Insider Stories, Health Care Update, Hillary on 60 Minutes, and More!
May 11, 2010
Speaking on our members-only conference call, Senator Barbara Mikulski told us how she made sure that women’s preventive health care services – like mammograms and uterine cancer screenings – would be included in the new health care reform bill. (An earlier draft called for fees that would have put them out of reach for too many.)
“The day I took my amendment to the floor I asked all the women who were going to speak to wear pink. I asked for the color of the Race for the Cure and I asked all the good men who supported us to either speak or show the colors on the Senate floor; they wore their pink shirts or pink ties. We were a sea of pink that day because we were seeing red because of the way they wanted to take us out of healthcare.”
Senator Mikulski also praised Vice President Joe Biden for his leadership, as Senator, in passing the Violence Against Women Act, and she talked about this year’s funding:
“I funded the legislation.... We put $445 million in the federal checkbook to help women with domestic violence, date violence, sexual assault and stalking.... This money is for all those women out there who are trying to run prevention and shelter programs and hotlines. You cannot do this on a bake sale. You have to have the government on your side.”
“Since the Biden legislation, over 1 million women have been served... They have either been rescued or saved from dire circumstances, or even death.”
On changing the rules of the filibuster:
“I believe in order to get real reform and change; we’ve got to change the filibuster rules…. Our good pal, Senator Tom Harkin, I think has a great idea. …The way Tom’s idea would work is on the first vote, you know, if you really have questions, you get 60 votes. But if that fails we get 4 more votes. We then go to 57 votes. And if that fails we go to 54 votes. And if that fails we go to 51 votes and majority rules. I like the Harkin rule because it does keep the tradition but it does not slow us down.”
These are just some of the “insider” stories and comments we heard in our conversation with Senator Barbara Mikulski. You don’t want to miss our next members-only conference call – and we want you to join us!
Sign up here to be sure you’ll be on the line.
LEECIA ROCKS!
Leecia Eve, No Limits’ Vice President for Policy, recently addressed more than 700 leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) in Houston. She focused on the need to create more jobs now, noting that while there was some good news recently about net job gains, still more than 26 millions Americans today are either unemployed or underemployed, meaning they have a part-time job but want and need to work full time to provide for their families.
“American workers...are the best in the world." Leecia said. “That’s why having millions of us idle rather than putting our skills to work makes absolutely no sense; it’s bad for our collective morale, bad for our fiscal health, and it’s bad for our economy.”
Watch a short clip of the conference, including remarks by Leecia and Liz Schuler, the first woman and youngest ever National Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, here:
 Click to watch the speech. |
You can read Leecia’s remarks here.
CONGRATULATIONS, ELENA KAGAN!
Describing her as "one of the nation's foremost legal minds," President Obama yesterday nominated U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and later served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council. She was the first woman to serve as the Dean of Harvard Law School before being nominated and confirmed last year as the first woman U.S. Solicitor General.
It is expected that nomination hearings will begin in early July, given the importance of the Supreme Court in the lives of all Americans, we will all stay tuned!
HEALTH CARE NEWS YOU CAN USE
Pre-existing conditions: By July 2010, people unable to get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions will be able to use temporary high-risk health insurance pools in each state, giving them the opportunity to buy insurance that includes an annual limit on out-of-pocket costs. (Note: Most states are now preparing to meet this deadline; 18 have declined, asking that federal government handle the responsibility for their state instead.)
These insurance pools will remain in place until January 2014, when everyone will have access to health benefit exchanges in each state.
Retirees: Beginning June 1, 2010, the new Early Retiree Reinsurance Program will provide a subsidy to employers to help pay for healthcare coverage for some retired workers ages 55 to 64 who don't yet qualify for Medicare. Employers now providing health coverage to retirees must apply for the subsidy, which is designed to encourage companies to continue – and even to resume – coverage.
We’ll continue to keep you informed about key provisions of health reform as they go into effect. For more information, see the Kaiser Family Foundation’s website here.
WHAT DO YOU THINK WE NEED TO DO TO PUT AMERICANS BACK TO WORK?
No Limits is a proud partner with the IAM on a ground-breaking program called UCubed, which enables unemployed workers and other concerned Americans to share experiences on critical policy issues.
UCubed is now conducting an online survey to test ideas on putting Americans back to work. Take a few minutes to take this online questionnaire and express your views.
DIPLOMACY, DEVELOPMENT – AND INVESTING IN GIRLS AND WOMEN
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on her usual busy round this week: meeting with the Senate to urge support of the new START Treaty to reduce nuclear weapons, and speaking at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference; meeting with other international leaders of countries including Poland, Honduras, Tunisia, Israel, and the European Parliament; speaking to the American Jewish Committee, and a meeting of Muslim entrepreneurs; announcing the successful opening of the American Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, which will showcase American products and companies; and developing two new programs designed to make a difference for women and girls around the world, in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation.
The Secretary’s International Fund for Women and Girls will make grants to non-governmental organizations working in areas like economic empowerment, climate change, combating violence against women, and improved access to education and healthcare.
The Secretary’s Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls will recognize new approaches to empowering women politically, economically, and socially around the world.
“Making women a focus of our foreign policy agenda here at the State Department comes naturally to me,” Hillary said, “but it’s not only the right thing to do; it is also the smart thing as well…. There isn’t any way we can increase peace, prosperity, stability, and security throughout the world unless women are full partners – full partners in the home and the family, full partners in the community and the country and the world.”
HILLARY ON 60 MINUTES, AND MORE!
If you missed Hillary on 60 Minutes or Meet the Press, watch her here:
 60 Minutes |
 Meet the Press |
THE LAST WORD
 Mother's Day Message |
“I know how challenging it can be to balance the demands of work and family. Whether you're welcoming a new baby, juggling soccer practice and piano lessons, or even helping plan your daughter's wedding - parenting can be more than a full time job.”
- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mother’s Day Message, May 7, 2010.
