by Eleanor Smeal, Feminist Majority Foundation and KristinRowe-Finkbeiner, MomsRising.org
Tomorrow the House of Representatives will vote on the Ryan Budget. It is devastating to women’s advancement and to programs that women want and need. It is the budget that women overwhelming voted against in the 2012 election with a decisive gender gap. HERvotes, with its 52 women’s organizations, is urging a NO vote.
The Ryan Budget would repeal all the benefits in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) while it keeps the cost savings—a hypocritical slight of hand. And women would pay dearly.
Health insurance companies could once again treat women as a “pre-existing condition” and charge women more than men for the same insurance coverage. Plus insurance companies would no longer be required to provide maternity coverage. The well woman benefits of the ACA—cancer screenings, immunizations, contraceptives, annual doctor visits, counseling for domestic violence survivors and nursing mothers without co-pays or deductibles would be gone. Young people would no longer be able to stay on their parents’ policies until 26. Older people would see the prescription drug “donut hole” reopen.
Shockingly, after its resounding election rejection, the Ryan budget would voucherize Medicare for those under 55 years of age and shift costs to seniors. Once again, Medicaid would be converted to a block grant to the states and would be irresponsibly cut by nearly one-third over ten years. It would result in throwing thousands of elderly people, mostly women, out of nursing homes. Medicaid is the primary payer for some two-thirds of nursing home residents.
College students, who are now about 60% women, would see their Pell grants cut and their interest on college loans double from about 3.2% to 6.4%.
Moms will be set back by an 18% cut in the child care tax exemption in 2014. Some 200,000 kids could be cut out of Head Start in 2014 and 8,000 schools would lose Title I federal funding.
And even Meals on Wheels–66% of the recipients are women- could be cut by as much as 18% in 2014 under the Ryan Budget.
Yes real women’s lives and programs will be devastated while the rich would see yet another cut in taxes. We must stop the Ryan budget and sound the alarm so that the budget deal that is worked out does not shaft women, women’s programs, children, and the middle class or the poor. Enough is enough.
You can make the difference! We invite you to take a brief moment to read the blog posts below (Scroll down). And then, importantly, to help spread the word and keep up the pressure on our elected leaders by sharing the posts below on Facebook, Twitter (with the hashtag #HERVotes), and Pinterest. And be sure to follow @HERvotes on Twitter!
#HERvotes, a multi-organization campaign launched in August 2011, advocates women using our voices and votes to stop the attacks on the women’s movement’s major advances. Part of the #HERvotesblog carnival
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Top 5 Things to Know About New Budget Proposals in Congress, Mattea Kramer, National Priorities Project
Time for a New Budget Tune, Kathy Crandall Robinson, Senior Public Policy Director, WAND
“Ryan Budget” Is Bad for Women, Bad for Me, Public Policy Intern Riana Goren, AAUW
Ryan budget would defund health care, undo protections, Amy Allina, Raising Women’s Voices
This Is Not a Joke, KristinRowe-Finkbeiner, MomsRising.org
A Single Mother With a Childcare Subsidy Writes to Paul Ryan, Nan Mooney
Americans Want a Fair Budget Now! We Demand Congress Stop Giving Tax Breaks to the Richest 2%, Linda Meric, National Executive Director of 9to5
What’s Next for Title I Schools Under the Ryan Budget – Cutting Fridays? Amy Qualliotine, National Women’s Law Center
Part of the #HERvotes blog carnival.
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