This week the Republican Senate leadership headed towards a dangerous showdown over judicial nominations. Under enormous pressure from their special-interest radical wing, the Republican party put forth judicial nominees that could trigger an effort to change 217 year-old Senate rules and shut down Senate business.
This is not a partisan fight - many senators on both sides of the aisle feel this effort is bad for the Senate and bad for the country. In fact, Democrats put forth a responsible compromise to avoid this confrontation but Senate Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) remains stuck to his 'all or nothing' position. Is Frist more concerned about his presidential aspirations than his concern for a Senate that is able to serve its constituents? While the American people are facing rising health care costs, record high gas prices, and a growing national debt, Frist and the Washington Republicans are tying up the Senate with partisan issues.
The facts show that in a cooperative effort, Democrats have approved nearly all of President Bush's judicial nominations. Since Bush took office, the Senate confirmed 208 of his judicial nominations and turned back only 10, a 95% confirmation rate. While Republicans abuse power, Democrats will fight to protect our constitutional checks and balances and basic fairness for the American people.
Republicans have chosen to trigger the challenge of the filibuster with two female judicial nominees - and have coordinated with special interest fringe groups to lobby for the nominee based on the sex and race of the women. We know that American women deserve judges, male or female, who will consider their needs, values and lives when making judicial decisions - not radical judicial activists who have a goal of rolling back the clock. The Democratic Women House and Senate members have evaluated the nominations of both Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owens and have found a pattern of disturbing professional actions. The Democratic Women of the House physically walked to the Senate this week (not done since the Clarence Thomas nomination fight) to express their 'strong opposition' to both nominations directly to Senate Majority Leader Frist. Want to learn more about the arguments? Email womensvote@dnc.org for the facts.
SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER ENGAGES GRASSROOTS DEMS
In the middle of the debate this week, Democratic Leader Harry Reid (NV) stepped off the floor of the Senate to do a conference call briefing with Democrats across the country. He summed up the latest developments -- including reports of special interests threatening to withhold campaign cash from Republicans who vote their conscience and support the Democratic position.
He also told the thousands on the call how Democrats can win this fight: by making personal calls to your Senators. He said that wavering Republicans in eight states particularly needed to hear from us: Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
You can get contact information for Senators and a full information briefing, including the audio of the conference call, on the Democratic Party web site.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM CONFIRMS: "W" IS WRONG FOR WOMEN
The World Economic Forum (WEF) released a report this week on the gender gap in 58 countries, looking at women's economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and well-being. The study ranks the Nordic countries, such as Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Finland at the top of the list, as countries with the smallest gender gap and at the other end of list, Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan. The United States, with the world's largest economy, was ranked 17th and was singled out by the WEF, noting that it "lagged behind many Western European nations." Augusto Lopez-Claros, WEF Chief Economist and author of the report observes that the United States' ranking was "low compared to much of Western Europe because of a lack of maternity leave benefits, high young female unemployment compared to young male unemployment, high adolescent fertility and low representation of women in politics-women hold just 14 percent of seats in Congress, less than the global average." The report can be found on the World Economic Forum's website.
In the same week that the World Economic Forum issued its Gender Gap Report ranking the United States below three former Soviet republics, First Lady Laura Bush will address the Geneva based international organization during her visit to the Middle East. The First Lady, who is expected to reinforce the commitment of the United States to promoting freedom and supporting women and girls across the Middle East, will have to balance her words with the reality of Bush administration policies that have failed women and girls all across the United States.
"W is clearly not for women," said Mame Reiley, Chair of the DNC's Women's Caucus, "the Bush administration's policies -- in opposition of equal pay for equal work, against funding for much needed child care programs, rolling back Title IX, in favor of judges hostile to women's rights, and wrong on a woman's freedom to choose and to make personal decisions about her own health care - have widened the gender gap in the United States. If gender equality is good enough for the women of the Middle East, it should be good enough for women in America."
Top Ten Reasons Why "W" IS WRONG FOR WOMEN
10. WRONG ON EQUAL PAY
Last year we learned the Bush Administration erased fact sheets about equal pay for women workers from federal government web sites. But George W. Bush can't erase his record of opposition to enforcing equal pay -- ending the Equal Pay Initiative, opposing stronger enforcement of equal pay laws, dropping sex discrimination lawsuits, and appointing a labor policy maker who calls the wage gap a 'mythical problem'.
9. WRONG ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
George W. Bush's budget cuts back on funding for emergency shelters, crisis hotlines and other desperately needed services to protect women from violence; and would end federal efforts to improve databases of stalkers.
8. WRONG ON CHILD CARE
George W. Bush's budget would cut nearly a half million children from child care programs in the next five years, and cut back on after-school programs that enable working parents to know their children are safe and well cared for after school.
7. WRONG FOR LOW INCOME WORKING WOMEN
George W. Bush opposes increasing the minimum wage, which would benefit nearly 7 million working women; and refuses to extend the child tax credit to 12 million children in lower income working families.
6. WRONG ON MEDICARE
Women represent more than 60% of Medicare recipients. George W. Bush's prescription drug plan means higher prices and inadequate benefits for older women -- but a big gift to the drug companies!
5. WRONG ON HEALTH CARE
Women and their families are losing access to health insurance -- today, 48 million Americans are uninsured -- and health care costs continue to escalate. Bush's budget priorities have frozen funding for Maternal and Child Health, cutting access to vital services such as screenings for newborns and parental care.
4. WRONG ON EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN
George W. Bush has repeatedly broken his promises to fully fund his own education reform bill, leaving state and local governments struggling to pay the bills, our teachers overburdened and our children shortchanged. Bush's Department of Education also issued rules pertaining to federal Title IX regulations, which require gender equity in school sports programs, to provide a backdoor for colleges and universities to deny important athletic opportunities to American young women.
3. WRONG ON THE ENVIRONMENT
George W. Bush has rolled back environmental regulations that protect clean air and water, endangering our family's health; and slowed down the clean up of toxic waste sites while insisting that taxpayers -- not polluters -- pay the burden!
2. WRONG ON JUDGES
George W. Bush has nominated federal judges who are hostile to women's rights -- like ruling a breast cancer patient had no right of privacy when her doctor allowed a drug company salesman to sit in on her examination!
1. WRONG ON OUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE
George W. Bush has consistently used his power to undermine our freedom to choose - selecting vehemently anti-choice judicial nominees; trying to cut funding for family planning to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce abortion; offering heath coverage to fetuses rather than to pregnant women; overruling the government's own scientific panels to refuse over the counter sale of emergency contraception -- and his campaign strategist compares pro-choice Americans to terrorists!
DEMOCRATS TAKING THE LEAD
WASHINGTON WINS SPECIAL ELECTION, SUCCEEDS REP. SCHWARTZ
Proving the power of the "pipeline" works for women, we send congratulations to Senator-elect LeAnna Washington who captured a special election this week in Pennsylvania's 4th Senate District. The 4th was previously held by Allison Schwartz, who won election to the US House and is one of five freshman democratic women in Congress. Washington, who is currently in the State House and was the first woman chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, plans to continue work on education, economic development and combating domestic violence- just as she did in the Pennsylvania House. We know the key to increasing the number of women in office is to support those running for the first time - and to continue supporting them as they achieve higher office.
PROTECTING THE HEALTH OF OUR FAMILIES
As the Republican budget continues to slash clean water programs, House Democrats are fighting to restore funding for these critical programs that help protect the health of our children and families. Why are these funds important? They are needed to prevent parasites and toxic chemicals from entering our water, stop the wasteful and destructive logging in the Tongass national forest, and restore funding for the most basic need of our communities: clean water.
For three decades, state and federal governments have worked together to make America's bodies of water drinkable, swimmable and fishable. Under the Clean Water Act, America has made great progress, but the work is not yet done - about 45 percent of assessed water bodies are not meeting standards. The Republican budget slashes clean water programs that protect our children and families and instead puts big tax cuts in the pockets of the wealthiest Americans. Kudos to Democrats for keeping up the fight for us!
STANDING FOR EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
This week we celebrate the 51st anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education. This 1954 case should be remembered as a shining moment in the history of our country, a landmark decision that rejected decades of discrimination and unequal access to America's educational system. But our work remains unfinished. Democrats will continue to fight for equality in our schools. Children across the country, regardless of who they are, where they live or their family's income, have the same right to a quality public education. Parents want high standards and fair accountability for their children's schools, but they know that neither can be achieved without the proper tools and funding.
DNC CHAIR HOWARD DEAN - WATCH THIS SUNDAY
This Sunday, Governor Dean will sit for a full hour with Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press. He'll discuss his first 100 days in office and his unprecedented efforts to build the party from the ground up, along with major issues like the Republican abuse of power in the Senate. You can get your local listings here:
http://www.democrats.org/sundayshow
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"... the audacity of some members to stand up and say, how dare you break this rule. It's the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 saying, 'I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city? It's mine.'"
--Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Republican Whip, on the Senate floor May 19, 2005
www.dnc.org/wvc
