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USA Today
a day ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Women's history museum has been a long time coming. Congress is trying again.
Lawmakers are renewing a bipartisan effort to buld a women's history museum on the National Mall. WASHINGTON ‒ In a rare Congressional effort crossing party lines, Democrat and GOP lawmakers are calling for funding for a new women's history museum on the National Mall that would join museums celebrating African American and Native American history. Supporters of the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum said it's important to have a place to showcase the critical role of women in the United States. 'Our nation's history has been shaped by strong, trailblazing women whose stories deserve to be told,'' Florida Rep. Kat Cammack, co-chair of the Republican Women's Caucus, said in a statement. 'Sharing those stories is the first step in honoring their monumental accomplishments.'' Members of the Democratic Women's Caucus and the Republican Women's Caucus sent a letter July 21 urging a congressional committee to support funding for the museum. The effort faces major hurdles, including the Trump administration's campaign to eliminate diversity initiatives and a push by Republican congressional leaders to drastically cut federal spending. 'It feels like just an absolute Herculean effort to even get people to remember that we are still fighting for this,'' Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat from Michigan, told USA TODAY. 'It's just been such a challenging effort.' Bipartisanship effort 'truly unique' Republican and Democratic women lawmakers, including Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., have long pushed for the museum to join other Smithsonian Institution museums, including the National Museum of the American Indian and the National African American Museum of History and Culture. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, and the late Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, introduced a measure in 2020 to establish the museum. Congress approved a package that included the women's history museum and the National Museum of the American Latino. Then-President Donald Trump signed the legislation. There have been related bills over the years, including one to build the museum on the National Mall and another to fund it. Scholten and others acknowledge the challenge to get funding this year, but urged the House Appropriations Committee last week to include it in a spending bill. 'We wanted to make it a priority, to put the women's history (museum) top of mind because as things are getting shut down, we want to say, 'Not this one. Remember how important this is as we move forward,'' she said. The fact that both Democrats and Republicans support the museum should help, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. 'It's wonderful to see that this is coming from women on both sides of the aisle,'' she said. Scholten, a vice chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus, said some women lawmakers are banding together around the issue. She noted there are a few other bipartisan efforts this Congress, including the congressional softball team. '(We) are united in making this happen so that we can tell the stories of women changemakers over the years,' she said. 'So many important stories that need to be told' While it has had bipartisan support, some Republican lawmakers have objected to the creation of museums they say are based on 'group identity.'' In 2020, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, blocked legislation to create the Latino and women's history museums saying 'the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation." The Trump administration has pushed to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across all federal agencies. Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order blasting institutions he said spread 'divisive ideology.' That order named some Smithsonian Institution museums, including the women's history museum. More: Trump sets sights on national African American history museum More: Civil rights leaders rally around National Museum of African American History Walsh said while efforts to share histories of women and people of color are labeled as DEI or dangerous, they help fill gaps in telling the nation's history. 'It isn't taught in schools and young people, young women and young men – all of us – need to know this history,' she said. Trump has shown signs of support for the women's history museum. At an event at the White House in March, Trump told Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., he supported her bipartisan bill to put the museum on the National Mall. 'You get that going and we're going to back it 100%,'' he said at an event this spring. Scholten said supporters welcome a meeting with Trump to discuss the museum. 'We would love to have an audience with him and explain the importance of this museum and why there's no reason it shouldn't be able to happen right now,'' she said.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
My mark on history is fighting for women in Idaho, and nationwide, living under abortion bans
An ultrasound machine sits next to an exam table in an examination room at Whole Woman's Health of South Bend on June 19, 2019, in South Bend, Indiana. () As a mother and a rural family physician who provides obstetrics and gynecological care in Idaho, I see everyday how severe legal restrictions work to prevent safe medical treatment and instead result in unnecessarily dangerous pregnancy care. Last week, to mark the end of Women's History Month, I traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress in the Democratic Women's Caucus to speak out against the many attacks we are seeing nationwide and the consequences of abortion bans on patients in Idaho and across the country in this post Roe world. For example, St. Luke's Health System — the largest medical provider in Idaho — bravely took up the challenge to Idaho's near-total abortion ban last month because the Trump administration's Department of Justice dropped the previous administration's defense of EMTALA, the federal law requiring hospitals that receive Medicare funds to provide stabilizing emergency care — including abortion. An Idaho federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that allows only St. Luke's physicians to stabilize patients with abortion care, when necessary, rather than follow Idaho's near-total abortion ban. A health system is fighting Idaho's abortion ban. It's not its first controversial stance. This means that whether or not patients can receive life-saving emergency care in Idaho depends on which ER they choose. Every other hospital and provider in Idaho will once again be forced to airlift patients out of state or wait until a patient's condition becomes a situation in which termination will prevent death before they can intervene to provide the necessary care. Abortion bans are killing women, and instead of taking steps to protect access to lifesaving medical care, Trump and Republican extremists are working behind-the-scenes to roll back the rights of millions of American women and doctors even further. My life's work is about ensuring the wellbeing of all my patients by providing the best possible medical care I can, and making sure that every decision I make will help give them a long and happy future. When I was living in a small town in Western Colorado teaching high school, I became drawn to the idea of becoming a rural family practice physician as I got to know some of the families that lived there and the family doctors that cared for them. The concept of providing 'birth to death' care, and getting to know a family's story at a deeper level across the generations was inspirational to me. Idaho is a wonderful state filled with amazing families that I have had the pleasure of providing care and support to. However, extreme politicians jeopardize the ability of medical practitioners like myself to provide care especially during cases of an emergency where a patient's life is at stake. As a physician, I can tell you that delaying care for a patient with a medical emergency is extremely dangerous and can lead to serious complications. Medical emergencies must be addressed immediately and comprehensively. With the current abortion bans in place, doctors outside of the St. Luke's system may be prevented from providing the medical standard of care for a pregnant patient who is hemorrhaging until their health deteriorates enough to provide treatment to prevent her death. I will not remain on the sidelines in this moment. I choose instead to speak out against efforts to restrict the freedom of families to make decisions about their lives and futures. Medical decisions should be taking place as a protected conversation between patients and their doctor, without government intrusion. The vast majority of Americans support reproductive freedom and abortion access. Polling shows that 61% of Americans disagree with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and a majority of Americans (8 in 10) say that the decision to have an abortion should be between the pregnant person and their doctor. As I reflect on what Women's History Month means to me, I am inspired by leaders like Eleanor Roosevelt, who used her position as first lady to push for progressive legislation and to speak up for women and other marginalized communities of her time. She once said, 'the world of the future is in our making. Tomorrow is now.' If we are going to protect women and patients impacted by the abortion bans sweeping the nation, we must ensure that doctors, and all health care providers have the necessary tools and resources to save every life they can. When families and patients go into the emergency room, they should never be told that medical standards of care are illegal. It's been the honor of a lifetime to dedicate my livelihood to providing care to my patients. I will continue to be an advocate for reproductive freedom because I am passionate about carrying out my oath to my patients. I hope that the mark I leave on history is that I not only fought for my patients in the exam room, but also in the Statehouse, the courthouse and the public square. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House member slams Musk and Trump for 'attacking women's health'
Democratic Women's Caucus members Reps. Teresa Leger Fernandez, Hillary Scholten and Emilia Sykes join Morning Joe to discuss Women's History Month and International Women's Day. The House members also discuss how Trump administration policies impact women.
Fox News
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Democrats say they stand for women. In reality, they can't even say what a woman is
The Democrats are facing a tough moment following President Donald Trump's election. What do they believe and who do they want to be? Their childish outbursts at the joint address left it unclear. You'd be excused for thinking they cared about women. After all, many of them arrived at President Trump's address to Congress wearing pink. New Mexico Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez said the pink was to "raise the alarm about the negative impacts (Trump's) policies are having on women." But what does this solidarity with women entail? Conservative provocateur Matt Walsh's popular documentary from a few years ago asked, "What Is a Woman?" Democrats are clear that they have no idea. Two months earlier, many of the same women, from the Democratic Women's Caucus, voted against H.R. 28, the "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in the House," with their Senate counterparts following suit on a similar bill in the beginning of March. Only two Democrats in the House, Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar, both from Texas, voted in favor of keeping biological boys out of girls' sports. No Senate Democrats did. The opposition to boys playing in girls' sports is fairly lopsided. A New York Times/Ipsos survey from January found that nearly 80% of Americans, and even 67% of Democrats, said biological males should not be allowed to compete with females. That number was 94% for Republicans. So, what are Democrats thinking? In politics, these kinds of numbers make for an easy call. Democrats are largely controlled by special interest groups that keep moving them ever leftward. They can't be seen as giving Trump a win, even on an issue as popular as saving girls' sports, because they will be attacked by their own base. Earlier in the day, the pink-attired Democratic Women's Caucus held a news conference at the Capitol with signs that read "Trump betrays women for billionaire tax cuts." What does that even mean? What tax cuts has Trump proposed that will hurt women? It's a sideshow to deflect from the reality that it's Democrats who are hurting and betraying women for their political agenda. At Trump's Joint Address to Congress, they sat stone-faced, and didn't applaud the various female heroes in the audience. They didn't clap in memory of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old murdered by illegal immigrants, or for her mother Alexis as Trump spoke directly to her and said he would be naming a national wildlife refuge in Jocelyn's honor. No clapping for January Littlejohn, a Florida mom who stood up for her child after her school created a plan to use a different name and pronouns at school without the knowledge of the parents. And they certainly didn't applaud Payton McNabb, who suffers from a brain injury after being hurt in a high school volleyball game against a biological boy. McNabb's very existence shows how little they care for girls, their pink outfits notwithstanding. It's not the first time that Democrats in Congress have tried color-coordinating their outfits to send a confused message. In 2017, over 60 House Democrat female members wore white, in a nod to the suffragettes who wore the color to protest for their right to vote. The suffragettes were fighting for something. What are Democrats fighting for today? Even they don't seem to know. In the 2004 comedy "Mean Girls," the popular girls wore pink on Wednesdays so everyone could tell right away who didn't belong. Democrats can keep trying that, to exclude 80% of the country who don't agree with their policies, but they can't pretend they do it for women.
Politico
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Musk's layoffs target offices that aid women and children
Presented by Hi Rulers. Happy Women's History Month! I'm Mackenzie Wilkes, an education reporter at POLITICO dropping in for this week's Women Rule. Let's get into it: President Donald Trump decried 'unelected bureaucrats' this week in his address to Congress as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency continues slashing the federal workforce. While Republican lawmakers publicly support the cuts, Democratic lawmakers are warning the bleeding of federal workers will be particularly harmful to women and children. Two offices that specifically serve women and children are in Musk's crosshairs. The Office of Head Start, which oversees the free federal early education program for children from low-income families, and the Office of Child Care, which has jurisdiction over the largest federal funding source for child care, have reportedly lost 20 to 25 percent of their staff. That could impede coordination between the federal offices that oversee these programs and the local grantees who receive federal dollars. Congressional lawmakers and early childhood advocates argue the loss of staff in those federal offices could trickle down to local programs — resulting in delays in accessing federal grants and technical support. 'They want to undermine trust in the ability of the federal government to provide services,' said Democratic Women's Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) in an interview, 'and then they want to take those savings and turn them into tax cuts for billionaires.' In a letter shared first with POLITICO, Leger Fernández and over 40 members of the Democratic Women's Caucus asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose agency has jurisdiction over those programs, to 'immediately reinstate any [Administration for Children and Families] federal employees whom HHS fired and not remove any others.' 'While Elon Musk believes that women and families who benefit from these programs are parasites, we know that these programs provide hard-working families with crucial services,' the lawmakers wrote in the letter Thursday. 'Further, it is the dedicated federal workers who allow these essential services to support families across the nation.' An HHS spokesperson downplayed the cuts' impact, saying that all operations in both offices are continuing, including the provision of technical assistance and grants. The spokesperson did not comment on the percentage of staff reductions. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to POLITICO that the president is 'streamlining processes and cutting bloat across all agencies,' adding it will 'make the entire Executive Branch more efficient and ensure more timely access to services for the American people.' Funding for Head Start programs, which provide education and health services to nearly 800,000 children nationwide, was thrown into uncertainty in January when federal grant funds were frozen. The Trump administration subsequently said Head Start was excluded from the freeze but scores of program directors continued to report technical issues accessing their payment portal and delays in receiving their funds. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, underscored that there could be economic consequences: 'Mom and dad can't go to work if they can't get child care,' Murray, a former preschool teacher, recently told reporters. In 2023, the Labor Department found higher child care costs are keeping women out of the workforce. Meanwhile, data from the Federal Reserve show that low-income parents are more likely to reduce their work hours to care for their kids. According to Murray, Trump and Musk are haphazardly freezing Head Start funding, then promising to turn it back on, without actually ensuring that happens. As a result, she said, Head Start centers and the families who count on them are being thrown 'into complete chaos' — making 'the child care crisis that much worse.' But it's not just women's access to child care and early learning being affected. Some military spouses working for the Department of Veterans Affairs are being caught in widespread layoffs. Arielle Pines, a military spouse who worked at the VA for roughly 15 years in various patient care and administrative roles, was recently laid off. Pines, who had moved into a new HR role at the VA in the Veterans Integrated Services Network where she helped collect and analyze data, was considered a probationary worker. 'It was based on efficiency and looking at numbers and looking at the data and tracking the metrics and see how we can improve our services to our veterans,' Pines said in an interview. 'It's very unfortunate because my job was based in efficiency and I was fired under the guise of efficiency.' The Veterans Affairs Department has laid off thousands of probationary and 'non-mission critical positions' in the last month. 'They fired veterans, they fired military spouses … and with those titles, they have 15 years of experience,' Pines added. SELMA SIXTY YEARS LATER The nation marks a dark, but important milestone in its history with the commemoration of Bloody Sunday. On this day in 1965, the late Civil Rights icon John Lewis and hundreds of others marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama to call for the eradication of Jim Crow laws that blocked Black Americans from voting, particularly in the South. POLITICO's Brakkton Booker highlights three women working to elevate the 60th anniversary. If Bloody Sunday never happened, it's hard to imagine President Lyndon Johnson signing the landmark Voting Rights Act that summer. This week Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) whose district includes Selma, reintroduced H.R. 14, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which calls for strengthening the law after recent Supreme Court decisions weakened some of its enforcement provisions. 'It will give us the tools to suppress modern-day voter suppression and ensure every American can cast their ballot fairly and freely,' Sewell said this week on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, in the city itself, Ainka Sanders Jackson and Lydia Chatmon, two lifelong friends, are using the 60th anniversary festivities for a different mission: to showcase Selma so that investors will be inspired to help revitalize their city. 'So often people see Selma as a symbol, but not a city,' says Sanders Jackson, executive director of the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation. In 2020, during the first Trump administration, the center received its first federal grant of nearly $1 million to combat violent crime in the city. That aid, the women said, was temporarily stopped in late January when the second Trump administration issued a memo ordering the pause of federal aid programs. POLITICO Special Report Bill Restricting Transgender Student Athletes Stalls in the Senate by Bianca Quilantan for POLITICO: 'The Senate failed to advance a measure to restrict transgender students from playing on women's sports teams on a 51-45 procedural vote Monday evening. No Democrats joined Republicans in supporting S. 9, which required 60 votes to advance. The legislation introduced by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) is a cornerstone of the GOP's education agenda and would have helped cement President Donald Trump's executive order that seeks to end transgender student participation in women's and girls' sports.' Lucy McBath Takes First Step Toward Georgia Governor Run by Danny Nguyen for POLITICO: 'Rep. Lucy McBath has taken her first formal step toward a bid for Georgia governor in 2026, launching an exploratory committee to raise money. … McBath has long been rumored to be considering a run for statewide office, with GOP Gov. Brian Kemp term-limited next year. If she runs and wins, McBath could be the nation's first Black woman governor.' Linda McMahon Confirmed as Education Secretary by Mackenzie Wilkes for POLITICO: 'The Senate confirmed Linda McMahon's nomination to lead the Education Department in a 51-45 party-line vote on Monday. McMahon was sworn in as the 13th secretary of Education shortly after the vote. Her new role comes as President Donald Trump has said he wants McMahon to 'put herself out of a job' amid his ambitions to shutter the Education Department.' The Education secretary swiftly laid out a 'final mission' for the department in a message to staff shortly after being sworn in. Number of the Week Read more here. MUST READS Grieving Mothers Thrust Into the Spotlight During Trump's Address to Congress by Mel Leonor Barclay and Grace Panetta for the 19th: 'President Donald Trump's first address to Congress this term leaned heavily on the grief of two mothers whose children's deaths were linked to recently arrived immigrants, describing the murders in detail and saying that securing the nation's borders is the most crucial step toward 'protecting America's children.'' Women's Rights Are Under Attack 30 Years After Leaders Adopted a Blueprint for Equality, UN Says by Edith M. Lederer for the Associated Press: 'Thirty years after world leaders adopted a historic blueprint to achieve gender equality, a new United Nations report says women's and girls' rights are under attack and gender discrimination remains deeply embedded in economies and societies. The report released Thursday by the U.N. agency focused on women's rights and gender equality found that nearly one-quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash to women's rights last year. Despite some progress, including on girls' education and access to family planning, UN Women said a woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a partner or family member and that cases of conflict-related sexual violence have increased by 50 percent since 2022.' A Third of Women Get This Infection. The Fix: Treat Their Male Partners. by Alisha Haridasani Gupta for The New York Times: 'Bacterial vaginosis is a poorly understood infection that affects one in three women and can bring with it uncomfortable symptoms and, sometimes, long-term health complications. … A study published today shows the results of a novel treatment regimen so effective that an independent safety-monitoring group advised halting the trial early so that all participants could access it. The key? Treating the women's male partners.' QUOTE OF THE WEEK Watch her floor remarks here. on the move — Nvidia is adding Sarah Weinstein to its corporate comms team in D.C. Weinstein previously was director of public affairs at the Commerce Department and is a Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Pete Aguilar alum. (h/t Inside Congress) — Carmen Cummings-Martin was named chief of staff for Florida A&M University's interim President Timothy Beard. (h/t The Tallahassee Democrat)
