Washington D.C. – At present, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Democratic Girls’s Caucus (DWC) Chair Lois Frankel, Coverage Activity Drive Co-Chair Kathy Manning, Vice Chairs Teresa Leger Fernández and Nikema Williams, and Chief Whip Lucy McBath led a letter outlining the DWC’s appropriations priorities and making clear that investments in girls and ladies shouldn’t be partisan—as a result of they’re completely crucial to the success of our nation.
“As you proceed your work on the 2024 appropriations payments, we ask that you simply particularly think about the impression this course of has on girls and ladies throughout the USA of America. We don’t consider these needs to be partisan points; quite, these are investments that may make our economic system and our communities thrive,” wrote the DWC leaders in a letter to the Home Appropriations Committee Chair and Rating Member.
Within the letter, the DWC leaders outlined a set of common sense priorities to make sure that girls should not left behind within the appropriations course of. The members particularly pushed for investments to:
- Enhance girls within the economic system—together with investments in youngster care, Head Begin, house care, and paid go away;
- Forestall violence towards girls—together with by totally funding the bipartisan Violence In opposition to Girls Act (VAWA);
- Help girls’s well being—together with investments in our nationwide household planning program, and assets to deal with the maternal mortality disaster;
- Help girls service members and veterans—together with by persevering with efforts to forestall sexual harassment and assault in our army;
- And supply help to girls and ladies overseas—together with investments to forestall and reply to gender-based violence worldwide.
“Purple or blue, girls want our assist and a focus, and it’s our obligation not solely as Members of Congress, however as girls in Congress to advance gender equality and permit girls to compete in our economic system on a fair taking part in area,” continued the DWC leaders.
The DWC priorities stand in stark distinction to plans floated by Republicans to cap the funds at FY2022 ranges for all nondefense discretionary spending for the following decade—that means large cuts for households throughout the nation.
Based on info requested by Home Appropriations Committee Rating Member Rosa DeLauro, this proposal could be devastating for ladies, and result in:
- 200,000 youngsters shedding entry to Head Begin slots and 100,000 youngsters shedding entry to youngster care—making it harder for fogeys to affix the workforce and contribute to our economic system;’
- 1.2 million girls, infants, and kids shedding very important vitamin help by Particular Supplemental Diet Program for Girls, Infants, and Youngsters (WIC);
- and extra.
Learn the total letter HERE, and under:
March 30, 2023
Pricey Chairwoman Granger and Rating Member DeLauro,
We, the management of the Democratic Girls’s Caucus, write right this moment to first congratulate you each on being named Chairwoman and Rating Member of the highly effective Home Appropriations Committee. We’re happy to see girls main this necessary Committee and discussions across the federal funds. As you proceed your work on the 2024 appropriations payments, we ask that you simply particularly think about the impression this course of has on girls and ladies throughout the USA of America. We don’t consider these needs to be partisan points; quite, these are investments that may make our economic system and our communities thrive. Purple or blue, girls want our assist and a focus, and it’s our obligation not solely as Members of Congress, however as girls in Congress to advance gender equality and permit girls to compete in our economic system on a fair taking part in area. Under you can see a snapshot of simply a few of the priorities we hope you’ll embrace and make important investments in.
Girls within the Financial system
Girls are a crucial piece of the financial well being of our nation. For this reason we should make strong investments in youngster care to satisfy the wants of working households and be certain that household caregivers, who’re overwhelmingly girls, are capable of entry care providers for his or her family members. There are a lot of applications inside the federal authorities that may drive financial development for ladies and households, which can in flip, develop and strengthen the American economic system and guarantee all girls, together with girls of coloration, girls of traditionally marginalized communities and immigrant girls, all have the chance to thrive. For instance, this contains:
- Considerably rising Baby Care Improvement Block Grant funding to assist guarantee states enhance entry to high-quality and inexpensive care.
- Robustly funding Head Begin, Early Head Begin, and different early childhood applications so our youngest learners can entry important schooling and developmental instruments.
- Investing in paid household and medical go away so girls can take the time they want and return to the workforce with out the stress of shedding their job and important revenue.
- Sturdy investments in house and community-based providers so our most susceptible and their caregivers are adequately supported.
- Securing language and funds to guard and assist home employees from labor exploitation, who’re overwhelmingly girls and are employed in non-public properties as nannies, housekeepers, and well being aides.
- Investments in DOL’s Girls’s Bureau and Workplace of Federal Contract Compliance Program to assist guarantee all girls have equal alternative within the workforce, and that those that do enterprise with the federal authorities fulfill the promise of equal employment alternatives for all.
- Funding the Neighborhood Reinvestment Company and different housing applications so girls can have higher entry to homeownership and protected and inexpensive rental choices.
- Offering strong funding for the Girls’s Enterprise Heart program and for different applications that ship entrepreneurial growth alternatives for ladies.
- Supporting workforce growth applications and academic applications to make sure all girls have equal entry to profitable and fulfilling careers.
- Funding IDEA, STEM applications and different instructional initiatives so our younger ladies have entry to high quality instructional alternatives to set them on a path of success for his or her future.
Violence In opposition to Girls
Everyone knows the statistics too nicely, one in 4 grownup girls expertise bodily abuse and one in six expertise sexual violence. It’s our obligation to guard each single girl and lady no matter race, faith, political affiliation, socioeconomic standing, geographic, location or age. To be protected is a primary human proper, and we should robustly fund applications and initiatives to maintain girls and ladies protected, present survivors with assist, and equip our communities with the required instruments. Investments to finish violence towards girls, for instance, embrace:
- Absolutely funding the Violence In opposition to Girls Act (VAWA) which incorporates varied applications that intention to finish violence and assist girls by a whole-of-government method and energy.
- Supporting all applications and initiatives throughout the federal authorities such because the Sexual Assault Package Initiative, Household Violence Prevention & Providers Act Program, and the Home Violence Hotline.
- Offering assist for the usage of forensic genetic genealogical DNA evaluation and different strategies to assist shut unsolved instances and establish victims.
Well being
Girls have lengthy felt the pernicious results of well being inequity. There’s a want for strong investments in high quality, inexpensive well being care together with maternal and reproductive well being so each girl can entry the care they want. Restrictions to girl’s well being care, vitamin, and lifesaving analysis negatively impression not simply their lives, however their households, their communities, and our nation and economic system as an entire. Investments in girls’s well being embrace, for instance:
- Robustly funding all federal applications that present providers to pregnant girls and the analysis essential to fight the tragic actuality that the U.S. has the best maternal mortality price of all our peer nations, which is 3 times larger for Black mothers. Girls are dying; we should act.
- Excluding the Helms and Hyde amendments and funding all applications that assist girls entry reproductive care.
- Improve funding for the Title X Household Planning Program to supply girls with entry to household planning providers and high-quality well being care together with reproductive well being care.
- Absolutely funding applications and initiatives to deal with the psychological well being disaster that’s disproportionately impacting adolescent ladies and offering assist for psychological well being providers for all girls.
- Supporting vitamin applications by totally funding the Particular Supplemental Diet Program for Girls, Infants, and Youngsters, the Supplemental Diet Help Program and different applications that guarantee girls and their youngsters don’t go hungry and might at all times entry wholesome nutritious meals.
- Investing in applications that present lifesaving analysis and options to ailments and danger elements that disproportionately impression girls, such because the Peer Reviewed Breast Most cancers Analysis Program, the A number of Sclerosis Analysis Program, endometrial most cancers analysis, and polycystic ovary syndrome analysis.
Girls servicemembers and veterans
Girls who’re and have served our nation deserve our assist and dedication as they fulfill their active-duty service and later transition to civilian life. For instance, this contains investing vital ranges of funding so girls veterans can entry maternity care and different particular providers they want. Moreover, we should assist applications and workplaces that assist girls in energetic obligation and justice for victims of sexual harassment and assault.
Girls and Women Overseas
We should proceed our investments in girls and ladies all over the world as a significant dedication to creating world safety and a world economic system the place everybody can thrive. As a world chief, the USA should put money into constructing capability in our companies and applications to make sure that how our insurance policies impression girls and ladies is at all times prime of thoughts. For instance, this contains:
- Offering strong funding to forestall and reply to gender-based violence worldwide. We should guarantee girls and ladies all over the world are protected and protected.
- Advancing girls’s financial empowerment and equality by funding applications that particularly assist girls take part within the economic system and assist commerce capability constructing so girls can have interaction within the world market and construct their very own wealth. This additionally contains empowering adolescent ladies and offering primary education schemes.
- Persevering with the USA’ dedication to world peace and safety by offering strong funds for initiatives led by the United Nations, totally implementing the Girls, Peace and Safety Act in addition to the U.S. Technique to Help Girls and Women at Danger from Violent Extremism and Battle and supporting companies and workplaces such because the Workplace of International Girls’s Points.
- Supporting the International Equality Fund on the State Division and the USAID Inclusive Improvement Hub’s Safety of LGBTQI+ Individuals so all individuals, no matter their sexual orientation, are protected.
- Offering strong funding for the Water and Sanitation directive for USAID to assist long-term consuming water provide, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) tasks.
- Constant funding for the Migration and Refugee Help (MRA) account and the Worldwide Catastrophe Help (IDA) account to help girls refuges and mitigating disasters the world over.
Thanks and we hope you’ll stand with us in supporting these and plenty of different vital investments to make sure all girls lastly have equal entry to the alternatives, rights, and safety wanted to take part totally in our economic system and society. These priorities are certainly not an entire listing of the methods wherein we will and should assist girls by federal funding, and we stand able to work along with you on behalf of all girls.
Sincerely,
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