Ben Nelson and Russ Feingold Vote Against Women
03 December 2009 6:05 pm by Taylor Marsh
While I was out today, which included doing a fun segment on MSNBC, there was a jobs summit, but also some news on a health care win for women.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to know what’s worse on this one. Sen. Nelson threatening to filibuster health care if Stupak-esque language isn’t included. Or Sen. Russ Feingold voting against women’s preventative health care, voting against Sen. Mikulski’s amendment, which guarantees women will have full access to tests and procedures that could save their lives, which Nelson voted against as well.
“The insurance companies take being a woman as a pre-existing condition,” Ms. Mikulski said. “We face so many issues and hurdles. We can’t get health care. We can’t get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions called a C-section.”
She added, “My amendment offers key preventive services, including an annual women’s health screening that would go to a comprehensive assessment, including the dangers to women in heart disease and in diabetes.”
[...]“There’s much discussion about whether or not you should get a particular service at a particular age,” Ms. Mikulski said during the floor debate. “We don’t mandate that you get a service. We leave that up to a decision made with the woman and her doctor.”
When I asked Feingold’s office why he’d voted no, I was emailed his statement:
“I am disappointed that the Senate health care debate has gotten off on the wrong foot. The first amendment voted on would add almost a billion dollars to our budget deficits over the next 10 years. We should make sure health plans cover women’s preventive care and screenings, but we should also find a way to pay for it, rather than adding that cost to the already mountainous public debt. At a time of record deficits, Americans expect fiscal responsibility from their representatives in Congress.”
After all the support women have offered to the Democratic Party. Nelson is someone beyond hope, but Russ Feingold disgraced himself today, putting economic rhetoric to make a point before the lives of women. Congress bailed out Wall Street without a thought, but when it comes to charging women’s preventative health care we should say no until the money is found.
The reply I sent back to Sen. Feingold’s office was terse, to the point and deserved: Right. I keep forgetting how important it is these days for Dems to vote against women’s interests.
