Action to Protect Food Assistance (#HandsOffSNAP)

A Congressional Committee has twisted the Farm Bill, H.R. 2, into a cruel and punitive bill that would take food assistance away from children, families, people with disabilities, older workers, low-wage workers, and those unable to find jobs.

The Farm Bill traditionally is a bipartisan effort every 5 years, but in this case not a single Democrat on the committee voted for it. This version pushed by Republicans on the House Agricultural Committee includes wide cuts and a reorganization of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as Food Stamps). The Farm Bill is up for a vote in the House on May 14, 2018 – so please take the easy actions to write your Congressperson NOW! Act now with the Budget and Tax Center action, or with MomsRising action.  See more on actions at the end of the article.

Photo Credit: Michael Eisenberg

If Republicans in Congress have their way, millions of people who get food aid through SNAP will have to find a job or attend job training classes for about 20 hours each week, or lose their benefits. There are so many good reasons why people on the SNAP program can’t work, but another problem is we just don’t have the jobs or training programs in too many parts of NC.

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Blue Stocking Salon on Women in Poverty Summary – 1/27/18

Fayetteville NOW’s Young Feminist Committee hosted their 3rd Blue Stocking Salon on January 27th, 2018. The topic of women in poverty drew the largest group yet! We discussed various studies and their results, personal experiences with social safety nets and anti-poverty activism as well as what we could do after the salon to act on what we learned.

The first point discussed was an analysis that estimated that if the wage gap was resolved, the number of women in poverty would decrease by half, what an astounding possibility asserted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research! We wondered if they studied the wage gap by comparing men and women in the exact same job or if they compared across similar job responsibilities, and concluded that while comparing the exact same job would yield more exact results, using the undervaluing of ‘women’s work’ instead of individual discrimination as a comparison tool is still effective.

Women In Poverty In America Data from National Women’s Law Center, Picture from Equal Means Equal

Equal Means Equal Showing in Chapel Hill on 2/17/18

Women are guaranteed equal rights under the law, right? No?!!

If you have not seen this important documentary, Equal Means Equal, now is your chance! If you’ve only seen it once, you may want to see it again. It shows us the real situation of women in the United States. Very intense. We will discuss afterward.

Date: Sat. Feb. 17th, 2018
Time: 10 am to 1 pm
Place: Chapel Hill Public Library
Reservations: Appreciated, Thru Eventbrite.
Cost: Free

Organized by Durham NOW 

Equal Means Equal Showing in Smithfield, 12/4/17

The Equal Means Equal documentary is being shown in Smithfield, NC on December 4, 2017.

NC NOW President Gailya Paliga is speaking about the documentary and running a question and answer session after the screening of the film.

Date: Monday, Dec. 4, 2017
Time: 5:30pm-8pm
Place: Smithfield Library, 305 E. Market St., Smithfield NC
Room: Multipurpose Meeting Room, 2nd Floor

National Actions To Take NOW!

We have 3 actions to take on national issues. Oppose the House Budget which slashes trillions of dollars from healthcare, food and income assistance, education and more. Oppose HR 38 – giving domestic violence offenders the right to stalk and kill their intimate partners across state lines! Oppose HR 36 – another abortion ban.

Thank you to National Task Force to End Sexual & Domestic Violence and to National Women’s Law Center for the information.

Action Alert 1: Tell your Rep. to vote “NO” on the US House budget: it slashes trillions from Medicaid, Medicare, food and income assistance, education, housing and more. It takes the money to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, and for corporations!

Monday-Wednesday, Oct 2-4: Call Your Rep and Say NO!

Articles on Harm Trumpcare Would Do to Women’s Health

Read more about Medicaid and the damage that Trumpcare will do in the following articles, among other places. People need to realize the devastation the Senate Trumpcare Bill has on women.  In addition, North Carolina would fare the worst of any states in the country under Trumpcare.

Leaders from Feminist Majority, National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Women’s March on Washington came together today in Washington, D.C. to discuss the dangers posed by Trumpcare to women across race, class and age—and to devise a plan to stop it. These leaders are

• National NOW President Terry O’Neill
• Feminist Majority’s Eleanor Smeal
• Janel George, Director of Federal Reproductive Rights and Health at National Women’s Law Center
• Michelle Batchelor, Deputy Director of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda

Photo Credit: Feminist Majority

The devastation of Senate health care plan on North Carolina needs to be understood.

“If the Senate health care plan becomes law, no state’s residents would fare worse than North Carolina, according to a new study on the proposed bill. That includes 1.3 million people in North Carolina, according to a new study – the fourth-most in the nation, and the highest percentage of people losing coverage in any state.”

According to “1.3 million in NC could lose health insurance under Senate health plan,” 6/28/17, http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article158456069.html.

These articles are on Medicaid and the damage that Trumpcare will do.

Cruel Senate Trumpcare Bill Targets Women

While even President Trump described the House Trumpcare bill as ‘mean,’ his colorful verdict is an uncommon understatement as it applies to the House and Senate bills’ treatment of women’s healthcare. Trumpcare is ‘cruel’ to women, and especially harsh to North Carolinians.

Trumpcare allows the elimination of women’s access to healthcare, letting insurance companies refuse to provide maternity care, slashing Medicaid payments (by $834 billion in the House bill/$772 billion in the Senate bill), and restricting Title X reimbursement. Medicaid is the nation’s public health insurance program for people with low incomes, the disabled and the elderly. The Medicaid program covers about 75 million Americans, or 1 in 5, including many with complex and costly needs for care. Seventy percent (70%) of the adults covered by Medicaid are women. Title X is a federal program which provides funding family planning services to people beyond Medicaid, like low-income women who are not Medicaid-eligible. Their recipients? Women.

The Senate Trumpcare bill will cut Medicaid by almost $1 trillion dollars (that’s trillion with a ‘t’). These policies have disproportionate and disastrous consequences for women – young, middle-aged, and elderly, alike – especially in North Carolina. More than half of all births in North Carolina are covered by Medicaid – 54% in North Carolina in 2014, while other states vary from 24% to 72%, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Trumpcare allows insurance companies to refuse to cover maternity and newborn care as part of the 10 essential health benefits that insurance companies would no longer be required to cover.

“I Love The ERA” Cookie Drop Summary and Pix

Great turnout at the “I Love The ERA” Cookie Drop  on Jun 7, 2017, at the NC Legislative Building. There were over 35 people there – mostly women of all ages, but also some young men. One of the ERA-NC Alliance board members celebrated her birthday at the cookie drop with her daughter, female and male grandchildren, and friends! ERA-NC Alliance is an alliance of many women’s groups and individuals who recognize the need for ERA.

ERA Cookie Delivery group at beginning of event. More joined. Photo Credit: Marlene Rosol

The ERA, Equal Rights Amendment, is a constitutional amendment simply affording women the same rights as men under the law. The only right women have guaranteed right now – is the right to vote. Under the 3-state strategy, three more states are needed to ratify the ERA. In March 2017, Nevada went ahead and did it!  Read more in “ERA One Step Closer To Ratification After Passage in the [Nevada] Assembly“. Now we only need two more states to ratify.  Senator Heidi Gansert, a Republican in Nevada who voted for the ERA said,

“I understand now today, here in Nevada and across the world, there’s a crescendo building … I can hear it, and I can feel it.”

NC NOW Legislative Update #18 – Let the Budget Negotiations Begin!

The NC House finished its budget so now is time for budget negotiations between House and Senate. Update on SCOTUS ruling on NC’s gerrymandering case and another case. See NC NOW Legislative Update #18, 6/4/17 for a more on budget negotiations and the Supreme Court ruling with regard to two cases in NC.

Here are some excerpts from the summary.

“The House passed its budget just after midnight on Thursday. The House and Senate have already agreed on setting the budget for 2017 fiscal year at $22.9 billion, which will simplify the final negotiations.” See how that works in the summary.

NC NOW Legislative Update #16 – targetting the poor (food stamps, education programs)

NC NOW Legislative Update #16 of 2017 is available. This legislative update includes the latest on the Senate budget, like proposed slashes to food stamps program, and how the House is going to try address some of the outrages of it. 

“Last week the Senate passed its budget in a rushed process that allowed for
only limited debate and less than 72 hours of public availability before passage.”

“This week the process of sorting out what the budget contains beyond
appropriations and cuts continues. In addition to budgetary items, the budget
also includes new policies. Including policies in a budget bill is a way to bypass
the normal legislative process and pass controversial matters with little or no
public notice or debate. N. C. Policy Watch has identified twelve significant
policy changes buried in the Senate budget.” See
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2017/05/17/12-significant-policy-changesburied-nc-senate-budget/, 5/17/17.

“One of the most disturbing provisions of the Senate budget is a policy change concerning eligibility for SNAP, the program that used to be called food stamps, that would effectively cut off 133,000 people from receiving nutritional assistance. The move was not motivated by saving the state money because the program is paid for entirely with federal funds and costs the state nothing.” See http://www.wral.com/senate-budget-would-cut-off-food-aid-to-133-000/16703663/, 5/15/17.

And there is more, because thank goodness that “[t]he House is working on its version of the budget which is expected to correct some of the outrages in the Senate version. “

Plus, see the updates and the bill tracking that are included in all of this session’s legislative updates. 

See NC NOW Legislative Update 16.