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No one likes a Grinch. Especially this time of year.

With overwhelming bipartisan support, the Senate just passed a bill temporarily extending federal unemployment insurance programs that expire on December 31. But now, House Republican leaders are threatening to kill the bill, cutting off this vital support for millions of struggling families. Read more »

We were disappointed by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ decision to overrule the evidence-based decision reached by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove the age restriction on emergency contraception. So it didn’t really come as a surprise when President Obama voiced his support for Sebelius’ decision (watch it here).

But that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Even worse was how Obama defended Sebelius’ decision – speaking as a father about his daughters. Emily Douglas from The Nation and Rebecca Traister from Salon nailed it when they wrote about Obama’s paternalism.

If President Obama and Secretary Sebelius are concerned about 11 and 12 year old girls accessing emergency contraception without fully understanding how to use it, perhaps they should consider investing in comprehensive sex education programs. Not making emergency contraception readily available, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that young girls won’t need it, it just means that when they do, they will face significant hurdles in obtaining it. And unfortunately that means, these girls may face an even bigger challenge – unintended pregnancy. Read more »

The reaction to recent decision by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that overruled the evidence-based decision reached by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on removing the age restriction on Plan B One Step, a form of emergency contraception, has largely centered around young women and how their access to emergency contraception will continue to be hindered.

We’ve already written about how we think the science should have been allowed to speak for itself.

But we also want to underscore that young women are just one group of women who are affected by this decision. In reality, all women continue to be affected by the age restriction, as emergency contraception will continue to be kept “behind the counter” at pharmacies, so pharmacists can verify the age of those purchasing it, instead of on the shelves alongside other over the counter medicines (and likely far from the bubblegum). Read more »

Right now, Congress is up against a critical deadline to extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. If they fail to do so, 6 million people could lose their UI benefits in 2012, with nearly 2 million people losing them in January alone.

A failure to extend the program that provides these benefits would be devastating for women and their families. To bring attention the need for Congress to act swiftly, the HERvotes coalition has organized a blog carnival. Today, HERvotes coalition members will be blogging about the importance of UI benefits for women and need for Congress to extend UI benefits. We have links to some blog posts listed below the jump to get you started reading, and be sure to check out the full list of posts here.

Please also take a moment to urge your members of Congress to extend unemployment benefits before they expire. Read more »

$297.00

That was the size of my weekly unemployment insurance benefit from the District of Columbia. Two hundred ninety-seven dollars and zero cents. I signed up to start receiving UI benefits shortly after being laid off on Monday, November 15, 2010, appx. 10:30am.

On that fateful Monday morning, I became a statistic: Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, even as the economy added over 1.2 million jobs, women have lost 46,000 jobs. These days, 46.2 percent of women have been unemployed long enough to reach the mark of “long-term unemployment,” which is being jobless for 27 or more weeks.

Every week for nearly four months, I logged in online to my benefits claim system to declare that, yes, I was still unemployed; no, I had not worked this week; yes, I was still looking for work. Every week I’d receive $297.00, deposited directly into my checking account. And every week, I’d watch as the total fund allotted to me as an unemployed person dropped, fearing what would happen if I reached the day that balance hit $0.00. For every day of my unemployment, this was my lifeline – and I was watching it run out before my eyes. This benefit afforded me $1,188.00 each month, but $1,100.00 of that went directly to my rent. Trying to pay for your food, gas and electric bills, and metro fare on $88.00 a month isn’t easy. It’s practically impossible. Read more »

Caitlin Halligan, a nominee for the D.C. Circuit Court, is one of the most respected appellate lawyers in the country. She has a broad range of legal experience, including government service, private practice, and academia. She has honed her practice in state and federal appellate courts, and has argued five cases before the Supreme Court. Her many accomplishments are reflected by the unanimous "Well-Qualified" rating she received from the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. She has earned the respect and support of her peers and has been endorsed by a long list of organizations.

This superb nominee has waited over eight months without a vote by U.S. Senators — even though there are three vacancies on the D.C. Circuit. But the wait is finally over.

It's time for a vote: Tell your Senators to support the nomination of Caitlin Halligan for the D.C. Circuit. Read more »

Yesterday afternoon, the Senate voted to confirm Christopher Droney to a Connecticut-based seat on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Remarkably, Judge Droney is only the 8th appellate court judge confirmed by the Senate in 2011. Those members of the Senate determined to slow-walk judicial nominees are apparently determined to do so in every conceivable category. With 15 vacancies on the courts of appeal, you would think that all Senators would want to proceed to votes on the four other Court of Appeals nominees ready for a vote, out of, you know, a concern for the administration of justice. Apparently not. Read more »

Do you live in Arizona, Massachusetts, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Washington? If so, call 1-866-251-4044 today to tell your senator on the super-committee to oppose cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the super-committee.

If you’re a resident of one of the states above, we need your help. Senators Kyl, Kerry, Baucus, Portman, Toomey, and Murray are all members of the very powerful congressional super-committee charged with deciding how to cut the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over ten years. Time is short — the committee faces a deadline of November 23 — and the stakes are high.

Various proposals before the super-committee would reduce Social Security benefits and cut Medicare and Medicaid by as much as $685 billion. Each of these vital programs provides income security and health care to millions of Americans — mostly women.

Your senator needs to hear from you now! Over the next couple of weeks, the handful of members on the super-committee will decide the fate of these and other vital programs. Read more »

Monday, the Senate confirmed Stephen Higginson to a judicial emergency seat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana, by a vote of 88-0. Read more »

Yesterday evening, the Senate confirmed Cathy Bissoon to the Western District of Pennsylvania by a vote of 82-3. Judge Bissoon will be the first Hispanic woman to sit on this court. She is the ninth woman (and 11th judge) confirmed to the federal bench thus far in October, and the 54th woman confirmed during the Obama Administration.  All of which is terrific news, but news like this needs to keep on coming to make a real difference -- unfortunately, although women make up half the population and, for almost twenty years, close to half of law students, only a third of federal judges are women, and many, many fewer are women of color. We can do better. 

Likewise, it's encouraging that the Senate has taken action on eleven nominees this month, but with the number of judicial vacancies hovering around 90 (for a vacancy rate of almost 11 percent) there is still a long way to go. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service determined that we are in the longest period of historically high vacancy rates in 35 years. And with 33 of the existing vacancies designated "judicial emergencies," more than 188 million people are living in a jurisdiction that has been declared a judicial emergency. Without enough judges to hear cases, people around the country are waiting for justice. As Senator Patrick Leahy said on the floor yesterday evening, the nominees who are currently pending on the floor would, if confirmed, serve about 170 million people in as many as 25 states. Read more »