Kudos to Daily Kos for calling attention to yet another attack on America’s working families.
As you point out, hidden in H.R. 1135, Republican legislation called the Welfare Reform Act of 2011, is a provision to deny members of working families basic nutrition through federal nutrition programs if one of their family members is out on strike. Apparently they would rather see innocent children go hungry than middle-class workers stand up for their dignity and rights.
Even the authors of this legislation knew this food stamp provision would be controversial. That’s why they tried to hide it, slipping it into a deceptively titled bill.
The attack on our families is being waged on many fronts. The same bill has a provision to raise taxes on those whose insurance covers a full range of reproductive health care, and would require some women who had an abortion to disclose it to the Internal Revenue Service, putting IRS auditors right in the middle of this most personal and private decision.
I am sure you’ve already heard about H.R. 1, the House Republican budget that would deny more than 200,000 kids access to Head Start, cut Pell Grants, slash funding for afterschool programs, stop housing assistance for homeless veterans and eliminate funding for critical cancer screening and other life-saving health services at Planned Parenthood.
There’s no other way to see this: the Republican agenda isn’t about family values, it’s about attacking America’s families.