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Legislative Update

By Jan Erickson, Government Relations Director

Bush Push to End Social Security

While activists around the country sent birthday cakes to lawmakers, recognizing Social Security's 70th birthday and urging them not to privatize the system, Bush administration officials stepped up their campaign to pass a bill this year.

Insiders say that a bill without private accounts could be passed by both the House and Senate — and indeed the Republican leadership strategy seems to be "pass a bill, any bill, and then insert private accounts later" in the House-Senate conference committee. Then they would steamroll the final bill through Congress, much as they did the controversial Medicare prescription drug benefit. For more details, see our story on Social Security.

Victory! Ban on Women in Combat Support Defeated

Although we oppose the war in Iraq, NOW continues to support the right of servicewomen (and men) to serve in every position for which they are qualified. In May, NOW, the National Council of Women's Organizations and military brass beat back a legislative initiative that would deny servicewomen assignments in combat support companies. The proposal, ultimately, would "protect" military women from promotions and from receiving higher pay.

With strong pressure from women's rights advocates, House Armed Services Committee Chair Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) dropped language in his committee-adopted amendment that would have restricted women from key positions they are currently filling in Iraq and Afghanistan. House members then adopted a revamped provision that requires a study of women's role in the military and a 60-day notification to Congress from the Pentagon when they open or close positions to women.

Expanded Anti-Violence Bill Introduced

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) must be reauthorized before it expires on Oct. 1, 2005. VAWA 2005 was introduced in mid-June in several versions, in an effort to reauthorize the existing law and expand its protections as much as possible in these difficult partisan times. For more details about the various bills and the provisions they included (and the ones they excluded), see the detailed story.

California Ignores TANF Family Violence Option

On June 22, NOW and allies in the anti-violence and economic justice groups joined forces to deliver a report to Wade Horn, HHS Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, about the poor enforcement of the Family Violence Option in California. The report's findings were based on a two-year study indicating that caseworkers failed to inform battered welfare recipients about the possibility of receiving a temporary waiver from the deadlines and failed to inform women of the availabilty of domestic violence counseling services. NOW will work with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to incorporate a strong family violence provision when the TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) reauthorization bill is taken up later this year

Bush Weakens Title IX Equal Education Opportunity Law

On March 17, the Department of Education issued a policy "clarification," regarding compliance with Title IX as it applies to athletics, which would have the effect of limiting girls' participation in sports programs. The policy allows schools to show that they are providing female students with equal sports participation opportunities based on the students' responses to an e-mail survey asking whether they have the interest and ability to play additional sports.

NOW and other groups have objected, noting that a survey alone cannot accurately determine student interest and ability, particularly if students don't realize the importance of replying to an email message. The Education Department has told schools specifically that they can interpret any lack of response as evidence of lack of interest. This new "clarification" threatens to reverse the enormous progress women and girls have made in sports since the enactment of Title IX. Moreover, it fails to recognize that women and girls continue to face pervasive discrimination in athletics.

Additionally, federal regulations will be issued soon that describe ways to legally establish sex-segregated public schools and classrooms. NOW continues to oppose this stealth effort to undermine Title IX and sees this as a serious setback to our goals of equal educational opportunity for girls and women.

FDA Further Delays OTC for Plan B

Despite a promise to the Senate, Food and Drug Commissioner Lester Crawford again delayed approval of over-the-counter sales of Plan B emergency contraception. In December 2003, a joint panel of FDA advisors overwhelmingly voted to support the nonprescription availability of Plan B, a proposal which was strongly supported by FDA professional staff.

Long overdue and delayed only by political tactics from conservatives who oppose birth control, Plan B could significantly reduce the number of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.

Pharmacist Refusal: Attack on Privacy

On July 25, NOW President Kim Gandy submitted testimony on proposed pharmacist refusal legislation to the House Small Business Committee, saying, "The issue before you today offers a choice between protecting women's access to basic health care and permitting pharmacists to impose their personal beliefs on their customers. They must never compromise a customer's health or endanger a patient's safety."

The radical right has made clear their agenda to impede access to birth control. Reps. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) made outrageous comments to a witness who had been denied her legal prescription by her pharmacist that her experience was a "minor inconvenience" compared to the pharmacist's "conscience" and that she had no "right" to her prescription.

Military Abortion Ban Maintained

Another effort by Congressional supporters of abortion rights failed, when they were unable to repeal the unconstitutional and dangerous ban on overseas abortion services for military service personnel and their dependents. California Democratic Reps. Susan Davis, Jane Harman and Loretta Sanchez offered an amendment to the FY2006 National Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 1815) advocating that women serving in the military should be protected under the constitution they defend.

Title X Funding Frozen, Includes Refusal Clause

In late June, Title X funding for family planning programs was flat-funded by the House at $286 million — a level that falls far below what is necessary to meet program needs. Predictably, funding for abstinence-only until married programs was increased by $11 million to total $115 million for community-based programs — one of many funding streams for these failure-prone programs.

The Weldon federal refusal clause, which allows any federally-funded "health care entity" to deny women abortions services or referrals, was retained. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) introduced legislation to repeal the refusal clause, but there has been no vote in the Senate.

An effort by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) to restore funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) failed by a vote of 192-233. This means that for the third year in a row the U.S. will withhold millions of dollars from a program that aids poor women with quality reproductive health care services and sterile birthing kits, information to combat female genital mutilation, and repairs of painful complications following delivery.

Other News

CAFTA Passes – On July 28, by a wafer-thin vote (217-215), the House passed a ratification measure for the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). NOW and many others opposed CAFTA because it will undermine strong labor and environmental protections and disproportionately harm women factory workers and poor families.

The measure — seen as primarily benefiting multinational corporations while potentially disrupting indigenous economies — had previously passed the Senate, 55-45. Shameless vote trading by the GOP leadership extracted the few extra votes needed for passage.

Bad Bankruptcy Bill Becomes Law – In April, George W. Bush signed a regressive bankruptcy bill that NOW and hundreds of allied organizations opposed. Millions of dollars in contributions from the banking and credit card industry flowed into election campaign chests to overcome objections from consumer, women's and anti-poverty groups. The new law empowers credit card companies and makes it more difficult for millions of people who are in debt to reorganize their finances. The law takes effect in October, though there will be efforts to exempt Hurricane Katrina survivors from some of the more punitive provisions.