Florida GOP Rep. and former Green Beret Michael Waltz appeared on Thursday afternoon’s CNN News Central where he called out the network and host Brianna Keilar’s “cute and lawyerly” excuses for the Department of Defense’s effort to avoid the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions.
Waltz made the argument that by paying for women to travel to obtain abortion’s, the Pentagon is beginning the process of opening up “Pandora’s Box” by opining on local laws. He raised the hypothetical example of a someone claiming they feel unsafe in high crime areas due to increased gun control which did not sit well with Keilar, “Well, I mean, on the issue of, say, gun laws, you're talking about someone leaving a state maybe permanently. We're talking about someone going temporarily for a service. So, these are certainly different things and I’ll grant you—”
Correcting the record, Waltz shot back, “No, we're talking-- no, what I’m talking about, I'm sorry. I'm talking about the Pentagon starting to pay for soldiers' travel and lodging because they don't like an existing local law. And we've also had the Pentagon suggest they may start making basing decisions.”
Keilar wasn’t satisfied with that response either as she interrupted, “can you answer the question because this is something that affects, obviously, service members and their ability to serve, and it affects their family members and they do not have a choice, obviously, on where they're serving.”
The backdrop for the segment is Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville placing a hold on promotions for all general and admirals while claiming the Pentagon’s policy is illegal. Keilar claimed Tuberville’s logic is flat wrong, “You say on the Hyde Amendment, I will grant you paying these expenses makes it possible, right, maybe, you could argue this enables someone to afford to access abortion, but the policy clearly does not violate the Hyde Amendment because it does not pay for the abortion.”
A frustrated Waltz fired back, “Okay Brianna, that's kind of cute and lawyerly.” Yes, Waltz conceded, the DOD is not “cutting checks to Planned Parenthood,” but “when they're facilitating it with taxpayer dollars that was certainly the intent of Congress and that's a lawyerly reading of the law.”
Waltz then defended Tuberville’s actions while calling out Democrats and their enablers on CNN:
Let's have a vote. We're having a vote at the House. Senator Tuberville said let's have a vote in the Senate. And he'll live with it either way. So, the question is why shouldn't [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer take him up on that, why doesn't the Pentagon take him up on that and the reason is, is as you've seen the Administration likes this issue, they like how much your network is covering it, frankly, and they think it's good for them politically so they don't want to resolve it.
Keilar would then prove Waltz correct by suggesting pro-life laws are contributing to the military’s recruiting crisis.
This segment was sponsored by Dell.
Here is a transcript for the July 13 show:
CNN News Central
7/13/2023
1:10 PM ET
BRIANNA KEILAR: Well, I mean, on the issue of, say, gun laws, you're talking about someone leaving a state maybe permanently. We're talking about someone going temporarily for a service. So, these are certainly different things and I’ll grant you—
MICHAEL WALTZ: No, we're talking-- no, what I’m talking about, I'm sorry. I'm talking about the Pentagon starting to pay for soldiers' travel and lodging because they don't like an existing local law. And we've also had the Pentagon suggest they may start making basing decisions. Sure –
KEILAR: But, but let me, can you answer the -- can you answer the – can you answer the– can you answer the question because –
WALTZ: Yeah, sure.
KEILAR: -- this is something that affects, obviously, service members and their ability to serve, and it affects their family members and they do not have a choice, obviously, on where they're serving. You say on the Hyde Amendment, I will grant you paying these expenses makes it possible, right, maybe, you could argue this enables someone to afford to access abortion, but the policy clearly does not violate the Hyde Amendment because it does not pay for the abortion.
WALTZ: Okay Brianna, that's kind of cute and lawyerly. No, we don't have the Defense Department cutting checks to Planned Parenthood. I'll grant you that. But when they're facilitating it with taxpayer dollars that was certainly the intent of Congress and that's a lawyerly reading of the law and at the end of the day, let's have a vote. We're having a vote at the House. Senator Tuberville said let's have a vote in the Senate. And he'll live with it either way. So, the question is why shouldn't Schumer take him up on that, why doesn't the Pentagon take him up on that and the reason is, is as you've seen the Administration likes this issue, they like how much your network is covering it, frankly, and they think it's good for them politically so they don't want to resolve it.
