May 1, 2012

After Hilary Rosen’s remarks about Ann Romney’s life as a homemaker, some thought Democrats might tread more cautiously in their attempt to paint the GOP as being anti-women. Nope.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats are aggressively pushing the case that Republicans are now waging a “War on Women” on three legislative fronts. First, they are blasting House Republicans for their proposal to block changes to the Violence Against Women Act that would extend protection to battered women who are LGBT, immigrants or Native Americans who live on tribal lands. “We are seeing the sheer gender bias of their so-called ‘clean’ bill,” Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said Friday. “They don’t want to sully their hands dealing with women in the shadows.”

Second, they’ve cast the GOP proposal to lower student rates by taking money out of Obamacare’s prevention fund as another “assault on women,” as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi put it at the news conference — which, appropriately enough, was held in a small alcove in the Capitol lined with statues of former male senators. According to the female Democrats, the prevention fund targets osteoporosis, arthritis and mental illness, “which disproportionately affect women,” explained Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). So by targeting such funds, Republicans are going out of their way to go after women, the Dems’ argument goes. “Their assault on women’s health is part of their continued assault on women,” Pelosi concluded.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House approved, on a mostly party-line (215-195) vote, a $5.9 billion bill to maintain low interest rates for Stafford student loans, paying for it by slashing funds for a provision of President Obama’s health care law.

Thirty Republican lawmakers voted against the bill, while 13 Democrats voted for it.
The legislation was fueled by politics after President Obama this week traveled to three college campuses in battleground states attacking Republicans for paying “lip service” to the issue of rising interest rates but not acting.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, responded angrily to the accusation and said Obama was “wasting time on a fake fight” because Republicans intended to vote to protect the student loan rates before they expire in July. But the speaker’s decision to move immediately to the bill ahead of a week-long congressional recess signaled concern over Republican vulnerability to the president’s attack.