Republicans are always happy to reach a new low. This statement feels like an evergreen opening to most news-related articles, and I stand by it! In this case, as reported by the BBC, a Republican lawmaker serving in Alaska has been censured for asking if child abuse and neglect that result in literal death could be a “benefit to society.”
During a Monday, Feb. 20, Alaska House Judiciary Committee hearing on the long-term effects of child abuse, Republican Rep. David Eastman framed his little question by pontificating as follows:
“In the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child. But it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of that child’s life?”
Ghoulish! On Wednesday, his peers in the Alaska House of Representatives voted 35-1 to censure him. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Eastman—who, if you were wondering, is quite the Trump fan—was the dissenter.
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Here’s a video clip of the interaction.
“Can you say that again,” someone said after his initial question. “Did you say a benefit for society?”
“Um, talking dollars,” Eastman said. “You’ve got a 1.5 million dollar price tag here for victims of fatal child abuse. It gets argued periodically that it’s actually a cost savings, because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and need based on growing up in this type of environment.”
Trevor Storrs, who serves as the president and CEO of the Alaska Children’s Trust, stressed that the loss of a child is an “unmeasurable” loss to both the family and society as a whole, “hugely tragic,” and that they weren’t otherwise sure “how to answer that” question.
When it came to introducing the measure to censure Eastman, Democratic Rep. Andrew Gray got emotional, and said his child is the “greatest joy” he’s ever had, and that there’s “no price tag on that.” Gray shared that he adopted his child out of the foster system.
Eastman, on his end, doesn’t seem to understand—or doesn’t seem to want to understand—just how badly he messed up.
"The outrageous accusation that somehow I and members of my district support the extermination of people or support child abuse when I've staked my entire political career arguing for the opposite is not acceptable in this body," Eastman said during the hearing on his censure.
Eastman responded to a request from TODAY.com for a statement. According to the outlet, he wrote: “While it was good to hear the Alaska Children’s Trust advocating against child abuse, a child’s value comes not from future economic productivity, but from the fact that every child is made in the image of God.”
Lovely reaching.
Anyway, this is not the first time Eastman has been censured. Back in 2017, he was censured for suggesting people in Alaska intentionally try to become pregnant in order to get a “free trip to the city” for abortions, as reported by the Associated Press.