U.S. Capitol This Week Dec 11 - 13
U.S. Congress
A Government Accountability Office report shows that from 2019 to 2021, $1.89 Billion in federal funds were sent to groups that provide abortion with $1.78 Billion being sent to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and affiliates alone. The funds were sent either through grants or federal programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. While federal law does not allow federal funds to be used directly for abortion services except in cases of incest, rape, or danger to the mother’s life, health services organizations can ask for federal refunds from general health expenditures such as HIV screening while freeing up funds for abortion. Conservatives refer to this as an example of the fungibility of money.
The White House
The President made a statement on Tuesday attacking Republican politicians and Republican-led states for banning abortion. He reiterated his commitment “to fight to protect access to reproductive health care and to urge Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade.” Yet, the Supreme Court decided that such protections do not constitute a constitutional right.
Vice President Harris launched the $1.4 billion Women in the Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative which funds the USAID $116 million project to support women entering male-dominated sectors like waste management, sustainable agriculture, and clean energy. This effort aims to encourage “gender equality” by increasing the number of women workers in fisheries, recycling, forest management, and other green and blue industries. From their perspective, the underrepresentation of women compared to men in these industries is seen as evidence of discrimination against women. Yet, a recent research paper found that while women tend to be as competent as males, and often more competent, at math and science, in more developed countries such as Norway, women make up less than 25% of college graduates in STEM fields. In contrast, in countries with historically less ‘gender equality’, such as Algeria and Turkey, women make up much higher percentages of STEM degree holders, according to their analysis. How can it be that in richer countries where women have more financial freedom to pursue their interests, they tend not to choose careers in STEM? Perhaps the answer is that women might prefer to allocate their time to other pursuits and pressuring them to become the duplicates of men might not help them in any real way.
