I guess John Boehner believes that whoever yells the loudest wins, because he decided to throw another temper tantrum on the floor of the House this Friday -- John Boeher On ‘War On Women’: ‘Give Me A Break’:
April 27, 2012

I guess John Boehner believes that whoever yells the loudest wins, because he decided to throw another temper tantrum on the floor of the House this Friday -- John Boeher On ‘War On Women’: ‘Give Me A Break’:

House Speaker John Boehner channelled his inner John Stossell Friday on the House floor when he sounded off on Democratic rhetoric pointing to the House GOP’s legislative agenda and finding a “war on women.”

“And now, now we are going to have a fight over women’s health,” Boehner said. “Give me a break. This is the latest plank in the so-called war on women. Entirely created, entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain.”

Steve Benen has more on what Boehner and the Republicans could do if they're really concerned about their problem with women voters -- Boehner can make this subject go away:

House Republicans this week said they would agree to keep student loan interest rates at their current level, but only if they're allowed to gut spending on preventive health care to finance the costs. The White House balked, but the GOP didn't care -- today, the Republican bill passed, 215 to 195, largely along party lines.

Several Democratic lawmakers noted the impact the GOP health care cuts would have on women's health, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who's apparently grown a little sensitive to talk about the Republican "war on women," threw a bit of a tantrum on the House floor during the legislative debate.

I can appreciate why Boehner doesn't want to talk about the negative impact Republican policies are having on women, but I'd remind the Speaker that the quickest way to change the conversation is for Republicans to stop pursuing policies that have a negative impact on women.

In this case, rather than simply helping students because it would be good for them and the economy, Boehner's caucus decided to play a cheap little game -- they'll keep interest rates low only if they take funding from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which has nothing to do with student loans. [...]

Boehner can shout, point, and pound the podium to his heart's content, but if he doesn't want to be criticized for Republican measures that undermine women's health, he should change his party's agenda, not whine about Democrats shining a light on that agenda.

And as Steve noted, here's more from the White House on the real impact their demands would mean for women's health:

On July 1, unless Congress acts, interest rates will double for more than 7.4 million students with federal loans. Fortunately, even though they voted just weeks ago in lockstep to allow this increase, Republicans in Congress have come around on the issue since President Obama took it to the American people – claiming they’re ready to step up and stop the rate hike. Unfortunately, rather than work together to ensure interest rates on student loans don’t double, they have decided to re-fight old political battles, proposing to eliminate the health care law’s Prevention and Public Health Fund to pay for this important reform. This proposal would put women’s health at risk. And fighting old political battles won’t protect students and young people from major rate hikes.

Eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund would have a devastating effect on women’s health and our work to prevent disease and illness. Eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund would mean:

  • Hundreds of thousands of women could lose access to vital cancer screenings. Prevention Fund resources are expected to help more than 300,000 women be screened for breast cancer in 2013 and more than 280,000 be screened for cervical cancer.
  • Programs that help to prevent congenital heart defects, prevent fetal alcohol syndrome, and promote early identification and intervention efforts for children with developmental delays and disabilities could be eliminated.
  • Tens of thousands children could lose access to immunizations.

These are just a few of the important ways the Prevention and Public Health Fund will help keep millions of Americans healthy. Keeping college affordable for America’s students should not come at the expense of putting women’s health at risk.

Heaven knows we can't have anyone raising taxes on the oil and gas companies to pay for the extension instead as the Democrats proposed to do. No, Boehner and his cohorts want to take it out on the backs of the poor and the working class and children and their access to health care.

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