DWC in the News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Wednesday, July 15, Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) Chairwoman Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), Vice Chairs Hillary Scholten (MI-03) & Emilia Sykes (OH-13), and Policy Task Force Co-Chairs Deborah Ross (NC-02) & Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), submitted a public comment letter opposing a proposed rule that would alter how federal grants are administered. The rule would give political appointees the power to terminate funding on a whim if it does not align with their political ideology.

Over the past two years, the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened women’s health, economic security, and safety and used its anti-woman political ideology to justify illegally withdrawing millions of dollars in funding from critical programs and services. 

The administration has already dismantled the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program and the Women’s Bureau, cut women’s health research funding, canceled dozens of grants dedicated to women in the trades, and slashed investments to programs that provide safety and stability for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. This proposed rule would make it even easier for the administration to terminate grants that help women by legalizing this power, putting programs at the state, city, and community level at risk. 

The Members outline how the proposed rule would directly impact community services that women rely on: 

“No state, city, or community would be immune from the proposed rule’s far-reaching impacts, like stripping funding for critical services such as neighborhood schools that families count on, transportation systems mothers ride to the grocery store, and workforce development programs for women and small businesses.”

The Members also list programs and grants that may be legally terminated if this rule is enacted including: 

“The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, Head Start and other childcare & preschool grants, Medicaid & Medicare, research and programs addressing the black maternal mortality crisis and rural maternal health, women’s health research (including research on ovarian, cervical and breast cancer, menopause, endometriosis, and maternal health), science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs for women and girls, federal grants and resources for minority-and women-owned businesses like Women’s Business Centers, Workforce development grants, and Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) programs, funding for the Office on Violence Against Women grants, rape crisis centers,  human trafficking victim assistance grants, campus sexual assault prevention grants, and grants to improve responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and for domestic violence shelters.”

Lastly, the Members outlined how the proposed rule will politicize federal funding and hurt women across the country: 

“This proposed rule would only heighten the administration’s devastating impacts on women by enshrining an anti-women agenda that targets all aspects of women’s lives. Making federal grants contingent on loyalty to the administration would be a disservice to women, girls, and families across the country.” 

Read the full letter here.