The House bill included $125 billion for schools (TRIPLING federal spending on education), expanding insurance coverage to the unemployed, making the most progressive change in the tax code in four decades by creating a $500 credit against social security payroll deductions, and so on.It's as if Obama dug up Ronald Reagan's carcass and put a stake through The Gipper's anti-government heart. Aw-RIGHT!
Now, truth be told, this "good news" includes a down side. The only concession Obama made to the Republican right on this bill, Palast notes, was to remove money for contraception. A troubling sign that Obama considers women's needs to be expendable. (And Palast says that he doesn't much care.)
The really bad news is, the package needs substantial revision in order to meet the needs of women and people of color, according to Susan Feiner writing on Women's eNews.
She describes Obama's proposal as "too meager, too male" -- that is, favoring expenditures in areas such as road construction where a vast majority of wage earners are male. Feiner and other progressive economists have formed W.E.A.V.E., Women's Equality Adds Value to the Economy, and gathered over 1200 signatures to promote significant changes to Obama's plan:
We are pushing three basic steps to help tens of millions of women--and their children--weather the stormy economy.No. 1: Revive and enforce Labor Department regulations requiring affirmative action for all federal contractors.
No. 2: Set aside apprenticeship and training programs in infrastructure projects for women and people of color. Both groups are seriously underrepresented in the construction trades.
No. 3: Spend recovery money on projects in health, child care, education and social services.
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