Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com
This is @JohnKasich's entire answer to a female student who asked about "sexual violence, harassment, and rape" pic.twitter.com/cQOgpubrPv
— Ben Gittleson (@bgittleson) April 15, 2016
There are so many things wrong with what GOP Presidential candidate John Kasich said here that it’s hard to know where to start.
It is past time that Governor Ducey man up and do right right by Arizona’s children, and demand that the Senate vote and approve the KidsCare restoration bill HB 2309 as part of his budget. It is not only the morally correct thing to do, but it would give an economic boost to the state. And we all know that our Tea-Publican governor and legislature only care about money.
The Arizona Republic reports, Study: Expanding KidsCare would mean $75M jolt:
If Arizona lawmakers decide to restore the KidsCare program during state-budget negotiations, it would deliver $75 million in economic benefits to Arizona next year as well as extend health coverage to 30,000 or more kids, a new report concludes.
The Grand Canyon Institute said in a report issued Wednesday that providing health-care coverage to low-income kids also would deliver long-term economic benefits with fewer high-school dropouts and more college graduates.
Executive Summary: Restoring KidsCare: Annual and Long-Term Benefits Far Exceed Cost to the State; read the Full Report (.pdf)
Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com
This guy.
The competition for Worst GOP Arizona Legislator Ever is stiff these days, given Rep. David Gowan’s not-smart snit toward reporters having the temerity to *gasp* report on things he’s doing. That’s pretty bad but, purely on the basis of shocking callousness, I’m going to have to go with Senate President Andy Biggs (pictured), who is currently running for Congress, while refusing to consider a bill that would provide health care to 30,000 Arizona children from low income families.
EJ Montini finds it to be pretty appalling:
Since the beginning of the legislative session Senate President Andy Biggs — who won a $10 million Publishers Clearing House prize a few years back – has refused to give Arizona’s hard-luck poor kids the health care they deserve.
It was a month ago that the Arizona Daily Star, in a rare editorial opinion, said Tell Arizona Sen. Andy Biggs kids need medical coverage.
Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts commented at the time, Who is that mean man sticking it to 30,000 Arizona kids?, and columnist E.J. Montini commented at the time, Montini: Should Gov. Ducey label himself a #deadbeat?
Does the hashtag of “deadbeat” also apply to Ducey? And to his cohorts in the Republican-controlled legislature?
By definition, a deadbeat dad is one who doesn’t pay for his children’s needs.
Our elected officials are responsible for meeting the basic needs of Arizona’s children.
And yet the Republican-controlled legislature so far has refused to participate in KidsCare, a federal program that would provide health insurance to an estimated 30,000 Arizona poor children.
Is there a bigger necessity than our children’s health?
Despite pressure from Arizona citizens and from the media, Senator Andy Biggs has refused to schedule the KidsCare restoration bill for a hearing in a Senate committee after it overwhelmingly passed in the House.
What, you thought it was about “saving babies”?
Thanks to the 1992 Supreme Court decision, Planned Parenthood v Casey, that made a “mess” of jurisprudence around abortion, GOP-led states have had largely free reign to pass intrusive restrictions on women’s health care under the guise of “health and safety”. While these laws are sometimes blocked by courts, anti-choicers continue to revive them, wasting millions of dollars in the process, in the hopes of exhausting opponents and/or getting more favorable court decisions as Republicans continue to stack the nation’s courts with ideologically friendly judges.
One such law was Arizona’s requirement that abortion doctors use outdated FDA protocol in dispensing abortion pills. The original label from 2000 recommended use of the pills only until the seventh week of pregnancy. But FDA guidelines are not laws and physicians commonly experiment with different levels and uses of medication to do what’s best for their patients. This is typical with many types of medications, not just for abortion. Arizona anti-choicers first tried to override the judgment of doctors on medication abortion in 2012, but were thwarted in court. This year, under Governor Doug Ducey, who is arguably even more anti-choice than his predecessor Jan Brewer, they brought it back as SB1324, which Ducey signed last week.