Politics Daily,
August 15, 2012
With
Ryan Selection, GOP Doubles Down on War on Women
By Carolyn
Maloney
ith
the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's running mate,
the Republican Party has clearly signaled that it wants to go
full steam ahead and double down on their War on Women. Mr. Ryan's
views fall so far outside the mainstream of American thought,
practice and tradition, that what he proposes is no less than
a radical reshaping of the social compact that has made our country
the envy of the world. His proposed policies would march us backward
and would impact millions of American women at every stage of
life. Their futures would be endangered, their opportunities diminished,
their choices constrained and the implicit guarantee that women
and men in their senior years may look forward to a modicum of
dignity and security, would be torn to pieces.
Ryan's
highly regressive tax plan for instance, would immediately impact
the lives of middle class families by shifting more of the total
tax burden onto the shoulders of those who can least afford it,
while reducing the tax rate of wealthy individuals like Mr. Romney
to virtually zero. ?His spending plan would slash vital elements
of the social safety net, particularly those that benefit women
and children.
Military spending
would be protected, but Ryan's budget would cut education, training,
employment, and social services spending by 33 percent. 100,000
children could lose access to the Head Start program, 80,000 children
could lose child care subsidies and cuts to Pell Grants could
leave a million more students unable to afford a college education.
More than three-fifths of the cuts would come from programs for
low-income Americans.
Mr. Ryan claims
that he can keep his budget revenue neutral by closing loopholes,
but economists tell us he'd have to eliminate tax provisions that
help the middle class and poor like tax credits for kids and tuition
costs.?Mr. Ryan wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act which
would immediately impact the lives of millions of women and children
who now have access to affordable health insurance plans and free
preventive health care. Women could once again be denied affordable
coverage due to pre-existing conditions, including pregnancy.
Mr. Ryan would
do all this even though a Harvard study has clearly shown that
tens of thousands of deaths each year are associated with a lack
of health insurance coverage.?Mr. Ryan boasts of being "pro-life"
but he voted for a law that critics understandably labeled the
"Let Women Die Act." The bill would have given hospitals
the right to refuse to perform an abortion even if it was necessary
to save a woman's life. The law would also have allowed the hospital
to refuse to transfer a dying woman to a hospital that would save
her life.
Mr. Ryan says
he wants to get government out of people's lives yet he supported
the passage of a federal law that would forbid terminating any
pregnancies, even those that came as the result of rape and incest.
He believes it is appropriate to use federal law to compel a woman
to bear the child of her attacker, or compel a minor to bear her
own siblings.?Mr. Ryan has supported "Personhood" legislation
that would criminalize widely used forms of birth control. He
has voted to deny birth-control coverage to federal employees,
called for the defunding of Title 10 family planning programs
and called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood.
Mr. Ryan has
dismissed Social Security as being technically the same thing
as a Ponzi scheme. He wants to radically remake one of the most
successful and most popular programs in American history. That
could have a huge impact on people's economic security in their
senior years, especially on women. A report issued by the U.S.
Congress Joint Economic Committee when I was the Chair found that
women in their retirement years are less likely than men to have
income outside of Social Security to rely on and that, after age
65, Social Security typically accounts for more than two-thirds
of their income. Mr. Ryan wants to drastically change the program
in ways that would markedly reduce the vital security it provides
to tens of millions of women.
We can all
agree that there are hard choices to be made. But Mr. Ryan's way
is not the right way. His "hard choices" are hard on
women, hard on children, hard on the middle class, and hard on
the disadvantaged. But all of his proposals go easy on those like
Mr. Romney who have been most fortunate in life. Any real solution
requires a more balanced approach. Ryan's Roadmap to Prosperity
is more like a battle plan to chip away at hard-won rights and
vitally important programs that have lifted millions out of poverty,
created opportunities and provided security. Whether it is meant
to be or not, Ryan's Roadmap serves as one more Republican attack
in what has become the GOP's continuing war on women.
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