WASHINGTON — Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines is leading Republicans in calling on the United States Senate to terminate its contract with Citibank over the company’s promise to pay for employees to obtain out of state abortions.
“Citi’s decision to finance abortion tourism for its employees in brazen circumvention of State law, shows a reckless disregard for the lives of preborn children and disdain for the will of the people of the States in which Citi acts as an employer,” Daines wrote in a letter to the Senate Sergeant at Arms, first obtained by The Daily Wire, signed by senators Roger Marshall of Kansas, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Mike Braun of Indiana, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Rick Scott of Florida, and James Lankford of Oklahoma.
The Sergeant at Arms distributes Citibank credit cards to all members of the United States Senate, including the leadership and committee offices, to pay for “flights, office supplies, and other goods using taxpayer funds,” Daines said in the letter.
The lawmaker references Citibank’s promise that “in response to changes in reproductive healthcare laws in certain states in the U.S., beginning in 2022” it would “provide travel benefits to facilitate access to adequate resources,” after the passage of Texas’s SB 8 which banned abortions after the unborn baby has a heartbeat.
The law, which has become entangled in leading battles all the way to the Supreme Court, has particularly fired up pro-abortion advocates since it allows private citizens to sue anyone who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion.”
Daines said to the Senate Sergeant at Arms that “Citi is now paying for its employees to travel to obtain abortions out-of-State that are illegal in the employees’ State.”
“Consistent with nearly five decades of Federal policy against using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions,” the senator wrote, “taxpayer dollars used by the U.S. Senate should not be administered through a company that facilitates abortion on demand and promotes a woke, pro-abortion agenda.”
“Accordingly,” he continued, “we ask that you immediately terminate the U.S. Senate’s existing contracts with Citi and refrain from entering into any new contractual agreements with Citi.”
House Republicans led by Republican Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson sent a similar letter to House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor in early April, warning that “by offering to pay its employees in their efforts to terminate the lives of the unborn, Citi has forfeited its privilege of doing business with the House of Representatives.”
Citibank did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.