MOMocrats™

Go Read It: Nicholas Kristof on International Family Planning

This past Sunday, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a glorious op-ed, Pregnant (Again) and Poor. In his column, Kristof highlighted women's unmet need for family planning services -- some 70 to 80 million unwanted pregnancies per year, according to the UN.

A few days later, he followed up with blog posts, including one that asked readers to share family planning organizations worthy of financial support. I've compiled the list below, with a few additions.

Also, if you want to see what happens when family planning isn't available and women resort to unsafe abortion, go watch Not Yet Rain, Lisa Russell's documentary -- made with help from Ipas (see below) -- on Ethiopia's 2006 decision to liberalize its abortion law.

Health Reform: Sputter, Sputter, Stop?

 This is a hellacious week for many folks inside the Washington Beltway: budget resolution time. On Wednesday, the House and Senate Budget Committees started marking up -- Hill-speak for editing -- the FY2010 budget resolutions.

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, "said he would leave out new spending for Obama's proposed expansion of health care coverage, a program likely to cost in excess of $1 trillion over the next 10 years, as well as the president's proposal to make permanent an $800 tax credit for working families. Lawmakers would be free to adopt those policies as long as they did not increase the deficit, Conrad said."

What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that any spending for health care reform -- for the program itself, to support workforce shortages, to improve infrastructure for health IT, etc. -- would have to be completely offset; that is, by a tax increase or spending cuts equal to the entire cost.

Now, the House is taking a different approach. They are piking the bipartisan approach and going for health reform via a budget reconciliation (BR) provision. BR was created in the 70s to rejigger spending or taxes within the budget resolution. Clinton used it in 1993 to raise fuel taxes and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit; Bush used it to pass his tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.

So why is the budget reconciliation regarded as partisan?

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Even More Amazing Than You Thought

ETA: The EARLY Act is H.R. 1740. It has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a powerhouse. She was elected to Congress at 38 and is already a cardinal – so called because she chairs one of the powerful House Appropriations subcommittees. She raised a staggering $17 million for her party during the 2006 elections – third only to Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel. She's also a mother of three. When does she sleep?

But this morning I was even more amazed at her ability to juggle her intensely demanding roles. I opened my email to learn that Rep. Wasserman Schultz was sponsoring the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act -- the EARLY Act (so new it doesn't yet have a bill number). OK, no big surprise there – the congresswoman has always been a big advocate for women's health.

No, the surprise was that over the past year, while managing to mother, legislate, and travel to support Democratic candidates, she endured seven major surgeries, including a double mastectomy, oophrectomy, and reconstructive surgery, after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

You can watch her interview with Robin Roberts – also a breast cancer survivor – on Good Morning America right here.

Is Health Care Reform Possible?

On Tuesday, President Obama released his overview of the FY2010 budget. The real budget, complete with 8 point font that makes us wonks go blind will be out in April. This coming Monday, he’s addressing lawmakers and others regarding the need for health care reform. All in all, an initial heavy focus on health, especially if one considers the early legislative victory that was SCHIP reauthorization. Working inside the beltway means I attend a number of health care conferences, roundtables, and news events. Just before Obama’s speech, I went to a morning session with a Senate-side staffer and that same afternoon I went to the Commonwealth Fund’s release of their brand-spankin’-new report on High Performance Health Care (executive summary here for those without time or inclination to read all 122 pages.)

By the end of the day, I felt like I had whiplash.

Let Your Voice Be Heard: Foreign Affairs

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs is taking public comment on foreign assistance reform.

Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) has indicated that one of his top priorities this congress is to rewrite the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The last attempt at rewriting the FAA was in 1994 when Clinton wanted to repeal it and replace it with the Peace, Prosperity, and Democracy Act; the bill never made it out of the House committee and was never introduced Senate-side. You can read then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher's remarks on the PPDA here.

Photo credit: Sokwanele on Flickr. Creative Commons License.

That Sinking Feeling

My stomach dropped this morning. No, not a bad bagel but rather a headline in the Washington Post:

Justice Dept. Uses 'State Secrets' Defense, Obama Backs Bush Decision on Rendition Lawsuit

This is... unbelievable.

Yes We Can! SCHIP Signed Into Law.

It only took two and half years of my professional life. And dozens of hearings and markups, including one at which the Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee refused to let the bill be considered as read and forced the clerk to read the bill text aloud for five? six? hours.

But yesterday, the House approved of the Senate amendments to the H.R. 2, 290-135. ANd with the stroke of a pen, our president said yes and extended vital health insurance coverage to millions of poor children, including legal immigrants.

Mr. President, my deepest and most sincere thanks.

Start Dialing! SCHIP on the Senate Floor Today

Calling all MOMocrats and allies! Today the Senate will begin debating H.R. 2, a bill that would reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The bill already passed the House on January 14.

Please call your senators today and urge them to support passage of this vital piece of legislation. And please spread the word!

Blog for Choice! Priorities for the New Administration

Today is the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

My morning commute ended at Union Station where I was greeted with throngs of teenage students from various dioceses (Miami was particularly well-represented), all wearing various iterations of March for Life T-shirts and backpacks.

I looked at the young women and thought about statistics. One in three, one in four of them will have an abortion during her lifetime. Yes, Virginia, Catholic women get abortions too.

Despite my staunch support of abortion rights, I’d like to see the new administration forge new ground in the tired, overplayed debate.

Hand Wringing and Republicans. Again.

In reviewing some of the SCHIP debate, can I say that I am so tired of the constant wringing of hands over regular order? 

Regular order is pretty much what it sounds like – the normal process by which bills are passed through Congress. Each Congress adopts rules that govern action and parliamentary procedures.  

For those of us who grew up with Schoolhouse Rock, it is, unfortunately, much more complicated than sitting in committee, knowing you’ll be a law one day. There are multiple and overlapping points at which bill can be killed, from points of order to motions to recommit to stalling/delaying tactics like refusing to waive the reading of a bill to the filibuster.  

When the Republicans start pointing fingers over normal order, I wonder if anyone in this town has any institutional memory. Or shame. 

After all, when the Republicans where in the majority, they refused to call hearings, shut Democrats out of the debate on Medicare Part D (prescription drug benefit) in 2003, the energy bill... And let’s not forget former Majority Leader Bill Frist’s threat to use what has been dubbed the “nuclear option” to prevent filibusters over judicial nominations.  

But just because the Republicans operated by streamroller doesn’t mean the Democrats should.  

I would like there to be regular order. I would like bill--->hearing--->markup--->floor--->conference--->sign or veto. And I think we can have it. I think we should expect it of the Democrats. Of course, I’d also like the Senate to get off its ass this year and turn to appropriations work before, say, July. And while I’m here, can I put in a request for $7.2 million, 16 weeks paid vacation, and perfect skin? 

Normal order is important when situations are normal. It is not appropriate in cases of natural disaster, war, famine, flood, etc. And it isn’t appropriate here.  

This bill is a re-tread two very carefully considered pieces of legislation. (And to Mr. Culberson: If hearings on SCHIP didn’t happen, can I get back the hours I spent sitting listening to the clerk of House Energy and Commerce because your colleagues refused to dispense with the reading of the bill? No? Didn’t think so.) 

Besides that, SCHIP is seriously short on cash. States are facing shortfalls, a problem that is especially hard on children of color.