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Under the GOP’s health plan, sexual assault would be considered a preexisting condition

After failing to bring their Affordable Care Act replacement to a vote in March, GOP legislators have come armed with a new health care plan that may be even more heartless than their last.

According to Raw Story, the bill’s recently added MacArthur Meadows Amendment would ditch the ACA’s protections for preexisting conditions — sexual assault being one of them.

Under the amendment, states would have the all-clear to waive the ban preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to patients based on preexisting conditions. 

A provision lurking in House Republicans’ proposed American Health Care Act MacArthur amendment places a financial penalty on mothers. 

The newly adjusted AHCA would roll back protections for people with pre-existing conditions the Affordable Care Act put in place (and Trump promised to preserve), a burden that will fall heavily on women. 

In addition to sexual assault, domestic violence, breast cancer and depression diagnoses, all of which are disproportionately common for women, the AHCA amendment categorizes having given birth as a pre-existing condition. 

C-sections and post-partum depression also make the cut.

*For any of you that have older relatives, church members or neighbors that voted for a man that want to cut their Healthcare, Veteran’s benefits and now Meals On Wheels. *

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This bill — cosponsored by Republican members of Congress from fossil fuel-producing states — is just one sentence long, and says nothing about what would happen to the multiple environmental regulations the EPA has instituted since 1970, or its multibillion-dollar budget, or its thousands of staffers. H.R. 861 is currently awaiting action in the subcommittee on environment.

2. H.R. 610: Tax dollars for private schools

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced this bill in January, which would redistribute funding earmarked for public schools in the form of vouchers for parents to send children to private schools. Over the long term, this would eventually bankrupt public schools, and create a stratified education system in which cash-strapped public schools would be unable to meet the educational needs of low-income students. The bill is awaiting action in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

3. H.R. 899: To terminate the Department of Education

If this bill, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), becomes law, the U.S. Department of Education would terminate by the end of 2018. The bill’s brevity leaves many questions unanswered, like what would happen with Department of Education grants for public schools and universities, its budget, or its staff. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said she would personally be “fine” if the agency she heads were to be abolished.

4. H.J.R. 69: To repeal a rule protecting wildlife

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), whose constituents likely include hunters who kill wildlife for sport rather than for food, introduced this joint resolution voicing displeasure with a Department of Interior rule that prohibits “non-subsistence” hunting in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. The resolution passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate.

5. H.R. 370: To repeal the Affordable Care Act

While President Obama was in office, House Republicans voted at least 60 times to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — despite its futility. However, the Trump administration has made the repeal of Obamacare a top priority, meaning the repeal bill from Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) is likely to pass.

6. H.R. 354: To defund Planned Parenthood

Despite the widely publicized debunking of the video alleging the women’s health nonprofit was selling human organs, Republicans are still refusing to stop destroying Planned Parenthood. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tennessee) introduced a bill that would prevent any federal grants from going to Planned Parenthood for a full year unless they swore to not perform abortions. As the chart below from Planned Parenthood shows, only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood resources go toward abortions, while the vast majority of funding is used to help low-income women get STD tests, contraceptive care, and breast cancer screenings:

7. H.R. 785: National Right-to-Work legislation

Conservative ideologue Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is aiming to cripple unions at the nationwide level with a bill that would systematically deprive labor unions of the funding they need to operate. Unions often provide one of the crucial pillars of support for Democratic candidates and causes, and conservatives aim to destroy them once and for all by going after their funding. It’s important to note that right-to-work is bad for all workers, not just union members — in 2015, the Economic Policy Institute learned that wages in right-to-work states are roughly 3.2 percent lower than in non-right-to-work states.

8. H.R. 83: Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act

Multiple cities and states around the country have openly stated that they won’t abide by President Trump’s plan to aggressively round up and deport undocumented immigrants. A bill by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pennsylvania) would strip all federal funding of any city that doesn’t obey Trump’s immigration policies for up to a year.

9. H.R. 147: To criminalize abortion

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Arizona) wants to aggressively prosecute pregnant women seeking abortions, along with abortion providers, by making abortion a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The bill is currently awaiting action in the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice.

Our Laws Period-Shame Women—So I’m Going to Change Them: An op-ed by Congresswoman Grace Meng.

Dd you know that there are girls who skip school when they get their periods? If they can’t afford pads or tampons and don’t want anyone to see they’ve stained their clothes, they may feel like they have no choice. That’s not just something that happens in developing countries. It happens right here in the United States. Right in my home district of Queens, New York.

I didn’t know that until recently. Growing up, nobody talked about their periods, even if they were having problems; there was a certain taboo surrounding the issue. That all went out the window in 2015, the year “the period went public.” Female elected officials and activists began to focus their attention on the tampon tax (which is a state issue); I turned my attention to how I could help women across the country.

It was exciting to see coverage of the tampon tax pop up everywhere, including in Marie Claire. Last year, YouTube personality Ingrid Nilsen even asked President Obama about the tampon tax,and he was as mystified as the rest of us. But as great as the advocacy has been to eliminate sales tax on tampons and pads, menstrual equity issues run much deeper. Many women and girls across the country struggle with more than just cost, and I was constantly asking myself what I could do to help them.

Eliminating the tampon tax is not enough for the 86 percent of women who start their period unexpectedly without necessary supplies. It is not enough for the low income women who cannot afford menstrual products on their own and can only get them through food pantries. It is not enough for the female inmates and homeless women who are denied these products or have them rationed. Can you imagine being told you can’t have any more pads even though you still have your period?

Most Americans—across all income levels—believe that feminine hygiene products are basic necessities. So why is it still so hard to afford and access them?

This week I introduced the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2017, the first legislation in Congress to deal with menstrual hygiene product access. It has five different parts aimed at addressing all of these issues.

You would not believe what female inmates go through to access menstrual hygiene products. The ACLU of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 8 female prisoners at Muskegon County Jail because (among other things) the prison denied inmates access to menstrual hygiene products, a condition considered inhumane and degrading. Female inmates in Connecticut only get five pads per week to split with their bunkmate, which means they may have to use a single pad for multiple days. I cannot imagine how humiliating that must feel. My bill would require each state to give female inmates and detainees as many tampons or pads as they need, whenever they need them—at no cost. If Congress has to deny states certain federal funds to get their prisons to change their current horrendous practices, then so be it.

Homeless women also face serious problems when on their period. A report issued in 2014 said that homeless women experience the “degrading condition of not having access to adequate facilities during their menstrual cycles to be able to use hygiene products and change them on a regular basis.” Some homeless women resort to using rags or…nothing. Congress should be outraged by these conditions. Shelters should be able to use federal grant money to purchase tampons or pads—that is exactly what my bill ensures.

Once I started learning about all of the ways women and girls struggle to access menstrual hygiene products during their periods, I realized how much I took my own circumstances for granted. I am grateful to be in a position to advocate on this issue and effect change. My bill may be the first effort at addressing menstrual equity on the national stage, but it won’t be the last. Especially not if passionate and talented women like you run for office and promote issues like these when you get there.

We cannot stop until we reach real menstrual equity for women and girls everywhere. Join me in this fight and, together, we can win.

NASA scientist Sidd Bikkannavar says he was forced to unlock phone at airport

Before it was temporarily halted by federal judges, President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban affected thousands of people worldwide. While much of the focus has rightly been on the refugees and immigrants whose lives were affected by the ban, it’s also affected U.S. citizens — including a NASA scientist.

Sidd Bikkannavar, who works in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol on Jan. 30 upon returning to the United States from Santiago, Chile, the Verge reported. 

Its a rare day when I can find myself agreeing with anything that Jason Kenney says; but its 2017, and here we are.