speaker 1: for striking down every restriction. But understand here, listen, we're
Speaker 1: not going to this morning resolve all the disagreements on abortion.
Speaker 1: People have very strong, good faith views from places of
Speaker 1: deep emotion and personal experience. That's part of the beauty
Speaker 1: of democracy. That that's part of the genius of the framers,
Speaker 1: as they recognize when there's the questions we have disagreements about,
Speaker 1: let the voters decide. And you would expect the state
Speaker 1: of New York to have a different resolution than the
Speaker 1: state of Texas or the state of Alabama. And we've
Speaker 1: got fifty states. But what we can do is say,
Speaker 1: are there issues where we have agreement, and IVF is
Speaker 1: one of them. This bill is designed to protect something
Speaker 1: that is incredibly important, to give comfort to parents who
Speaker 1: and to those who desperately want to be parents who
Speaker 1: are scared and they're picking up the newspapers or watching
Speaker 1: on TV politicians saying someone's going to take away IVF. Well,
Speaker 1: this bill will make clear it will be enshrined in
Speaker 1: federal law. You have a right to access to this technology.
Speaker 2: It's also very political going to election, and actually one
Speaker 2: of your staffers said that to the Washington Examiner. And
Speaker 2: as we head into the election center, Bert, I have
Speaker 2: to ask you. Since you're with us, your name continuously
Speaker 2: be floated as this potential VP pick for former President
Speaker 2: Donald Trump. What is the current dialogue between you and
Speaker 2: the Trump campaign.
Speaker 4: Look, I am working diligently on behalf of the people
Speaker 4: of Alabama in the United States Senate. We have a
Speaker 4: lot of work to do there, and I'm eager to
Speaker 4: continue that work and I'm proud to be a part
Speaker 4: of it.
Speaker 3: There's no doubt that.
Speaker 4: The American people want Donald Trump back in the White House.
Speaker 4: I mean we are seeing that at every single poll
Speaker 4: because people want a secure border, they want safe streets,
Speaker 4: they want stable prices, and then that's what he's going
Speaker 4: to bring to the White House. So I'm going to
Speaker 4: continue to work diligently alongside Ted to bring common sense
Speaker 4: solutions to the problems facing our country.
Speaker 3: And certainly honored to be able to do that. But
Speaker 3: if he calls you accept listen.
Speaker 4: I am sure he has a long list, many of
Speaker 4: which are our colleagues, and we're rooting for them for sure.
Speaker 4: Bottom line is, we're going to all do everything that
Speaker 4: we can to get Donald Trump back in the White
Speaker 4: House and also take back the Senate because the fate
Speaker 4: of our nation is at stake and we believe that
Speaker 4: that's worth fighting for.
Speaker 2: Republican Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, thank
Speaker 2: you so much for both of you for joining us.