ECONOMIC EQUITY

Moderate Senate Welfare Bill Readied

The Senate Finance Committee has greatly improved what was a punishing House-passed Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) reauthorization bill (H.R. 4737) and will be ready to move it to a floor vote soon after the August recess. Improved provisions in the Work Opportunity and Responsibility for Kids Act of 2002 include maintaining required weekly work hours at 30—instead of the House's 40 hours for 70% of TANF recipients by 2007), better education and training opportunities for TANF recipients, more funding for child care ($5.5 billion over five years, though this amount is still not enough), benefit eligibility for legal immigrants, voluntary instead of mandatory marriage promotion provisions, continued assurance for family violence screening and services (FVO), less funding for "abstinence-only" programs and additional funding for Maternal and Child Health grant programs that provide comprehensive sexuality information under "abstinence-first" efforts, an enhanced child support payment pass- through to families, limitations on the onerous full family sanctions (which punish the whole family when parents aren't in compliance) and better accountability for states in developing individual responsibility plans (IRPs) that also require screening for barriers (like mental illness, physical disabilities) and other efforts to promote family stability and child well-being.

The Senate legislation continues the same funding level of $16.5 billion in annual grants, but increases the annual supplemental from $319 million to $441 million to assist states with low TANF funding levels or higher TANF populations. It also provides for $2 billion each year in a contingency fund to help states who have higher food stamp or TANF caseload increases and heightens the Social Services Block Grant to $252 million by 2005 (some of these funds can be used for child care).

The Senate bill drops the high performance bonus that paid states for merely reducing welfare rolls—a reward scheme that NOW and other anti-poverty groups criticized as amounting to kicking people off assistance whether or not they have found steady employment. It also eliminates the punitive "illegitimacy cap" that rewarded states for reducing the number of non-marital births among TANF recipients. In contrast to the mandated state marriage promotion programs of the House-passed legislation, the Senate bill provides for a $200 million annual matching grant program for voluntary demonstration projects that may also be used for teen pregnancy and domestic violence reduction. A 25% state match is specified and there is a program evaluation requirement. NOW activists have been worried that funds meant for poor parents under TANF would be funneled to fathers' right activists through so-called "fatherhood" programs (which appears to be one of the purposes of a bill (S. 2425) offered by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). The Senate Finance bill authorizes a $25 million annual grant program for non-custodial parent employment programs or demonstration projects, with reviews.

Although not perfect, the Senate Finance Committee bill is well-targeted effort to begin truly ending "poverty as we know it," not just "ending welfare as we know it."

TANF Child Care Funding Increase Needed

Sen Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), with the support of several Democrats and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (S.D.), have promised to increase the amount of Child Care and Development Block Grant funding under TANF when the welfare reathorization bill (H.R. 4737) comes to the floor. Currently, the Senate Finance Committee bill would increase CCDBG funding by $8 billion over the five years ($5.5 billion as contrasted with the House's $2.2 billion). Some estimates have placed the minimum amount needed at $7.9 billion to $11.25 billion to cover what may be more TANF recipients during a time of economic recession. In response to a request from NOW, child care expert Dr. Barbara Bergmann calculated that an additional $16 billion over the five years would be necessary to provide subsidized care for at least 52% of projected TANF caseloads—whose recipients may have to be engaged in 40 hours of work activities by 2007 if the Bush/House policy prevails.

NOTE: Speaking in Charleston, S.C. on July 29, George W. Bush continued to push for his unrealistic 40 hour per week work activity requirement—which NOW and anti-poverty activists believe makes it difficult for TANF recipients to gain the additional education, training and other services they must have in order to become self-sufficient. Sixteen of these 40 hours could be devoted to education, but the extreme limitation on the duration (four consecutive months over two years) and the total exclusion of vocational training as a primary work activity in the House version effectively deny most TANF recipients this important opportunity to move out of poverty. The Republicans will most likely try to restore the 40 hour work requirement when TANF reauthorization legislation gets to the floor.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Approves CEDAW

By a vote of 12 to seven, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution urging ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on July 30. Two Republicans, Sen. Gordon Smith (Ore.) and Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R. Island) joined all committee Democrats in the vote. Passage of the measure means that supporters now have to get 67 votes on the Senate floor—a two-thirds vote for measures pertaining to international treaties is required.

The Bush administration flip-flopped in its support of CEDAW; the treaty was earlier classified as "generally acceptable," but after intense pressure from Bush's right wing supporters, the State Department said it was "vague" and suggested that the Justice Department should examine it. In voting to approve CEDAW, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee retained all the Reservations, Declarations and Understandings (RDUs) that were attached to CEDAW by the Clinton administration (which effectively say the U.S. does not have to change its domestic laws to correspond with the treaty). NOW has repeatedly called on the Senate to ratify CEDAW without the RDUs. Still, even with the RDU's, U.S. ratification is important to signal the world that this country wants to continue its human rights advocacy around the world—and at home. This means that once the President ratifies CEDAW—if George W. Bush decides to do so—women's rights activists will have to push for removal of these mostly undesirable and unnecessary RDUs. An analysis of the RDUs is available on the NOW website.

Judicial Nominee Sails Through Senate

The Senate confirmed Judge D. Brooks Smith by a vote of 64 to 35 on July 31 for a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. NOW and other women's and civil rights groups opposed Smith because of his membership in the male-only Spruce Creek Rod and Gun Club in Pennsylvania. Smith continued his membership in the organization long after he promised to drop it as the membership was a clear violation of judicial ethics. Democrats Bayh, Biden, Breaux, Byrd, Carnahan, Carper, Dorgan, Edwards, Hollings, Landrieu, Miller, Nelson and Nelson joined all the Republicans to vote for the nominee.

Another nominee, Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, who has been nominated to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, had her hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in late July. Owen is a right-wing judicial activist with a record of opposing women's reproductive rights and frequently siding with powerful, corporate interests against consumer and civil rights. The committee vote is expected to come after Labor Day.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Vaginal Abortion Procedures Ban (So-Called "Partial-Birth" Abortion) Passes House for Fifth Time

An election season regular, another vaginal abortion procedures ban, the so-called "Partial-Birth" Abortion Ban (H.R. 4965) was passed by the House on July 24 (274-151) with intentionally vague language and NO exception for the woman's health. The vote is meant mainly to stir up anti-abortion rights voters in the few "swing" districts that the Republicans hope to win and thus maintain control of the House. It's doubtful that the measure will move in the Senate, however.

Born-Alive Infant Protection Act Adopted

Another ploy by abortion-rights opponents to notch up election season rhetoric, was the mid-July Senate vote for H.R. 2175. As the House has already passed this politically-motivated and unnecessary legislation, it is expected that George W. Bush will sign the measure. The legislation states that whenever the U.S. Code refers to a "person," "human being," "child" and "individual" that is meant to include "every infant member of the species homo sapien who is born alive at any stage of development" afer "expulsion or extraction from his or her mother." The bill is also included in the Patients' Bill of Rights, the managed care reform bill, that has been dead-locked in conference committee for nearly a year.

Un-Compassionate Conservative Bush Eliminates UNFPA Funding

Clearly revealing his mean-spirited conservative character, George W. Bush took action in late July to rescind the FY '02 $34 million U.S. contribution to the United Nations Fund for Population Assistance. He did so with the most fallacious of excuses: that UNFPA monies were used in support of China's purported policies of forced abortion and sterilization. A State Department fact-finding mission conducted an on-the-ground investigation and concluded that no UNFPA funds are being used for such purposes. Loss of this 12% of the UNFPA budget means that fewer couples in developing countries will have access to reproductive health care. Analysts note that loss of the $34 million translates to two million unintended pregnancies, nearly 800,000 abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths, 60 cases of maternal illness and more than 77,000 infant and child deaths.

Reportedly, the monies will be transferred to the much smaller U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Maternal and Child Health Programs, which do provide some family planning services. Bush's FY '03 budget also zeroes out all the U.S. funds for UNFPA programs, but Senate reproductive rights supporters have earmarked an increase to $50 million for UNFPA and appear ready to fight for this funding in the fiscal year.

USAID, TITLE X Domestic Family Planning Funding Increased

Senate appropriators have made several increases in funding for family planning programs, hiking the USAID FY '03 level up to $450 million (still short of the 1995 level of $541 million) from $446.5 million. The bigger increase is a $20 million hike for Title X family planning, bringing the total to $285 million. These monies support reproductive health care at 4,800 clinics across the country serving 4.5 million young and low-income women.

Attempt to Scale Back Global Gag Rule

The Senate will attempt to repeal part of the global gag rule by including language in the FY '03 Foreign Operations appropriations bill that would loosen the Bush-imposed restriction on foreign non-governing organizations (NGO's) that provide reproductive health services. If adopted, the partial repeal would mean that NGO's would be subject to only those conditions that apply to U.S.-based organizations for lobbying and advocacy work. The gag rule has meant that international organizations could not receive U.S. funding assistance if they provided abortion services, counseling or advocacy — even using their own, non-U.S. funds. The House very nearly repealed that outrageous restriction last year and the current Senate provision may well prevail this year.

Clinic Violence Provision Remains Intact

Protracted negotiations over the clinic violence provision in bankruptcy legislation came to a close in late July with anti-abortion rights forces conceding to Senate conferees. The language, supported by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), would close loopholes in bankruptcy statutes to prevent clinic violence defendants like Operation Rescue's Randall Terry and others from declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying fines and costs resulting from judgments. Long-time abortion rights foe, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), repeatedly tried to eliminate or water-down the provision, but gave up under pressure from others who want to see the larger bill adopted.

Unfortunately, while the clinic violence loophole closure is important, NOW opposes H.R. 333/S. 420, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2001, because it seriously limits financially-troubled individuals and families in re-organizing their debts. Most individuals who declare bankruptcy are women in the wake of divorce and persons who experience catastrophic illness resulting in large medical bills. The bill also greatly empowers banks and credit card companies, while requiring few changes in their aggressive marketing practices among low-income and student groups.

EPICC to Go To Senate Floor Vote!

Reproductive rights supporters in the Senate were hoping to offer Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage (EPICC) (S. 104) as a rider to a generic drug bill that was to have been taken up before the August recess. But a crowded calendar postponed the EPICC vote until after Labor Day. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) will offer S. 104, which requires health insurance companies who provide coverage for other prescription drugs and devices to also cover prescription contraception on an equal basis. Chances for adoption in the Senate look good and much thanks should go to the thousands NOW activists who have sent email messages to Congress urging passage of this important legislation.