Despite high rates of unemployment, staggering rates of black poverty, and an insane federal deficit, House Republicans voted 240-185 last week to undermine women’s reproductive freedom by blocking federal aid to Planned Parenthood. Though recent polls indicate the vast majority in the U.S. prioritized unemployment and jobs as the top issues of the day, Republicans claim this vote as the will of the American people and a way to shrink the growing federal deficit.
Meanwhile, two months after signing tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, President Obama submitted a $3.7 trillion budget proposal on Monday February 12 to Congress with more than $60 billion in cuts that eliminate subsidies and grants for research and development, trim government sponsored scholarships, slash low-income housing and homeless programs, and shrink the budget for the Women, Infants, & Children nutritional program, while basically ignoring the largest areas of overspending- defense, social security, and medicare.
