{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415871", "The Daily Wire exclusive article on Smith legislation'Federal Pro-Life Protection Hits Major Milestone As New Attacks Emerge'", "2026-09-25", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "By Leif Le Mahieu\n\nPublished September 25, 2026\n\nFifty-years ago, a Republican congressman from Illinois named Henry Hyde took action to successfully protect American dollars from being used to end the life of an unborn child.\n\nTo honor the lawmaker\u2019s legacy, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) on Friday introduced a resolution calling for the continued support of the Hyde Amendment, a measure prohibiting the use of federal dollars to fund abortions. Lankford credits the amendment with saving over 2.5 million babies, according to a copy of a resolution first obtained by The Daily Wire.\n\nLankford\u2019s resolution marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Hyde Amendment, which occurred on September 30, 1976. Since that time, the Hyde Amendment has been repeatedly passed ensuring that federal dollars are not paying for abortions. In recent years, some Democrats have pushed to end the amendment and force Americans to pay for abortions.\n\nCredit: YsaL via Getty Images.\n\n\u201cFor 50 years, the Hyde Amendment has been an important protection for American taxpayers. Every child is valuable. No American should ever wonder if the check they\u2019re sending to the IRS on April 15 will be used to pay for someone\u2019s elective abortion,\u201d Lankford Told The Daily Wire. \u201cHyde was a bipartisan agreement five decades ago, and it has been included in appropriations bills every year since. We should keep that commitment in place.\u201d\n\nThe resolution says its purpose is to recognize the Hyde Amendment\u2019s \u201cenduring legacy of saving the lives of more than 2,600,000 unborn children and respecting the conscience rights of the American people.\u201d It adds that it wants to \u201cencourages the people of the United States to reflect upon the history and significance of the Hyde amendment and the loss of 63,000,000 babies through abortions that have taken place since Roe v. Wade.\u201d\n\nA companion resolution was introduced in the House by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ).\n\n\u201cI had the honor of serving alongside Rep. Hyde in the House for more than two decades, and I can personally attest to his unrivaled brilliance, unparalleled compassion, and unwavering commitment to protecting and defending the rights of the unborn\u2014the weakest and most vulnerable among us,\u201d he said.\n\nCredit: Photo by Diana Walker/Getty Images.\n\nThe Hyde Amendment, supported by members of both parties at the time, came three years after the Supreme Court ruled that there was a constitutional right to an abortion \u2014 a decision that would later be struck down by the high court in 2022.\n\n\u2018\u2018We who seek to protect that most defenseless and innocent of human lives, the unborn \u2014 seek to inhibit the use of federal funds to pay for and thus encourage abortion as an answer to the human and compelling problem of an unwanted child,\u201d Hyde said at the time.\n\nIn recent years, the Hyde Amendment has faced challenges from Democrats who have floated appealing the amendment. In 2019, then Senator Kamala Harris called for Hyde to be repealed claiming it was blocking access to \u201creproductive health care.\u201d Those efforts have so far fallen flat when Democrats controlled Congress and would likely require a 60-seat majority in the Senate.\n\nEarlier this year, President Donald Trump suggested that Republicans should be \u201ca little flexible on Hyde.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have to be a little flexible on Hyde, you know that. You\u2019ve got to be a little flexible,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to use ingenuity. You\u2019ve got to work. We\u2019re all big fans of everything.\u201d\n\nDespite that comment, Trump has moved to keep dollars from going toward abortions. The president signed an executive order in January 2025 to enforce the Hyde Amendment and crack down on taxpayer funding for abortion.\n\nThere still appears to be some federal dollars paying for abortions. A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that almost a quarter of Affordable Care Act plans cover abortions. Some lawmakers argues this violates the provisions of the Hyde Amendment.", 1, "2026-09-26T09:43:57Z", "2026-09-26T09:44:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415871"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1028759181499481, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}