Tag Archives: GOP

The GOP’s outrageous attacks on abortion rights and women’s health are spreading — and fast. After the dramatic showdown in Texas, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) signed a budget that included nearly two dozen new restrictions on abortion rights. Then Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) announced that he would become the lead sponsor of the unconstitutional 20-week abortion ban that passed the House of Representatives last month.

Abortion rights activists rallying in Texas on Monday.

The most devious attack, however, just came out of nowhere in North Carolina. As we’ve observed before, the state government has been taken over by right-wing extremists. One of the many extreme bills to emerge from the North Carolina House was an offensive and unnecessary ban on Sharia law in the state. (Unfortunately, these Republican anti-Sharia law bills have become something of a trend in recent years.) At the very last minute before a holiday weekend, the North Carolina Senate took this bill up, added sweeping restrictions on abortion that would probably shutter all but one of the state’s clinics, and sent the bill back to the House. Protesters shouted “shame!” as the legislation was pushed through the Senate.

Abortion rights activists protesting today in North Carolina as the GOP rushed through a draconian anti-abortion law.

In Texas, the GOP tried to change the rules in the middle of the game but they did so in front of thousands of activists in the state capitol and more than 100,000 people watching online. In North Carolina, the sneak attack on abortion rights prompted even the state’s Republican governor to rebuke legislators for trying to rush the abortion restrictions through.

This latest controversy comes after weeks of Moral Monday protests against other measures before the legislature, which now include a shocking attack on voting rights following last week’s Supreme Court ruling that gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

BOTTOM LINE: The GOP has shown that it will resort to nearly any tactic, no matter how sneaky or unfair, in order to attack women and deny them the choice to exercise their constitutionally-protected right to have an abortion.

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Top 3: The GOP’s Setback, Rape Culture, and Benghazi

05/17/2013 Nativegrl77

GOP HISPANIC OUTREACH SUFFERS MAJOR SETBACK

“RAPE” IS NOT THE SAME AS “SEX”

BENGHAZI EMAIL BLOWS HOLE IN GOP CONSPIRACY

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Obsessed

05/16/2013 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

37th Time’s the Charm?

Tomorrow, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will once again vote to repeal Obamacare. If this sounds familiar it is because it is the 37th time — yes, that’s 3-7 — that House Republicans have tried to repeal Obamacare.

This obsession has not come for free, either in terms of time nor money. One estimate pegs the cost to taxpayers of these 37 repeal attempts at some $55 MILLION. What could we do with that same $55 MILLION? Here’s four ideas:

1. Restore cuts from sequestration to Title X family planning programs and Title V maternal and child health services. The National Women’s Law Center calculates that a 5 percent cut to the budgets of each program will reduce them by $15 million and $32.5 million, respectively. Rather than voting to repeal a bill that expands women’s access to preventative services, the House could use the money to expand them.

2. Double the Department of Justice’s budget for sexual assault services, which has currently been authorized a $50 million budget. The program gives money to states so that they can support rape crisis centers and other nongovernmental organizations that provide direct intervention, core services, and other assistance to the victims of sexual assault. Current funding is inadequate, as some states receive less than $300,000 and many programs lack the resources to meet victims’ needs.

3. Grant a request for $50 million to train 5,000 new mental health professionals as part of a new initiative to expand mental health treatment and prevention services. This proposal came in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting to address gaps in the mental health system.

4. Help states implement paid leave policies. President Obama included a $50 million State Paid Leave Fund in his 2011 budget to provide start-up support for states that want to enact paid leave for workers. More than 40 percent of workers don’t have access to paid sick leave, heading to work when they or their family members experience an illness, but this funding could help give them a better option.

In terms of time, this calculation from the New York Times shows why this is one of the most unproductive Congresses in history:

That means that since 2011, Republicans have spent no less than 15 percent of their time on the House floor on repeal in some way.

The real cost, of course, comes in terms of the more than 100 MILLION Americans who would be harmed by the GOP’s obsession with taking away their health care benefits, including:

129 MILLION Americans with pre-existing conditions who will once again be at the mercy of the insurance companies.
105 MILLION Americans would see lifetime limits on what their insurance company has to cover, which Obamacare banned, put back in place.
71 MILLION Americans, including 34 MILLION seniors, who are currently eligible for no-cost preventive care, including mammograms and birth control.
18 MILLION middle-class Americans who will receive a tax credit averaging $4,000 a year starting next year.
17 MILLION children with pre-existing conditions who today, as we speak, cannot be denied coverage.
13 MILLION consumers who received more than $1 BILLION in rebates last year because of an Obamacare rule requiring insurers to spend 80 percent of premiums on actual medical care would no longer be eligible for such rebates because insurers would no longer be held to such a standard.
6 MILLION young adults who are currently able to stay on their parents’ insurance — 3.1 MILLION of whom were previously uninsured.
6 MILLION seniors who are receiving discounts — more than $6 BILLION worth so far — on their prescription drugs thanks to Obamacare.

In addition, repealing Obamacare would increase the deficit by more than $100 BILLION over the next ten years and eliminate new resources to fight fraud. These fraud fighting efforts have recouped $4.2 BILLION just this past fiscal year from those seeking to defraud seniors and taxpayers.

BOTTOM LINE: The GOP’s obsession with taking away health care benefits from more than 100 MILLION Americans is a waste of time, a waste of money, and harmful to the tens of millions of Americans already benefiting from Obamacare.

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Top 3: Elizabeth Smart, “Lazy” Millennials,and Benghazi

05/14/2013 Nativegrl77

ELIZABETH SMART SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ABSTINENCE ED

THE BIG BENGHAZI DEBUNK

WHY TIME PUT A WOMAN ON THIS COVER

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A Clear Path

05/13/2013 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

So Far, So Good on Immigration Bill

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee began historic work on a bipartisan immigration reform bill. The centerpiece of the bill is a path to earned citizenship for the 11 MILLION undocumented immigrants already present in this country.

As far as today’s proceedings went, it’s so far, so good:

Modest improvements were made to the bill, including a provision mandating that law enforcement determine whether deporting an individual would raise humanitarian concerns with regard to the individual and/or his or her family.
GOP extremists attempted three separate times today to put up roadblocks to a pathway to earned citizenship that would have essentially guaranteed that the 11 MILLION undocumented would remain in the shadows for decades, if not forever. Fortunately, all three of these attempts were roundly defeated by Democrats and pro-reform Republicans.

Nearly three dozen amendments from both Republicans and Democrats were cleared during the largely amicable legislative markup, with 21 approved — and all but one of those on a bipartisan basis. The committee will continue working over the next two weeks until all 300+ amendments filed have been dealt with, though many of these will not actually be brought up by their sponsors or receive vote.

Today’s action only adds further positive momentum to the bill and a pathway to earned citizenship, which is supported by a whopping 83 percent of Americans.

BOTTOM LINE: The Senate immigration bill is a strong bill, but already represents a compromise for both sides. A bipartisan group of senators is making sure to hold the line on the bill and maintain a clear path to earned citizenship, despite the best efforts of some extreme, anti-reform Republicans to throw up roadblock after roadblock.