by VIRGINIA CHAMLEE
In recent months we’ve become well aware of how U.S. House Republicans are trying to decimate services of vital importance to women. Don’t take your eyes off your local statehouse, though: There, legislators have pushed the war on women equally far, cracking down on reproductive rights and cutting funding for education and health programs that largely benefit women and children.
Under the guise of deficit reduction, lawmakers argue that the cuts are necessary, all the while preserving tax breaks for corporations and the rich. In Florida, for example, Republican Gov. Rick Scott has sought to repeal the corporate income tax—despite vetoing more than $615 million from the state budget in May, slashing both public education and health services for women and children. Reductions in health care and social services, though ostensibly affecting everyone, have an inordinately negative impact on women, who comprise a majority of the public-service workforce—nurses, teachers and social workers—and depend more than men on public services such as Medicaid, family planning and community colleges.
In Texas, the Republican-dominated Legislature trimmed more than $15 billion from current spending, making the largest cuts to health and human services and education. Public and higher-education funding was all but gutted for the next two years, a decision that could spell disaster for Texas women, who constitute nearly 4 out of 5 public-school employees in the state.
Pennsylvania has seen similar cuts to education, with Gov. Tom Corbett proposing a $1.6 billion decrease in state funding. Corbett also called for a public-school-employee wage freeze, and sought to make it easier to furlough teachers. Those decisions have already led to more than 1,000 teacher layoffs, currently being challenged in courts.
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