On the Senate floor today, Kirsten Gillibrand took a little swipe at her Republican colleague from Arizona, Jon Kyl.
Last week, Kyl told the C-SPAN cameras that providing abortions was "well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does," a statement his office later walked back as "not intended to be a factual statement."
Naturally, this made nice fodder for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. And today, when the women of the Senate Democratic caucus took to the floor to push back against Republican's proposed restrictions, Gillibrand got in her own jab.
"For my friends and colleagues, this is a factual statement — current law already prevents federal money from paying for abortions," she said, referring to the Hyde Amendment, the perpetual rider that's been in place since 1976. "This has been the law of the land for over 30 years."
Gillibrand seems to have gotten a little more aggressive over the past few months, emboldened maybe by having been elected to the upper chamber, but more likely just stirred up by the Republican House, which has made a particular point of going after women's issues.
Last week, she got fired up about the Republicans' proposed riders in the budget deal, and this swipe at Kyl—small as it is—demonstrates some slightly sharper elbows than she's shown her colleagues in the past.
