Well, yeah, as the headline notes, there are more Ted Cruzes than there are women on the Senate Republican committee drafting their health insurance bill. There are, in fact, five female GOP Senators, but none of them are on the committee.
Despite the fact that women make up half of the population affected by any law Congress cranks out, and despite the fact that Health Insurance Reform has a significant impact on women in particular. The House AHCA, for example, allows states to opt out of requiring insurance plans to cover pregnancy / maternity costs. Or that would allow insurance companies to consider C-sections a pre-existing condition. So you'd think that there would be at least some desire to have at least some token presence by a woman on the committee, even just to do a sanity check.
But the GOP resents, nay, is offended, that people are pointing this out.
'“We have no interest in playing the games of identity politics,” said the aide, “That’s not what this is about; it’s about getting a job done. We’ll work with any member of any background who wants to pass a health reform bill that will reduce premiums and take away the burdens that Obamacare inflicted.”'
Because it's "identity politics" to suggest that women might have some useful input into things that — but suggesting that a bunch of men can speak to any issue and therefore can lead this effort has nothing to do with "identity."
The aide continued: “To reduce this to gender, race or geography misses the more important point of the diverse segments of the conference the group represents on policy — from members who support Medicaid expansion, to those opposed to it, to those who have called for long term full repeal.”'
I might be willing to concede that there is a certain political diversity within the group — albeit within the bounds of the folk who can get elected to the US Senate in the Republican Party (note that of the three positions on the Medicaid expansion by the aide, two of them opposed to it).
But we're not talking about little nuances that impact a few thousand people nationwide. We're talking about hundreds of millions of people who are, um, women, and who have a hard time . As a representative government, it would be kind of nice to see some representation for that very large constituency. Wouldn't you think?
Conservative media doesn't.[1]
After noting that most of the slots went to the Senate leadership and to the committee chairs that pertain to Health Insurance …
'There are five female Republicans in the Senate — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Joni Ernst, Shelly Moore Capito, and Deb Fischer. None is in top leadership and none chairs a relevant committee.'
I.e., there are no important US Senators who are women, so its … um … okay?
'It’s unclear whether any of the five wanted to be in the working group.'
Were they asked? Did the leadership actually suggest it?
' In any case, Collins and Murkowski are the two most centrist GOP Senators. Their thinking on health care reform is probably well outside the mainstream of the caucus. It wouldn’t have made sense for either to be in the working group.'
So, maybe, ideological diversity isn't a priority. Got it.
But, hey, we're assured that there will have to be enough "appeal" to the GOP womenfolk … because they need at least three of the five female Republican Senators to vote with them. So, yeah, there's that. But maybe offering some of them the opportunity to participate in the crafting of the Senate proposal … that might have helped, too.
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There Are More Ted Cruzes Than Women On the Senate Republicans’ Health Care Committee
If the men in the GOP had the capacity to walk a mile in a woman's shoes maybe we could trust them to represent our interests. But since they obviously can't, we don't.
were they the elephant and monkey and kangaroos are native american animals , the real U.S.A stood up
The Real U.S.A kicking worldwide ass
The Real USA kicking worldwide Ass kangaroo a native animal
What did I miss here? God didn't guarantee me a rose garden life either. I wound up with a boot in my ass and a guarantee that this is not a democracy, to shut up, get back in line and keep the line moving private. But I got three squares a day, clothes and was kept out of the weather as often as was possible. What are ya complaining about now. We need more women on the football team. Get your ass back in line and keep the line moving private.
So, we don’t want those women on the committee because they are too centrist. What was that in the inauguration speech about governing “for all of our people”? I must have misunderstood.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say, unless it's "Our leaders will treat us fairly and we should be grateful for it, so we should stop complaining."