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| Pelosi's birth control stimulus aborted. |
| 2009-01-27 |
| WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders in the House have dropped federal funding for new contraceptive services and ongoing programs to stop sexually transmitted diseases from the $825 billion economic stimulus bill due to hit the floor Tuesday. The decision came after President Obama called Democratic leaders to tell them that the $200 million set-aside does not comport with the objectives of the job creation package. Obama is holding high-profile meetings with House and Senate Republicans to build bipartisan support for his massive economic stimulus bill. The bill contains $87 billion in emergency Medicaid funding to help states crushed by deficits. More than 40 states find themselves facing huge deficits brought on by the deteriorating economy and subsequent loss of tax revenue and rise in social service spending. As originally written, the House Democratic bill included more than $300 million in funds to slow the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. It also included a provision -- the one that's drawn the most GOP fire -- that provides a 9-to-1 match of federal funds to state funds to provide contraceptives to poor women who qualified under Medicaid. It also would have provided the same contraceptives to women whose income was 200 percent of the federal poverty level, a significant increase in funding. Told about the removal of the provision, House Minority Leader John Boehner called it a start. "That's clearly a step in the right direction but it's not enough," he said. The contraceptive funding is an effort to expand federal efforts to prevent unwanted births. Currently, Medicaid provides family planning services after women become pregnant. It focuses all federal funds on contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies, not other family planning services Medicaid provides. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initially defended the policy initiative on Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those -- one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government." |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #6 Tag team battle of the Insatiable Egos. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-01-27 21:29 |
| #5 I think Obama will have more problems with Pelosi and Reid than he will with most of the Republicans. He realizes he has to govern from the center to win reelection and he also knows the country can't finacially absorb a bunch of crazy crap pork and give aways that do nothing for the economy. How come no one has come up with the idea of giving every family that's upside down on a house $200K? Without confiscating any equity gain over the next four years? That would do wonders for the economy, get people out buying stuff and it would clean up a lot of balance sheets at banks. |
| Posted by: James Carville 2009-01-27 18:53 |
| #4 However, I don't see why this is in the stimulus package. I can't stand pork either. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2009-01-27 15:51 |
| #3 I can't stand Pelosi but I understand her point on this one. Condoms and bc pills are far less expensive than paying hospital delivery and maternity care, medicaid for the infants, WIC, food stamps and in the long term, the costs of raising a poor child, with extra tutoring and special ed, child care credits, and even the liklihood that single parented kids end up incarcerated. Check the stats. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2009-01-27 15:49 |
| #2 Nice work on the headline. Made me chuckle. |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2009-01-27 13:24 |
| #1 Hmmmmmmmm. Someone appears to have been bitch slapped... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-01-27 13:07 |