Public Policy: February 2008 Archives
An analysis by the National Women's Law Center of spending cuts
included in the Bush administration's proposed FY'09 budget finds that "The
President’s budget seeks to cut health care, nutrition and energy assistance
for low-income families, violence against women programs, and social services
for vulnerable families:"
On February 13, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families held a hearing on the past success and future challenges of the Family and Medical Leave Act. A report from The Source newsletter (published by Women's Policy, Inc., a non-profit organization that tracks women's issues in Congress) highlights testimony by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Victoria Lipnic of the Department of Labor, Deborah Ness of the National Partnership for Women and Families, and Katheryn Elliot on behalf of the Society for Human Resources Management, a business-friendly professional association.
There's an important story from Newhouse News Service out today which reports on the common practice among private insurers to exclude maternity coverage from individual policies. "Large group plans generally include maternity coverage as a matter of course. But small group plans and individual policyholders may not because it adds too much to the monthly premiums," Regina McEnery reports. This is dismal news for single mothers-to-be by choice or chance who are self-insured or covered by a group policy that excludes maternity coverage for individual policy holders.
The 2007 National Census of Domestic Violence Services -- which collected reports on the delivery and demand for services in a single 24-hour period from 69 percent of identified domestic violence programs in the US -- found that in one day, 53,303 domestic violence victims received services from local programs, while over 7,000 requests for services were not met due to staff and funding shortages. Approximately 61 percent of unmet requests were for emergency shelter and transitional housing.
Child care provided in family home
child care settings is one of the largest segments of the child care industry, with
nearly two million
