She says she hoped that Democrats on the committee would be able to convince Issa to allow her to testify. Undaunted, Fluke arrived at the hearing two hours early and waited in line, ultimately finding a seat directly behind the men scheduled to testify on the first of the day’s panels.
“I believed it was critical to have at least one woman at the witness table who could discuss the repercussions that denying coverage for contraceptives has on women across this country.” “When my staff inquired about requesting minority witnesses for this hearing, we were informed that you would allow only one,” Cummings wrote. Elijah Cummings, D-MD, the ranking minority committee member, sent Issa a letter last Wednesday asking him to reconsider his position on allowing Fluke’s testimony. Sandra Fluke, a 30-year-old Georgetown University Law School student, had been contacted earlier in the week by committee minority leaders after Democrats saw a video of her speaking about the mandate at the National Press Club on February 9.īut after several days of preparing her remarks with help from other students, Fluke received a call on Wednesday evening to inform her that Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, had decided that she would not be permitted to testify, saying that Democrats had submitted her name too late for consideration. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience,” was about religious freedom, Issa said, but it took place against the backdrop of a national controversy regarding the White House’s mandate that all employers provide birth control as part of their insurance plans.Īs it happens, there was one woman present prepared to testify on the issue of birth control.
The hearing, titled “Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, as she looked at the all-male panel of clerics before her, “is, where are the women?” Darrell Issa’s Thursday hearing went off the rails early.
0 kommentar(er)
