Upon closer examination, it is clear that it would undermine support for custodial parents, who are mostly women, and would pressure poor women to marry (or remarry) the father of their children -- without regard for his character (even if he was or is abusive).
Basically, Congress wants to give money to non-custodial fathers. We question the rationale of prioritizing federal assistance to non-custodial parents when the need is far greater for custodial parents, 84% of whom are women. Welfare-to-work programs have been underfunded from the start with not enough money for childcare, training and transportation for recipients. There is another $50 million in the bill that would go to welfare-to-work programs to help a larger group of participants, but this is not enough, and in any case should be done independently.
Another problem with the HR 3073 is that it is very likely that the funds, which would be earmarked for groups that promote "responsible fatherhood" (and marriage as a required project goal), would likely be awarded to right-wing, religious or extremist fathers’ rights or men’s custody groups.
Vice President Gore has endorsed most of the provisions of this bill,
so please urge him to take a closer look and withdraw his support. There
are a lot of problems with this bill. A statement and talking points should
be available tomorrow.
Can we count on you to generate calls to your member of Congress? (202-224-3121 (http://www.house.gov/writerep/) and Vice President Gore and urge them to vote against this bill - (vice.president@whitehouse.gov or 202-456-2326.)
In Maine, NOW activists and national field organizers are working to
stop an abortion procedures ban on the Nov. 2 ballot. The vote is next
Tuesday. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 34 to approve a similar bill.
The House will consider it next year. Clearly, this issue is going to be
coming up in the media. If you need any help with NOW's message on these
bans, we have a lot of information on the Web page.
Would you like us to send you organizing information on this? (If yes, please fill out a mailing label. Thanks!)
Right now, there are 65 vacancies in federal judgeships, but only 7 nominees have made it out of the Judiciary Committee and are headed for the Senate floor. The average time from nomination to confirmation has gone from 91 to 232 days in this Senate, which has led to a backlog of cases and nominations. Many of the judicial nominees are women and people of color, and the average confirmation time is decidedly worse for minorities as is their rate of rejection by the Senate.
Minority candidates for federal judgeships are twice as likely not to be confirmed as their white counterparts. Last week, for the first time since 1987, a judicial nominee was rejected by the full Senate for his supposedly “liberal” stance on the death penalty - he only affirmed the use of the death penalty in 71% of the cases that came before him and in most cases where he voted to reverse, he was voting with the majority of the court. The true reason for his rejection may be more sinister: Missouri Supreme Court Judge (and federal judicial nominee) Ronnie White is African-American. He is part of the 35% rejection rate for minority nominees, as opposed to the 14% rate for white nominees.
To try to move his nominations forward, President Clinton entered into a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Senator Orrin Hatch. Clinton agreed to nominate Hatch’s friend Ted Stewart in exchange for Republican Senators’ confirming Clinton nominees. After Stewart was confirmed, the Republicans reneged on the deal. Marsha Berzon, a highly-qualified nominee, was one of the women left in the lurch.You can fax Senator Hatch directly at (202) 224-6331.
Please call your Senators and tell them that candidates should be confirmed based on their qualifications, not on the basis of their sex, race or non-conservative views.
Supreme Court Law Clerks
Together with other civil rights groups, NOW is renewing its efforts
to increase the diversity of law clerks to the US Supreme Court. Of the
462 law clerks hired by current Justices, only 105 women were hired (22.7%),
even though women make up 40% of law school graduates. Only 32 were African
American, Hispanic or Asian American, a total of 6.9%. Minorities
represent nearly 20% of law school graduates. In its 200-year history,
the Court has never hired a Native American law clerk.
Please support this action by contacting Chief Justice William Rehnquist at (202) 479-3000 or U.S. Supreme Court, 1 First Street, NE, WDC 20543
If you are participating in any anti-violence demonstration or event, please include a message about violence against lesbians and other hate crimes. If you are taking part in an LGBT event, remember to mention hate crimes against women and people with disabilities. Please down load our Come Out Against Homophobia Petition and distribute at your local events. NOW will collect these petitions and put pressure on Congress so that the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999 cover violence based on sexual orientation, disability and gender.
We are asking you to take action and contact your Senators. Urge them
to remove the provision
in the Agriculture Appropriations bill that would deny funds for the
FDA to approve mifepristone or RU-486, and could hinder other important
drug approvals.
NOW will have an organizer on the Lilith Fair Tour bus for the duration of the tour; with the purpose of getting the word out about NOW’s work for women’s rights. Our presence at the concerts is important to promote our projects, for example, -- Love Your Body Day. We’ll also be handing out membership information, petitions, and postcards.
Wal-mart is thus denying to its women costumers --a majority of the 90 million costumers a week-- access to one of the more effective contraception drugs available.
We are urging your chapter to take action! Send a message to Wal-mart, urging them to change their policy and begin stocking emergency contraction and filling prescriptions. Email to: letters@wal-mart.com OR write to David D. Glass, President, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR 72716.
With the arrival of “Digital T.V.” a broadcaster will be allowed to convert a single channel to 4 or 5 channels, thereby gaining access to as many as four extra channels. As a result, they will have many more hours for programing -- and advertising --without any expanded commitment to public service programing or public access t.v.
A lot of people don't realize that t.v. airwaves belong to the public. While the public airwaves generate an estimated $115 billion in revenues, broadcasters pay no rent, no fees, no taxes -- no charges at all -- for use of the airwaves. Instead, they promise to “serve the public interest . . .” That's like letting newspaper companies cut down the national forests for free! Or move into federal building without paying rent! Instead of serving the public, broadcasters are ripping us off.
On Monday May 3rd, NOW, in coalition with a broad range of public interest organizations, will launch the Digital Broadcast Project at news conference in Washington, D.C. We plan to demand as much access to the public airwaves as media giants like Time Warner, GTE and Disney. We won't rest until control of the public airwaves is in the public's hands.
CALL TO ACTION
We are asking every chapter, and as many members as possible, to send
a letter to the chair of the FCC* urging them to hold public hearings about
the responsibilities these broadcasters should undertake in the public
interest.
We are urging you to call, fax and email Senators
ASAP, as the Republican bill goes to mark-up today and is scheduled for
a floor vote next week.
We are working with a distinguished advertising
agency, that is kindly doing this work Pro-Bono. We are waiting to
hear back from them with recommendations on which markets to begin the
campaign in and what creative ideas they will use for the ads. We'll let
you know about more specific details at that point.