Protecting Family Values
I believe my values are shared with most Mississippians. As a Southern Baptist, I am a strong supporter of Christian family values. I do not support gay marriage and believe in the traditional definition of marriage.
Wicker Challenges Biden Administration Over Research Using Aborted Infants
Members of Congress Object to Tax Dollars Funding Unethical Science
June 23, 2021
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., along with U.S. Representatives Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., and Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., led Members of Congress in sending a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra criticizing HHS’s recent decisions to discontinue the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) nonpartisan Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) and to restore taxpayer funding for federal researchers to obtain, use, and store the body parts of aborted children.
“Americans expect their tax money to be spent strategically, but at all times ethically,” the members of Congress wrote. “We are disturbed that your recent decisions violate this public trust and call into question your commitment to transparent government.”
HHS’s decisions throw into doubt whether federal safeguards and regulations on the use of human fetal tissue will be respected under the Biden Administration.
“Eliminating the EAB removes critical oversight and increases the likelihood that federally funded extramural projects may violate governing law and standing NIH polices with impunity,” they continued. “We urge you to restore the EAB, reinstate the NIH policy governing intramural research using human fetal tissue, and help rebuild public trust in the stewardship of American tax dollars.”
Wicker’s letter reflects widespread congressional intent to hold HHS accountable, with 36 Senators and 98 Representatives signing onto the letter.
“We ask that you demonstrate your commitment to transparency by restoring the Ethics Advisory Board, reinstituting policies that permit only ethically sourced HFT, and committing to humane research that does not violate the consciences of millions of American taxpayers,” they requested.
Read the full letter here or below:
Dear Secretary Becerra:
We write to express our dismay at the recent decisions to discontinue the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Human Fetal Tissue Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) and to reverse the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) policy prohibiting funding for intramural research using human fetal tissue (HFT). The EAB provided critical ethical review of extramural research grant applications and its removal will assuredly reduce accountability and transparency in the use of tax dollars for ethically fraught research. In addition, the recent decision to let federal researchers obtain, use, and store for intramural research the body parts of unborn children violently killed through abortion is deeply troubling. Americans deserve better stewardship of their tax dollars than research that exploits the remains of aborted infants.
The 2019 restrictions on HFT were instituted because of glaring abuses that came to light. For example, a careful review of an FDA contract with Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) to procure “fresh human fetal tissue” for transplantation into mice raised serious doubts about whether federal standards were being met, resulting in HHS’s decision to cancel the contract. Further investigations and disclosures led HHS to discontinue intramural research projects that exploited the remains of unborn children and to convene the statutorily-defined Ethics Advisory Board to provide oversight and accountability for extramural HFT projects.
Recently published FOIA documents have brought to light sickening details of the FDA’s dealings with ABR before 2018, in which FDA employees routinely placed orders for eyeballs, livers, skin, brains, skulls, and sometimes fully-intact bodies of infants aborted in the second trimester. According to email and court records, ABR received up to $2,000 for whole infant bodies and was paid $12,000 for a series of shipments of harvested organs that were used to humanize mice in lab experiments. More recently, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) revealed that researchers grafted the scalps of aborted babies onto lab rats as part of research funded by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
These revelations raise numerous questions about the safeguards the federal government has in place to protect taxpayer dollars from being used for unethical or illegal research purposes. Some of the concerns raised last year by the Ethics Advisory Board found substantial failings in extramural HFT proposals related to ensuring proper consent, adherence to NIH policy, questions of financial gain from the exchange of fetal tissue, and lack of scientific justification for using HFT over alternative tissue sources. In fact, the Board voted to recommend that the Secretary withhold funds for 13 of 14 proposals on account of serious ethical concerns.
Given these concerns, it is absolutely vital that NIH maintain adequate oversight of federally funded HFT projects. Eliminating the EAB removes critical oversight and increases the likelihood that federally funded extramural projects may violate governing law and standing NIH polices with impunity. We urge you to restore the EAB, reinstate the NIH policy governing intramural research using human fetal tissue, and help rebuild public trust in the stewardship of American tax dollars. We also request that you confirm to us whether or not federally prohibited abortion procedures or changes in procedures were employed in the procuring of human fetal tissue for use in research funded by NIAID grants.
In addition, we urge you to embrace more avenues for research that employ ethical, non-fetal alternatives. Adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, and umbilical cord blood cells have been used to create life-saving treatments for multiple diseases and conditions. Previous projects, including a $20 million funding opportunity in 2018 to move toward noncontroversial alternatives, have been well received and accepted by a broad majority of scientists. We request an audit of how these 2018 funds were distributed as well as information on your Department’s future plans to invest in ethical alternatives to human fetal tissue.
Americans expect their tax money to be spent strategically, but at all times ethically. We are disturbed that your recent decisions violate this public trust and call into question your commitment to transparent government. We ask that you demonstrate your commitment to transparency by restoring the Ethics Advisory Board, reinstituting policies that permit only ethically sourced HFT, and committing to humane research that does not violate the consciences of millions of American taxpayers.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to your expeditious response.
Wicker, Hyde-Smith Introduce Bill to Protect Faith-Based Foster Care Providers
March 11, 2021
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., this week joined their colleagues in introducing the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act to protect child welfare providers from being discriminated against for acting in accordance with their deeply held religious beliefs.
“Faith-based adoption and foster care providers do incredible work finding loving homes for our nation’s orphans,” Wicker said. “It is deeply disturbing that certain states are seeking to drive these providers out of the marketplace because of their religious and moral beliefs, leaving children to pay the price. This legislation would protect federally-funded child welfare providers from discrimination based on their beliefs, allowing them to continue serving children in need.”
“Our nation is entering into a precarious time when religious liberties can be so easily trampled,” Hyde-Smith said. “This reasonable legislation would protect child welfare providers, who hold fast to their religious beliefs or moral convictions. States that choose to discriminate against these workers would in turn be choosing to hurt overall services for all caregivers, children, and families.”
This legislation would prohibit federal, state, and local government agencies that receive federal adoption assistance funding from discriminating against child welfare service providers based on the providers’ unwillingness to take action contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs. This would include all agencies that receive funding under Part B (Child and Family Services) or Part E (Federal Payments for Foster Care, Prevention, and Permanency) of Title IV of the Social Security Act.
Wicker and Hyde-Smith joined Senator Tim Scott, R-S.C., in introducing the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, along with Senators Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Mike Braun, R-Ind., Bill Cassidy, R-La., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Steve Daines, R-Mont., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., John Kennedy, R-La., James Lankford, R-Okla., Mike Lee, R-Utah, James Risch, R-Idaho, Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
Supporting organizations include the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Heritage Action, and the Family Research Council.
“Far too many children are waiting, right now, either for adoption or foster families. Our government must not stand in the way of those seeking to care for them. It is difficult to imagine a more important goal for child welfare policy than the goal of seeing vulnerable children who need a loving home be united with families committed to caring for them. Protecting the rights of faith-based adoption and foster care agencies only ensures that more children will have access to the love and support they so desperately need. This is precisely what the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act would do.” said Russell Moore, President, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
U.S. Representative Mike Kelly, R-Penn., introduced companion legislation in the House.
Wicker Celebrates the March for Life
Miss. Senator Praises Americans Defending the Unborn
January 29, 2021
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today joined thousands of pro-life Americans online for the March for Life. He shared a recorded video message with participants in the annual event, which was hosted virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Unfortunately, our country does not do enough to protect life,” Wicker said. “Unborn children are not afforded the full dignity and protection they deserve. Every year, thousands of Americans stand and march to give a voice to the voiceless and defend the unborn—and these efforts do not go unnoticed. Each one of you, by participating in today’s march, is helping change the course of our country.”
Senator Wicker has always served as a pro-life legislator, since his time serving in the Mississippi State Senate. Most recently, Wicker led 46 of his colleagues in the Senate in reintroducing the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which would ensure a permanent, government-wide prohibition on abortion funding.
View Senator Wicker’s full remarks here.
Wicker Votes to Confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett
October 26, 2020
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today released the following statement after voting to confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court:
“I have never seen a more talented, more articulate nominee for the United States Supreme Court than I have in this new justice, Amy Coney Barrett.
“I think she will make us all proud. We have no idea the specific decisions that she will make, but I do know she was taught under the guidance of Justice Scalia, one of the great heroes of the Supreme Court. I think she will interpret the law as it is written by the legislative branch, and I think she will interpret the Constitution as it was written by our Founding Fathers.
“This is a very significant day. I could not be more delighted in the outcome, and I give my best wishes to Justice Barrett.”
Justice Barrett is the third justice to be confirmed to the Supreme Court during President Donald J. Trump’s presidency.
Wicker: Time to Remove Obstacles to Intercountry Adoption
State Department Has Made Overseas Adoption More Difficult
October 12, 2020
I am fortunate to have grown up in a home with two loving parents. They gave me the care, stability, and training I needed to succeed. But not every child is so fortunate. Across our country, and especially abroad, there are countless children who have no mom, no dad, no family, and no relatives to take them in and care for them. These children often reside in deplorable conditions, in orphanages, and as wards of the state.
Americans have always had a heart for these children. For decades, Americans have led the world in welcoming orphans from abroad into a forever family. As a result, there are more than 150,000 children adopted from foreign countries growing up in America today. These children and their adoptive families are examples of America at its best. Some of them are now part of my extended family; others go to church with Gayle and me.
Unfortunately, this great legacy of compassion is at risk. U.S. adoptions from foreign countries have sharply declined in recent years. In 2004, Americans adopted 23,000 children from foreign countries. Last year, that number fell below 3,000 – an 87 percent drop over 15 years. One reason for the decline is that some countries, like Russia, have shut their doors to adoptive parents. But the most troubling cause of the decline comes from within our own government.
State Department Is Biased Against Adoption
For years, the U.S. State Department and its adoption accrediting entity have been hostile to intercountry adoption. They have obstructed the adoption process with fees and red tape. And they have put crushing regulations on adoption-providing agencies, making it almost impossible to stay in business. The result has been devastating. Over the last year and a half, more than 30 adoption agencies have stopped providing intercountry adoptions, and some have had to shut down completely. Tragically, this means more orphans each year will remain in institutions rather than with a loving family.
These troubling developments can be traced to the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues. This office was created by Congress to promote international adoption, but under misguided leadership, it is doing the exact opposite. In 2018, for example, it directly intervened to prevent three well-respected adoption agencies from having their accreditation renewed. In 2019, it issued a public letter threatening the future of intercountry adoption. It even hosted a public forum last year that featured radically anti-adoption speakers.
The Office of Children’s Issues has managed to fly under the radar for years. I have raised my concerns with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and I hope he will take a close look at what has happened and restore this office to its pro-adoption mission. These bureaucrats need to be held accountable to the American people.
Congress Works to Restore Intercountry Adoption
In recent weeks, I have called on the Senate to investigate the Office of Children’s Issues and hold hearings to expose their misuse of authority. In addition, I have co-sponsored legislation requiring the State Department to give an account for their actions and explain how they are working to make intercountry adoption more feasible. The bill would also help prospective parents get the information they need to pursue adoption abroad. This legislation has passed the House and Senate unanimously and now awaits the President’s signature.
It is a shame that federal bureaucrats have gotten in the way of thousands of American families who are seeking to adopt. Their actions are out of step with congressional intent, American values, and basic morality. I am committed to making sure the government respects our great tradition of adoption and makes it easier, not harder, to welcome children in need.
Wicker Leads Amicus Brief in Support of Religious Freedom in Nation’s Capital
Washington, D.C., Mayor Permits Mass Protests, Discriminates Against Church Gatherings
October 7, 2020
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., filed an amicus brief on behalf of 34 Senators supporting Capitol Hill Baptist Church’s lawsuit against the Mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser. Mayor Bowser has permitted and participated in several mass protests in recent months. However, the city’s COVID-19 regulations prohibit a religious gathering of more than 100 individuals outdoors. The Senators argue that the selective enforcement of the District’s rules violates the church’s First Amendment rights and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
The Senators argue in part, “Whether viewed as a matter of free speech, the freedom of assembly, or the free exercise of religion protected by the Constitution and RFRA, the result is the same: The Mayor’s discrimination against houses of worship rests on a mistaken, and unconstitutional, premise that one particular exercise of free speech—a church’s desire to gather together and worship their God—is subordinate to other First Amendment-protected activities. This Court should enforce the First Amendment’s promise of free speech for all by issuing a preliminary injunction to prevent the Mayor and the District of Columbia from prohibiting outdoor religious services that adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols.”
In addition to Wicker, the amicus brief was signed by U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., John Thune, R-S.D., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., James E. Risch, R-Idaho, Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, John Boozman, R-Ark., John Hoeven, R-N.D., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rand Paul, R-Ky., Tim Scott, R-S.C., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Bill Cassidy, R-La., James Lankford, R-Okla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Steve Daines, R-Mont., David Perdue, R-Ga., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Ben Sasse, R-Neb., John Kennedy, R-La., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Mike Braun, R-Ind., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga.
Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) has been meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., every Sunday for over 142 years. The only previous interruption in Sunday worship was for three weeks in October 1918 during the Spanish flu. When Mayor Bowser issued her original order in March 2020 prohibiting large gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic, CHBC complied and discontinued worship services.
The Mayor’s order continues to ban outdoor church services of more than 100 people, regardless of social distancing and mask wearing. At the same time, the Mayor and the District have supported an array of outdoor protests and gatherings by various groups since June 2020.
In June 2020 and again in September, CHBC applied for a waiver of the 100-person limit in order to hold church services outdoors in the District. The District denied the application, stating that waivers for houses of worship were being categorically denied.
CHBC filed a complaint on Tuesday, September 22, 2020.
Click here for a PDF copy of the amicus brief.
Wicker Meets with Judge Amy Coney Barrett
Judge Barrett is “Exceptionally Qualified” for the U.S. Supreme Court
October 1, 2020
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today released the following statement after meeting with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald J. Trump’s pick to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court:
“Judge Amy Coney Barrett is exceptionally qualified to be our nation’s newest Supreme Court Justice. Our meeting confirmed to me why so many of her former colleagues and students have praised her nomination. Judge Barrett was gracious, warm, and sharp, and she expressed a deep love for our country and our Constitution. I look forward to supporting her through the Senate’s confirmation process.”
Wicker Welcomes Nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to U.S. Supreme Court
September 26, 2020
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today issued the following statement after President Donald J. Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States:
“Amy Coney Barrett is an outstanding judge and an even better person. A mother to seven children, she was subjected to unfair attacks on her religious faith and judicial philosophy during her previous confirmation process. Her grace under pressure and long-standing commitment to the rule of law indicate that she has the right temperament to serve on the Supreme Court and go through a highly-charged confirmation process. I commend President Trump on another exceptional pick for the high court, and I hope to meet with Judge Barrett soon.”
Judge Barrett was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on October 31, 2017. Wicker supported her confirmation, as did all Senate Republicans and three Senate Democrats.
A native of New Orleans, La., Barrett graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. She attended Notre Dame Law School, where she was executive editor of the Notre Dame Law Review and graduated summa cum laude. She clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and for the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.
Barrett joined the faculty of her alma mater, Notre Dame Law School, in 2002 teaching courses on federal courts, constitutional law, and statutory interpretation. She was named “Distinguished Professor of the Year” three times. President Trump nominated Barrett to the Seventh Circuit in May 2017.
Judge Barrett lives in South Bend, Ind., with her husband, Jesse Barrett, and their seven children.
Wicker, Hyde-Smith Recommend Confirmation of President Trump’s Mississippi Judicial Picks
Senate Committee Considers Nominations of Kristi Johnson & Taylor McNeel to Serve on the Southern District of Mississippi
September 9, 2020
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., today offered strong recommendations for the confirmation of Kristi H. Johnson of Brandon and Taylor B. McNeel of Pascagoula to serve as U.S. District Judges for the Southern District of Mississippi.
Wicker and Hyde-Smith introduced Johnson and McNeel at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to consider their nominations. President Trump selected Johnson in March and McNeel in June. Notably, the two Mississippi nominees did not face criticism by members of the committee.
“I am pleased to join my colleague from Mississippi and friend, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, in introducing two outstanding young Mississippi attorneys, Kristi Johnson and Taylor McNeel, President Trump’s two nominees to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi,” Wicker said. “I recommend both of them most highly.”
“These bright, young lawyers are respected within the Mississippi legal community and are excellent choices to serve on the judiciary. I have no doubt both nominees will serve the American people well when they take a seat on the federal bench. I am thankful President Trump nominated qualified, impressive, and solid conservative candidates to these district court vacancies,” Hyde-Smith said. “Senator Wicker and I are proud to support Kristi Johnson and Taylor McNeel and urge the Judiciary Committee to approve their nominations expeditiously.”
Johnson, a native of Hurley, serves as the first Solicitor General of Mississippi. If confirmed, she would also be the Southern District of Mississippi’s first female jurist.
Johnson earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi and a law degree from Mississippi College, where she served as executive editor of the Mississippi College Law Review. She served as a law clerk for the Honorable Sharion Aycock with the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Mississippi and for the Honorable Leslie H. Southwick with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Johnson has also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Mississippi, an adjunct professor at Mississippi College, and as Treasurer and Secretary of the Mississippi Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
Committed to excellence from an early age, McNeel was an Eagle Scout, student body president, and an all-state quarterback in high school. At the University of Mississippi, he was elected senior class president and was a member of the football team for two seasons. He graduated from law school at Ole Miss in 2008.
McNeel is a partner in the law firm of Brunini, Grantham, Grower, and Hewes, where he heads the Mississippi Gulf Coast office and has led a number of cases before the Mississippi Supreme Court, Mississippi Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
McNeel is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Pascagoula and the Harrison County Bar Association. Additionally, he has held a number of leadership positions in the Mississippi Bar Association.
Wicker Decries “Clear and Consistent Bias” Against Intercountry Adoptions at U.S. State Department
September 9, 2020
Click here to download the broadcast quality video.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., this week took to the Senate floor to discuss the troubling decline in intercountry adoption in the United States and the long-running obstruction by officials at the U.S. State Department against the practice.
“I am here to say to my colleagues today that intercountry adoption is in real trouble, and much of the reason that intercountry adoption is in trouble is coming from our own Federal policies, from unelected bureaucrats, particularly at our own Department of State,” Wicker said.
Wicker pointed to recent figures that show a precipitous drop in the rate of intercountry adoptions in the United States. From 2004 to 2019, adoptions fell 87 percent, from 23,000 to below 3,000 in 15 years.
Wicker pointed to the “clear and consistent bias” by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Children's Issues (OCI) and its adoption accrediting body, the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity.
“It saddens me to say this, but career bureaucrats in the State Department have deliberately obstructed the adoption process with new fees, new requirements that amount to red tape, and unrealistic standards on foreign governments.” Wicker continued. “This has been done by design, and the results are devastating.”
In his remarks, Wicker called upon his colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold an oversight hearing to review the State Department's role in intercountry adoption, to examine the allegations of bias against intercountry adoption, and to hear from accrediting agencies and other stakeholders about their experiences. He also urged the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to review allegations raised against the OCI.
“Let's not neglect our duty in correcting the situation we find ourselves in and, once again, becoming the country that provides welcoming, loving outreach to children to be part of a forever American family,” Wicker concluded.
Read the full transcript of Wicker’s remarks here in the Congressional Record.
