On Thursday March 14th, the Biden Administration gave a briefing on the 2024 State of the Union and the ways in which the Fiscal Year 2025 Proposed Budget will bolster women’s rights, resources, and funding. The briefing provided an in depth look at the topics covered in Biden’s speech last week, and allowed for a more comprehensive look at the budgetary measures the Biden administration will be taking to advance the rights and wellbeing of women across the country.
During the briefing, Director of the White House Gender Policy Council Jennifer Klein and the Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget Nani Coloretti broke down the specifics of the FY2025 proposed budget. The budget has four main goals for the advancement of women: lowering family costs, investing in America and American workers, reducing the national deficit by 3 million dollars, and strengthening social security and medicare — all which will work for the advancement of women’s rights, health, and economic wellbeing throughout the country. Overall budget initiatives have a clear focus on strengthening the American economy with women in mind.
The budget includes a proposed 36 million dollars for family planning and maternal health care, as well as an additional 376 million dollars (an increase of 28% from last year’s budget) regarding health services and research regarding maternal mortality, pre and postnatal care, as well as emergency care. This is an especially important allocation of funds as we continue to see more and more women denied emergency care services in states with abortion bans. In addition to funding for emergency care services, the Biden Administration put a strong emphasis on women’s advocacy and education regarding their rights to emergency care under federal law. These programs include HHS sponsored education on women’s rights to medical care under federal law as well as legal resources and support for filing claims against medical institutions that deny women the care they need. The administration also expressed their support for women’s rights to travel out of state for abortion, including expansion of access to care in different states under the federal Medicaid program.
The budget also includes the 12 billion dollar women’s health research initiative as proposed by Biden and headed by First Lady Jill Biden in the SOTU address. Throughout the briefing it is clear that women’s research is imperative to the administration to better understand women’s health issues and devote more resources to furthering the healthcare services for women throughout the country. The administration also proposed 8.5 billion dollars towards WIC, 13.7 billion dollars towards women and veteran health care services, 1 billion dollars towards the services provided under the Violence Against Women Act, and roughly 43 million dollars towards women’s health resources for underserved, minority, and tribal populations — 10 million of which will be devoted to legal services for murdered and missing indigenous people.
The Biden administration also proposed great strides within the budget regarding childcare for women and families. The new presidential childcare proposal includes high quality and affordable childcare for all families with incomes up to $200,000, in which they will be able to enroll their children in accessible child care services from birth to kindergarten for a maximum of $10 a month. Low income families will not be expected to pay the amount based on a yearly earnings basis. The program also includes a national paid family and medical leave where women and families are given extended postpartum, medical, and emergency leave paid up to 12 months. These programs will greatly impact women’s ability to care for their families while still being able to work, and overall provide more affordable solutions to family care, working to better ensure the success of women throughout the country.
In addition to the budget, the briefing gave an in-depth look at the issues President Biden addressed in his SOTU speech, including the administration’s support for women in states where abortion and reproductive health services have strict bans. While the administration gave multiple measures for support available, they emphasized that the most effective way to support women’s right to abortion and their reproductive rights is to pass a federal law with congress to federally restore rights granted under Roe v. Wade. This is an issue very pertinent to the administration’s plan, and seems to be one that will rightfully be a top priority for the administration.
