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Tag Archives: Congress
Big win for women’s health!
by Gretchen Borchelt
Fighting for women’s health isn’t easy. But we do it to ensure that all women can get the health care they need.
Thanks to your help – today, we’re one step closer to that reality.
The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) just made a major announcement siding with women over insurance companies. They made it clear that insurance companies must cover all FDA-approved forms of birth control at no-cost – and that they’ll be watching companies to make sure they follow the law.
Thank Secretary Burwell for ensuring that women get the health care they need!
Recently, the National Women’s Law Center released two reports about how insurance companies were breaking the law. They frequently failed to cover birth control as required by the law. They also did not cover other women’s no-cost preventive services, like well-woman visits, and breastfeeding support and supplies. Insurance companies were discriminating against people based on gender, age, and gender identity. Some were even excluding coverage for maternity if women enroll in their family’s plan.
The reports made major headlines – from the New York Times to Associated Press in hundreds of media outlets. And thousands of you signed a petition to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell asking her to make it clear to insurance companies that they need to stop breaking the law and give women the coverage they deserve under the health care law, known as the Affordable Care Act.
The Secretary heard our outrage and she acted.
We still have more work to do. But for today, we can celebrate what we’ve achieved.
Thanks for fighting with us for quality, affordable health care for women and their families.
And as always – thanks for keeping it personal,
Gretchen Borchelt
Acting Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights
National Women’s Law Center
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did you know … how many Peruvians were forcibly sterilized
Republicans who will retire
by Jaxon
There’s no place for racism in this day and age — especially not in our State Capitol.
Yet on Februrary 26th, at a meeting of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, State Senator Jim Honeyford of Sunnyside said: “The poor are more likely to commit crimes, and colored most likely to be poor.”
Later he doubled down on his offensive language, clarifying “that’s not just the negro.”1
Can you believe it? Not only is this language incredibly offensive, it’s spreading the worst stereotypes about people of color.
And here’s the irony: People of color make up the majority of Jim Honeyford’s district. With attitudes like these, how can he truly understand and fight for the people he’s supposed to represent?
While voters across the state immediately demanded that Honeyford leave office, his Republican leadership remained silent. Not a peep.
Even worse, instead of proving that there is no room for the attitudes of Jim Honeyford in their party, Republicans turned and blocked a vote on the state Voting Rights Act THE VERY NEXT DAY. This simple bill is targeted to address unfair aspects of our elections system — breaking the stereotypes and ignorance perpetuated by people like Jim Honeyford.
Republicans need to understand that it’s 2015, not 1965, and they cannot condone this behavior within their party.
These students were in Olympia on Friday to call for Jim Honeyford to resign
Saturday was the 50th anniversary of the Selma march, where 600 brave souls risked their lives and marched for the right to vote.
While we celebrate how far we’ve come, we are reminded by Republican leaders how far we still have to go.
The Yakima Valley – and our state – deserve better. It’s time to open the door to a new generation of leadership.
In solidarity,
Jaxon
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Thank a Teacher
Three Policies To Support Teachers For Teacher Appreciation Week
We all know teachers in our lives who helped us more than we could ever fully appreciate. Well, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week, the time for all of us to let our teachers know how much they are valued by their students and the communities they serve. For the occasion, the Center for American Progress released this video showing what happens when you ask principals and administrators to thank a teacher.
But we can do more than just say thank you. We also must pass public policies that support and empower teachers to do their jobs well. Here are three such suggestions:
1. Pay them more: The average starting salary for teachers across the country is $36,141, 40 percent lower than the average starting salary of workers with college degrees, which deters younger teachers from staying in the field. We should boost teacher pay so they earn what they deserve, and so that students can learn from the best teachers we have to offer.
2. Give them meaningful leadership opportunities: Teachers should always feel valued in the work they are doing, but we should strengthen that by creating more teacher leadership roles in classrooms, schools and districts. A collaborative approach between management and teachers is crucial, especially for development new teaching materials and implementing reforms such as the Common Core. And student learning will improve as a result.
3. Reauthorize a federal education bill that supports teachers instead of failing them: The federal government has an important role to play in education by insuring that our students and teachers get a proper level of support. However, early versions of the federal education reauthorization bill would have opened the door to severe budget cuts, diluted targeted funding for teachers and cut $163 million of federal spending on Title II, funding designed to support teachers. Policymakers need to make sure that isn’t the case.
BOTTOM LINE: Be sure to take a moment thank a teacher this week. But also remember that a great way to thank our teachers is to support them with policies that give them the tools to help every student succeed.
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