Obama's Proposed Budget Protects Women's Programs

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-02-02 11:50:00 UTC
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After heavy criticism from women's rights organizations, President Obama has unveiled a proposed budget that would preserve or increase funding for a number of programs for women and girls, despite the overall three-year domestic spending freeze he called for in the State of the Union address. (Though Obama aides deny this, there has been speculation that the president is reacting to pressure from women's advocacy groups.)

To fight the recent spike in teen pregnancy, the proposed budget will kick in extra dollars for family planning. And it will provide a significant boost in funding to combating violence against women, to the tune of over $100 million more, which includes increased support for domestic violence and sexual assault victims. The budget includes the optimistic assumption that health care reform will pass, and increases access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

Immediately after the proposed budget was released, members of Congress began criticizing the president for overreaching. And, unsurprisingly, Republicans don't like the plan to gain revenue by letting Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy quietly expire (they're probably also not to keen on charging the banks who we recently bailed out). On the other hand, the Center for American Progress points out that there are savings to be made beyond domestic spending -- namely, in the massive defense budgets. I prefer butter over guns, myself.

I'm still concerned that Obama choose to make a domestic spending freeze his priority on the budget. When push comes to shove, if Congress doesn't share Obama's protection priorities, or preferred cuts, will he consider standing firm on domestic freezes to be most important? Or will he stand up for the health of women and girls? While reducing the deficit is important, this freeze seems to be a heavy-handed approach geared toward making a flashy political statement, not thinking about what the country really needs.

Photo credit: blvesboy

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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