Taxpayer dollars should not be used to support abortion in any circumstances. That is why I support the inclusion of the Hyde Amendment in spending legislation and oppose the Biden Administration’s efforts to facilitate abortions for Department of Defense personnel.
Use the Hyde Amendment in spending legislation and ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to support abortion in any circumstances.
Occurrences
Evidence
Taxpayer dollars should not be used to support abortion in any circumstances. That is why I support the inclusion of the Hyde Amendment in spending legislation and oppose the Biden Administration’s efforts to facilitate abortions for Department of Defense personnel.
The Hyde Amendment, named after its original congressional sponsor, Representative Henry J. Hyde, refers to annual funding restrictions that Congress has regularly included in the annual appropriations acts for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies. The most recently enacted version ... prohibits covered funds to be expended for any abortion ... [and] does not apply to abortions of pregnancies that are the result of rape or incest ... or where a woman would be in danger of death if an abortion is not performed.
SEC. 506. (a) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for any abortion. (b) None of the funds appropriated in this Act ... shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion. (c) The term "health benefits coverage" means ...
Section 506 prohibits funds appropriated in the act from being expended for any abortion, while Section 507 preserves the standard exceptions for rape, incest, and life-endangering conditions.
"Taxpayer dollars should not be used to support abortion in any circumstances. That is why I support the inclusion of the Hyde Amendment in spending legislation and oppose the Biden Administration's efforts to facilitate abortions for Department of Defense personnel."
The enacted spending law includes Hyde-style language prohibiting funds for abortion, but it preserves the standard exceptions for rape, incest, and life-endangering conditions.
Assessments
Steube publicly supported including Hyde Amendment restrictions in federal spending legislation, and enacted appropriations during his congressional service continued to include Hyde-style limits on federal abortion funding. However, the Hyde framework preserves exceptions for rape, incest, and life-endangering conditions, so it does not fulfill the promise's absolute wording that taxpayer dollars not support abortion in any circumstances. This supports partial delivery in the same federal term context, not full delivery.
Hyde-style restrictions were included in enacted federal spending legislation during Steube's congressional service, matching the promise to support Hyde language in appropriations. However, the Hyde Amendment is not a no-exceptions ban: it preserves exceptions for rape, incest, and life-endangering conditions. Because the claim promised taxpayer dollars would not support abortion in any circumstances, the broader outcome was not fully delivered.
Steube supported Hyde Amendment language and Hyde-style restrictions were included in FY 2024 appropriations materials during his term. However, the promise was broader than standard Hyde: it said taxpayer dollars would not support abortion in any circumstances. The Hyde Amendment has long-standing exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, so the literal promised outcome was not fully delivered. Because there was legislative effort through spending legislation but the full no-exceptions outcome was not achieved, this is partial rather than delivered.