Be heard on the issues that matter most to you!
A great big peek above our garters to Chris at SitPS for pointing us to Heather, and to Heather at Scarleteen for pointing us to this:
Via Tod Preston at RHRealityCheck:
Last night, despite President Bush's veto threat, the Senate passed the FY 2008 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill (by a vote of 81-12) that includes significant provisions overturning destructive policies on family planning and HIV/AIDS. Thanks to the leadership and commitment of Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the Senate bill not only includes the identical measures in the House-passed bill (H.R. 2764) -- exempting contraceptives from the Global Gag Rule and repealing the abstinence-only funding restrictions for HIV prevention programs -- it goes even further by repealing the Gag Rule entirely.
This repudiation of some of the most egregious and harmful aspects of U.S. international family planning and reproductive health policy marks a major -- and long overdue -- victory for sound public health. And to put it in historical perspective, the Senate vote today is the first time since the Gag Rule has been in force -- from 1984 to 1993 and again since 2001 -- that both the House and the Senate have passed legislation to repeal or modify the restriction. This is significant in light of the all-important showdown that looms with the White House over President Bush's threatened veto of the entire $34 billion foreign assistance bill over the Gag Rule provisions.
The Senate 53-41 vote in favor of an amendment to repeal the Gag Rule, sponsored by Senators Boxer (D-CA) and Snowe (R-ME), is a victory for the tens of millions of poor women overseas who have been victimized by the Gag Rule and lack basic reproductive health care such as contraceptives. It's a powerful recognition of the Gag Rule's devastating impact on family planning programs.
From that video:
On his second day in office, President George W. Bush reinstated the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule, a set of restrictions that prohibits overseas NGOs from providing abortion related services even counseling or referrals with their own separate funds. In order to receive U.S. family planning funds organizations must give up their free speech rights by promising not to engage in political advocacy on abortion, even in counties like Zambia, where abortion is legal.
"So in one breath, the U.S. is telling my government to promote human rights, good government. In the other breath it's saying 'Can you take away the rights of women to know about all the issues that surround their reproductive health?' and one of them will be abortion anyway."
"Think of the children" is supposedly the mantra of the anti-choice movement. Never let that lie go unchallenged. If the anti-choice crowd really gave a damn about the children, they wouldn't be condemning millions of men, women, and children to death by HIV/AIDS and botched coat-hanger abortions by tying our financial aid to untenable religious doctrines that have been debunked and repeatedly proven to be ineffective.
The Global Gag Rule is about enforcing a particular brand of extremist religion around the world by means of coercion and extortion.
It is overdue for an ignominious death.
From whence came the art:
That stunning photograph is titled Zimbabwe 1, by babasteve, and I can not help but be reminded of the thoughts of Benjamin Franklin contemplating the half sun on the back of George Washington's chair in 1787: "I have often looked at that picture behind the president without being able to tell whether it was a rising or setting sun. Now at length I have the happiness to know that it is indeed a rising, not a setting sun."
Kisses,
JanieBelle
Just found this, trying to determine if the threatened veto actually went through.
Kisses,
JanieBelle
...because public space really matters!
Elizabeth
Near as I can tell you are correct, Elizabeth. The bill is apparently in conference committee to resolve a difference between the bill as passed by each house of Congress. It seems like there is an amendment at issue in the Senate bill by Senator Patrick Leahy, though I'm not sure which one as he added several. (My source is the same as yours.)
His Holiness, The Glorified Houseplant Who Would Be Caesar has threatened to veto the bill, and it's unclear whether the bill has enough support in the HoR to override that, though I'm pessimistic at this point given your numbers.
I'm currently still trying to track down more info., and whether there's some sort of major organized pressure being brought to bear on the dissenting House members.
Kisses,
JanieBelle
From his statement in the Senate :
Senators should know that there are provisions in this bill concerning international family planning that the President has said he will veto. That is no surprise, since these provisions are no different from what was contained in past bills Senator McConnell and I brought to the Senate floor. They are supported by a majority of Senators, but not enough to override a veto.
Again, these same provisions have been in the State, Foreign Operations bill year after year. Each year, the President says he will veto the bill because of them. And each year, they get resolved in conference with the House. This year will be no exception.
I'm wondering if maybe the sticking point is the amendment on cluster bombs .
Senate-Passed FY2008 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill
Includes Leahy-Feinstein Reforms
To Restrict The Sale Or Transfer Of Cluster Bombs
WASHINGTON (Friday, Sept. 7) – The Fiscal Year 2008 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill passed late Thursday night by the Senate includes a measure, sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), that for the first time would restrict the sale or transfer of cluster bombs, which continue to take a high casualty toll among innocent civilians.
Leahy is the chairman of the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, which drafts the annual funding bill for the State Department and U.S. foreign aid programs. Specifically, the spending bill requires that no military funds will be used for the sale or transfer or cluster bombs, unless the cluster bombs have a failure rate of one percent or less, and the sale or transfer agreement specifies that the cluster bombs will be used only against clearly defined military targets, and not where civilians are known to be present.
“Sensible standards can greatly reduce the gruesome casualties these weapons needlessly inflict on innocent civilians,” said Leahy, who long has led also on curbing the use of anti-personnel landmines. “Congress is taking the lead with these sensible and workable steps to set reliability standards for cluster munitions that are transferred or sold, and to keep them from being used among civilians. We hope the Administration will support this approach. This can be the start of a process and an example that can be a model for other nations to follow.”
“The Senate yesterday voted to approve a measure to help protect civilians from the dangers of cluster bombs,” said Feinstein, a leading member of the Appropriations Committee. “These volatile relics of the Cold War have taken their lethal toll on civilian populations all over the world for too long – from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. It’s time to put an end to this needless death and suffering. And today’s vote by the Senate to restrict the sale or transfer of cluster bombs sends a message to the rest of the world that we’re ready to do our part to protect innocent men, women and children from these de facto landmines.”
Currently, the arsenal of the U.S. military contains 5.5 million cluster bombs, or 728 million bomblets – many of which have a failure rate of one percent or higher.
Kisses,
JanieBelle
