Florida GOP Rep. Greg Steube was among several House Republicans who ripped the Biden administration for promoting a rule that would deny federal funding, through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program to pregnancy resource centers.
More than 2,700 such centers operate nationwide and provide food, diapers, and prenatal health care, including ultrasounds, parenting advice, and other resources to expecting women.
In an opinion article posted in The Hill on Wednesday, Moira Gaul, an associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, and Michael New, an assistant business professor at Catholic University, noted that such centers are struggling.
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The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 boosted demand for services offered by pregnancy centers, some of which were attacked and vandalized by liberals after the ruling took effect.
Gaul and New pointed out that in 2022 such facilities recorded more than 16 million client visits and provided more than $358 million worth of goods and services, which included items such as diapers, baby formula, new car seats, baby clothing and furniture.
Yet President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services seeks to hamstring such centers with a new rule.
The TANF provides direct cash assistance to poor families with children.
The $16.5 billion federal program provides funding to states through block grants. States decide how it may be used.
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The goal is to help low-income families in one or more of the following ways: provide assistance to needy families so children can be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives; wean people off welfare by promoting job skills, work, and marriage; reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and encourage two-parent families.
Some states do that by targeting aid through pregnancy resource centers.
Yet, according to Republican Rep. Chris Smith, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, the proposed HHS regulation would ban all states from helping families through the facilities.
Congressman Steube ripped Democrats in his comments during the committee’s hearing on a bill to block the HHS rule from taking effect.
Steube started by quoting Isaiah 5:20: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
He noted that Democrats called pregnancy centers “propaganda centers,” “dangerous,” and a “sham,” among other slurs, because they counsel women to have their babies.
Steube argued that instead the centers “lovingly” care for young women “who don’t know what to do with their pregnancy and are looking for other options, other than abortion.”
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On X, Steube added, “It’s completely unacceptable that the Biden administration is using the rulemaking process to attack pregnancy resource centers.”
Democrats, he noted, “spent hours today berating the good, loving work of these centers. Demonizing their work only leads to the violent, disgusting attacks we’ve seen on pro-life centers.”
“As conservatives, we must fight for pregnancy resource centers and defend their funding so they can continue to provide lifesaving care.”
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