Federal Legislation to Watch
H.R. 2617 – Pregnant and Parenting Students Access to Education Act of 2011
H.R. 2617 would authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to promote the education of pregnant and parenting students. Specifically, H.R. 2617 would enable states to create a plan for the education of pregnant and parenting students, provide professional development and technical assistance to school districts, coordinate services with other state agencies, and disseminate information. Further, the bill establishes a state coordinator and school district liaisons for the education of pregnant and parenting students, requires school district grantees to provide academic support services for pregnant and parenting students and assist them in gaining access to affordable child care, early childhood education, and transportation services. H.R. 2617 would allow districts to provide parenting and life-skills classes, case management services, pregnancy prevention interventions and referrals to primary health care, family planning, mental health, substance abuse, housing assistance, legal aid, mentoring, or other supportive services needed by the student.
Sponsored by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO2) and co-sponsored by Judy Chu (D-CA) , the bill is now before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
View the proposed text of H.R. 2617.
TAKE ACTION: Find your Representative and tell them to vote YES on HR 2617.
H.R.1 – Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011
H.R.1 would eliminate many essential programs, including the nation’s family planning program, Title IX, a program which has provided family planning services, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and other preventive health care to low-income women. The bill would also end funding for teen pregnancy prevention and cut funding for programs that promote the health of pregnant women, infants and young children. H.R.1 would discontinue the Women’s Educational Equity program, which helps schools comply with Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. This bill would eliminate financing for Planned Parenthood and for the groundbreaking database of public safety complaints that the Consumer Product Safety Commission was about to put online.
Introduced by Harold Rogers (R-KY), the bill passed the House of Representatives by a 235-186 vote on February 18. 235 Republicans voted yes, 186 Democrats and 3 Republicans voted no, and 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans abstained.
H.R.1 is currently before the Senate. If passed, this bill would have devastating effects on the health of and opportunities available to the nation’s women and girls.
View the text of the proposed bill H.R.1
TAKE ACTION: Find your Senator and tell them to vote no on H.R.1.
H.R.2 – Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act
H.R.2, if passed into law,would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, which together comprise the major health care reform that was signed into law by President Obama in March 2010. The repeal bill has been estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to increase the federal deficit by $230 billion over the next ten years. Student loan reform legislation that was attached to the reconciliation bill would also be repealed. H.R.2 would prevent the expansion of health care to millions of Americans and would permit big insurance companies to continue discriminating against people who fall ill.
Introduced by Eric Cantor (R-VA), H.R.2 was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a 245-189 vote on January 19. 242 Republicans and 2 Democrats voted yes, 189 Democrats voted no, and 1 Democrat abstained. The bill is currently before the Senate’s Subcommittee on Health.
View the text of the proposed bill H.R.2.
TAKE ACTION: Find your Senator and tell them to vote no on H.R.2.
H.R.3 – No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
H.R.3, if passed into law, would require that “No funds authorized or appropriated by Federal law, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are authorized or appropriated by Federal law, shall be expended for any abortion.”
This bill sparked much controversy when it was first introduced, largely because its exemptions for instances of rape and incest were extremely limited. Due to public outcry over these severe limitations, those portions of the bill have since been altered.
As it reads today, H.R.3 would make permanent and expand the Hyde amendment restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortions. It would prohibit even indirect funding streams that may potentially come in contact with abortion services. It would deny tax credits to companies that offer health plans that cover abortions and would prevent anyone with insurance covering abortions from receiving federal subsidies or medical cost tax deductions, even if the abortion portion is paid separately with personal funds. Women who use tax-free Medical Savings Accounts would have to pay taxes on the costs of abortions.
Sponsored by Christopher Smith (R -NJ), H.R.3 passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of a 251-175 on May 4th, with 235 Republicans and 16 Democrats voting yes; 175 Democrats voting no; 5 Republicans and 1 Democrat abstaining.
H.R.3 will now be heard before the Senate.
View the text of the proposed bill H.R.3.
TAKE ACTION: Find your Senator and tell them to vote no on H.R.3.
H.R. 217 – Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act
HR217 would amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from providing any federal family planning assistance to any entity unless that entity certifies that it will not perform abortions or provide funds to any other entity that performs abortions.
Sponsored by Mike Pence (R-IN), the bill would eliminate needed medical services for millions of women who use family planning clinics as their main source of health care. According to the 2009 Family Planning Annual Report, in 2009 alone Title X providers like Planned Parenthood performed 2.2 million Pap tests, 2.3 million breast exams, and over six million tests for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including nearly a million HIV tests.
H.R.217 is currently pending before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Health.
View the text of the proposed bill H.R.217.
Read Planned Parenthood’s letter to Speaker John Boehner opposing the bill.
TAKE ACTION: Find your Representative and tell them to vote no on HR 217
H.R.358 – Protect Life Act
The Protect Life Act would amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to prohibit the use of federal funds to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that covers abortion services. Sponsored by Joseph Pitts (R-PA), H.R.358 would would allow a hospital the right to refuse to perform emergency abortions when necessary to save the life of the woman.
The bill is currently pending before the House Committee on Ways and Means.
View the text of the proposed bill H.R.358.
TAKE ACTION: Find your Representative and tell them to vote no on H.R.358.
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), signed into law in 1994 by President Clinton and reauthorized by Congress in 2000 and 2005, will be up for reauthorization in September of 2011. 109 P.L. 162; 119 Stat. 2960 et seq. (2006). VAWA is a landmark piece of legislation that was passed to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in the United States. Thanks to VAWA, victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking have somewhere to turn. Additionally, the very existence of VAWA sends a powerful message: that our society will not tolerate violence against women.
The 112th Congress is preparing to debate VAWA’s reauthorization. The Senate Judiciary Committee held the first preparatory hearing on May 5, 2010 on the “Increased Importance of the Violence Against Women Act in a Time of Economic Crisis. Read the testimony from that hearing.
No further hearings have yet been formally scheduled for 2011.
Read the current version of VAWA.
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