Employment
Jo Freeman: There’s Plenty To Do at the RNC – If You Have the Right Credentials
by Jo Freeman
Every national nominating convention has plenty of auxiliary events, some authorized, some not. Getting space can be a challenge; getting the word out even more so. But they do it nonetheless. Press were given a RNC 2024 Master Event Calendar, which was updated a few days later. Events began on Sunday and ended on Thursday. The actual convention sessions were just one item on the list. The calendar said if an event was Open or Closed to press, and also whom to contact to register. I’m going to describe some of the events, including a couple I went to, and a couple I was turned away from.
Since my focus is on women, I obviously wanted to go to those events – if I could.
The National Federation of Republican Women is the largest grassroots Republican women's organization in the country with hundreds of clubs. Founded in 1938, its members made the phone calls and knocked on the doors that elected Republican candidates for decades. It’s Tuesday luncheon featured Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders. The Master Calendar said it was SOLD OUT and they wouldn’t let me in. I was able to get into their lounge at the Fiserv Forum Wednesday evening, where I was repeatedly asked if I was a member, and if not, would I join. “I’m press,” I said. “I can’t join anything partisan.” I then said: “What brings you here?” On hearing that, finding anyone willing to chat with me was like pulling teeth.
Moms for Liberty met in a concert hall that afternoon. I had pre-registered, and I got in. From high in a balcony seat I listened to several people talk about the evils of transgenderism. It’s webpage says WE BELIEVE Power Belongs to the People. Sound Familiar? With a focus is on parental rights, it wants to “STOP WOKE indoctrination.”
Tuesday I went to “The New Mavericks” reception co-hosted by the Black Republican Mayors Association and the Georgia Republican Party. They honored Sen. Tim Scott, four Congressmen and two Georgia delegates – all male. There was only one mayor on stage, from Aurora, IL. The chair of the Georgia Republican Party was the one white man on the stage. At that event, women served; they didn’t speak. The RNC reported that 55 delegates to the 2024 convention are Black, up from 18 in 2016.
I missed the Independent Women’s Forum toast to “Women Who Make Our Country Great” because I went to Convention Fest: The Official Delegate Experience, which was held in the streets outside the Fiserve Forum and Baird Hall as well as some space inside Baird. To get to that one you not only needed a credential of some sort, but a USSS pass (which I have).
Concerned Women for America parked its pink bus across from the Baird Center the week before the RNC. No one was home. When Convention Fest opened on Tuesday afternoon, they set up a pink tent, from which its leaders preached to whomever passed by. It calls itself “the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization” but its focus is evangelical Christian. The slogan on the side of its pink bus captures this emphasis: “She Prays, She Votes.” A prayer precedes each sermon.
Legislative Update: SNAP, Breast Health Education, Gender-Based Violence & Humanitarian Emergencies, Oversight of Board of the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee; Diversity of Ownership in Broadcasting Industry
Introduced: A bill to improve obstetric care in rural areas; strengthen the development of small business concerns in emerging markets, including those owned by women, minorities, veterans and in rural areas; A bill to increase the age of eligibility for children to receive benefits under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; A bill to direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions to increase diversity in the broadcasting industry; A bill to require review by the Government Accountability Office of screening protocols of the Transportation Security Administration relating to breast milk and formula; A bill to provide for congressional oversight of the board of directors of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and to protect amateur athletes from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and for other purposes. more »
Dream Center Closure: Chairman Scott Asks Department of Education to Clarify Role in Collapse of For-Profit School
The letter details newly obtained documents suggesting that the Department of Education enabled Dream Center to mislead students regarding the accreditation status of two Dream Center-owned schools. The documents also reveal that despite knowledge of Dream Center’s false claims of accreditation, the Department did not immediately require the for-profit company to take corrective action. Instead, the Department supported efforts to retroactively accredit the institutions in question by rewriting Department policy. more »
Updated, Senate Judiciary Hearing on Tuesday: “Protecting Innocence in a Digital World”; House Hearing Wednesday on Economic Well-being of Women Veterans
A bill to ensure the humane treatment of pregnant women by reinstating the presumption of release and prohibiting shackling, restraining, and other inhumane treatment of pregnant detainees, and for other purposes; A bill to require the secretary of Defense to establish an initiative on improving the capacity of military criminal investigative organizations to prevent child sexual exploitation, and for other purposes; A bill to direct the Joint Committee on the Library to obtain a statue of Harriet Tubman and to place the statue in National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol; A bill to modify the unconditional ownership requirement for women-owned and minority-owned small business concerns for purposes of procurement contracts with the Small Business Administration more »
Barriers to Health Care Experienced by Women in the United States; Harvard Health on Screening Women Over 75; USPSTF Guidelines for Women Over 50
Despite a lower uninsured rate than men (11% vs 14%), women are more likely to skip a recommended medical test or treatment due to cost... cost barriers to contraception have decreased for insured women since the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) coverage requirement took effect. Women without a regular clinician are less likely to receive certain preventive services, such as a mammogram and Pap test. Women are more likely than men to have a preexisting health condition ... Another government study recommends: The USPSTF has found that there isn't enough evidence to recommend screening women over age 75 for certain diseases, particularly breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colorectal cancer. In many cases, there just weren't enough older people in the studies to permit a judgment for or against screening. In other cases, screening was recommended, but the panel couldn't determine how often it should be done. more »
