Last Friday, the House voted to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. And they also voted to keep giving money to race cars.
I kid you not.
The defunding of Planned Parenthood was framed as a necessary spending cut. And that very may well be the intention. Planned Parenthood centers around the country received about $360 million last year. That’s $360 million for things like cancer and HIV screenings, birth control, and sex education (Planned Parenthood doesn’t support its abortion services with federal funding). Either way, it would be about $360 million saved.
But then the House did this … on the same day:
The House has voted to let the Pentagon continue using taxpayer dollars to sponsor NASCAR race teams.
By a 281-148 vote, lawmakers rejected an effort by Minnesota Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum that would have ended the practice. McCollum aides said the Army is spending $7 million on a sponsorship this year, and the Air Force and National Guard are spending additional money.
McCollum said the military spends the funds to place decals on race cars and for a few driver appearances. The armed forces hope the sponsorships will help them attract recruits.
Car racing first. Women second. Adjust your priorities accordingly.
—Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Planned Parenthood has some problems. Like the several states where the PP staffers were supporting child sex slave trafficking. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=341_1296849482 Planned Parenthood also reduces the responsibility people feel the need to take for their own lives before they get sexual. IE, “We don’t have a condom, perhaps we shouldn’t have sex right now.” “You can always get an abortion later, let’s f- -k.” Reducing or eliminating the consequence of bad decisions will guarantee people take much longer to ‘grow up’. Condoms are cheep. If you can’t afford them, you can’t afford the baby or the abortion if the condom breaks.… Read more »
Gotta call you out on some bullshit here. The sex-trafficking biz—which is likely a hoax, considering eight clinics in five states got the same visit—was immediately reported to the FBI after each individual clinic called local law enforcement. You also blame unwanted pregnancy on a place that provides accessible contraception, tests, counseling, and cancer screenings, and you suggest that these heavily relied-on sexual-health resources lose funding because some people make mistakes. I just want to repeat that none of Planned Parenthood’s abortions are paid for with federal funds. It’s being punished for providing a legal service, one of many, which… Read more »
I get they’re using money to recruit the soldiers, but the military isn’t in need of soldiers right now, so that’s a waste, too. If the military needed soldiers, it’d recruit those with a GED (which it doesn’t now), recruit those who are overweight and send them to fat camps (which it doesn’t, or else my friend would have gotten in).
Cutting Planned Parenthood is not in the best interest of people who live in this country, and I disagree with it wholeheartedly.
But your comparison is way off-base and far too simplistic.
They’re not “giving money to race cars.” They’re advertising to recruit soldiers. And we need soldiers. I don’t begrudge the US military’s need to advertise just like any other business would.
I agree with Andrea in that these are two separate issues
The House is really pissing me off these days.
PS? Planned Parenthood actually save money. And decreases the rate of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks stats on family planning, prevention, abortion, unwanted pregnancies, etc:
“Without these services, unintended pregnancy and abortion in the United States would be one-third higher. And by helping women avoid unintended pregnancies, Title X–supported family planning centers saved taxpayers $3.4 billion in 2008—or $3.74 for every $1 spent on contraceptive care.”
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2011/02/16/index.html
1,000,000. That is a million.
1,000,000,000,000. That is a trillion.
To put it in perspective, The difference between a million dollars & a trillion dollars is the same as the difference between a million & one dollar. Going after preventive services like Planned Parenthood– which save you money in the long run!– & claiming fiscal responsibility is the sort of foolishness that only works because people are bad at math.
That’s not exactly true. The Armed Services are using the money to recruit soldiers. If they used it for an ad in a women’s magazine, would you then say that magazines are more important than women? I understand your objection to cutting Planned Parenthood funding, but making it seem as if the government would rather spend money on cars is absurd. This is a military budget issue. And that’s a whole other discussion.