Feminist Daily News Wire
March-21-13

Amendments to Ryan Budget Defeated

Yesterday debate continued on the Ryan Budget in the U.S. House of Representatives. Five separate amendments to alter the Ryan Budget (House Concurrent Resolution 25 [PDF]) were overwhelmingly defeated.

The most significant counter to the Ryan Budget was the official House Democratic budget, proposed by ranking member of the Budget Committee Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). Van Hollen's proposed amendment would have substituted Ryan's budget with a Democratic alternative that did not cut entitlement programs. The House Democratic Budget was defeated on a 165 to 253 vote.

The Ryan budget would repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which prohibits insurance companies from classifying being a woman as a pre-existing medical condition and eliminates co-pays for birth control. The Ryan budget would also turn Medicare into a voucher system that would leave seniors, particularly women, struggling to get coverage, and authorize the Keystone XL Pipeline. In addition, the proposed budget would restructure the way Social Security Living Adjustments are determined, threatening the stability of seniors nationwide. Paul Ryan also seeks to undo sequester cuts to the Pentagon by instead transferring the cuts to already severely impacted domestic programs.

Media Resources: House of Representatives Office of the Clerk 3/20/2013; National Review Online 3/20/2013; Feminist Newswire 3/18/2013

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