By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 11:01pm
You did it! Yesterday, we told you that the House of Representatives would be voting today on the Patriot Act. We asked you to get angry, to show Congress that you care about this nearly-10-year old law, and to tell your representatives that you want the Patriot reformed so that the government can no longer use it to violate the rights of everyday people who have nothing to do with terrorism. Well, Congress heard you loud and clear. Tonight, around 7 pm, the House failed to get enough votes to extend the Patriot Act until Dec. 8, 2011. You can see how your representative voted here.
By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 10:49am
As the granddaughter of a retired brigadier general, I understand the power of Veterans Day and its importance to the men and women who serve our country. Grandpa passed away a couple of years ago, and I always think of him around this time of year.
But lately, he’s been on my mind even more as the Senate decides whether to take up this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3454) (NDAA). The NDAA is the only authorization bill that has consistently passed both chambers of Congress and been signed into law every year since 1952, largely because it contains provisions affecting military pay and other measures that support our troops.
By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 5:31pm
Here we go again. After your phone calls, letters, e-mails, and meetings with your members of Congress, we were able to keep Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) draconian abortion coverage ban out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the new health care reform law.
But, late in the day on July 14 (have you ever noticed that the worst announcements always come late in the day?), the Obama administration inexplicably announced that it is bringing back Stupak in the high-risk pools required by the law. These high-risk pools, which are already in effect and which will exist until 2014, will allow people with pre-existing conditions who have been denied coverage on the individual market to purchase health insurance with a federal subsidy. But, they won't be able to access abortion coverage except in the case of rape or incest or to save the pregnant woman's life. There's nothing in the new Health Care Reform law that requires this restriction and it is deeply disturbing that a pro-choice administration would voluntarily impose such an anti-choice measure.
By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 11:58am
As a colleague recently reminded me, our system of government was developed not to pass laws, but to make change slowly. Take, for example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the international treaty dedicated to gender equality. Although the U.S. played a major role in drafting the treaty and signed it in 1980, it still has not been ratified by the Senate. We're hoping to change that this year.
By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 3:33pm
Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Nauru, Palau, Tonga, and the United States. One of these things is not like the others . . . But you read that list right. Those are the seven countries worldwide that have not yet ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a landmark international treaty that affirms women’s human rights. Such company we keep! Around the world, 186 countries have ratified CEDAW, and it’s far past time the U.S. joined that list.
By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 6:01pm
After a 1 ½ year hiatus, we're back with more Congress-ese! We hope you've missed us.
Today's fun definition is Budget Reconciliation. You might have heard that term thrown around as the way that the Senate plans to make targeted changes to the health care reform bill that the President signed into law yesterday. So we thought we'd take this opportunity to explain this trick of the congressional trade.
By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 2:31pm
"We've come to love our fears more than we love our freedoms," Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)mused on the House floor just before that chamber voted 315-97 (with 20 members not voting) to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act without any changes for yet another year.
By now, you know the stakes — the tweaks that could have been made to guarantee that Patriot powers are used only against suspected terrorists or spies and to mandate continued reporting to ensure that we actually learn about current and future Patriot abuses. Many of these fixes were, in fact, included in prior iterations of Patriot reauthorization bills introduced in both the House and the Senate.
By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 5:17pm
Thirty-seven years ago Friday, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in this country and giving women another means to decide whether and when to become a parent. The decision, recognizing abortion as a private decision between a woman and her doctor, allowed women to legally end unhealthy or unintended pregnancies and advanced women's equality by giving women the opportunity to make important decisions not only about their health and the health and well-being of their families, but also about education and employment.
