Dem Women’s Caucus Leadership Urges Speaker McCarthy to Reverse Course, Stop Partisan Attacks on Women in Appropriations Bills

DWC Leaders: House Republicans’ Extreme Appropriations Bills “Betray Women Across the Country”

Washington D.C. – Today, Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) Chair Lois Frankel and Vice Chairs Nikema Williams and Teresa Leger Fernández issued the following statement urging House Republican leadership to reverse course and reject extreme attacks on women’s rights and wellbeing in the annual Military/VA Construction and Agriculture funding bills.

“This week, House Republicans have proposed two appropriations bills that betray women across the country. These bills don’t just violate the overwhelmingly bipartisan debt ceiling agreement, they also include cruel provisions that attack women’s rights and wellbeing. These extreme MAGA policies would make it harder for veterans to get the abortion care they need, overturn the FDA’s rule allowing women to fill their prescriptions for abortion medications at their pharmacies, and take food out of babies’ mouths by reducing women’s and children's nutrition programs.

“House Republicans’ plan to advance these bills isn’t just cruel, it also undermines what should be a bipartisan appropriations process. Instead of continuing Republicans’ nonstop attacks on women, we urge Speaker McCarthy to work with Democrats to advance bipartisan appropriations bills without these harmful and extreme MAGA policies.”

The statement comes as House Republicans move to advance the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill and the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Bill. The former includes language to prohibit the VA from providing abortion care to protect the health of the mother. The latter includes a provision to reinstate the outdated, unscientific in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone. The Agriculture, Rural Development and FDA bill also  slashes the cash value voucher in the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC), which currently helps five million women and children purchase fruit and vegetables.

During markups of both bills,  DWC members pushed back against both provisions, making clear they will not tolerate such attacks.

###