Republicans woke up May 3 to an uncomfortable reality: With the news that five Supreme Court justices were committed to overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban abortions, the GOP just got everything they said they wanted, even though they very much want to change the subject. For years they’ve been running on banning abortion, some out of real conviction and many because the increasingly extreme base was demanding it. Well, they’ve got it now, and some in the Senate are thinking about how they’re going to have to run statewide, many in states that are decidedly not so extreme. So they’re now madly scrambling to pay lip service to the idea that they do actually care about life.
Because, up until now, the truest axiom of Republican politics is that they believe life begins at conception and ceases to matter after birth. Now that their forced birth policy is going to become a reality, some are figuring out they need to at least pay lip service to the idea of making it easier for those children to be raised. Of course, plenty of others aren’t.
In the “we have to look like we’ll do something” campaign are some surprises. “I think that needs to be an important part of the discussion,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told the Washington Post. “It’s not just a matter of saying, ‘We are pro-life.’ It’s a matter, then, of promoting and allowing these people who are making very difficult decisions with their lives to make sure we can help individuals facing these tough decisions.” Wow. That almost sounds sincere.
Shockingly, Sen. Josh Hawley (Q-Mo.) claims to be one of those having “preliminary” discussions with colleagues about some kind of child care thing. “I do think if the court does ultimately overturn Roe, it will be a big sea change politically, and I think there will be all kinds of new opportunities to think about what that means for us from a policy perspective, and I hope we’ll come forward with new and interesting policy perspectives.” Note that he’s not actually committing to doing something to support the children he’s all for being forced into the world. He’s saying that it would be a good thing, maybe, to think about it and tell people they’re thinking about it.
They don’t have a good track record. The only Republican who has supported the expanded Child Tax Credit that so successfully, albeit temporarily, lifted millions of children out of poverty (until Democrat Joe Manchin killed it because he thinks all the parents using it are drug users) is Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. He’s pretty much alone among Republican colleagues in wanting to revive it in some form, though now that the ostensibly pro-choice Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have made such fools out of themselves in helping Mitch McConnell pack the court, they might be looking for cover.
There are those, however, who have absolutely no shame and no problem opining that once that kid is born, it’s on its own. Florida’s Rick Scott—the guy running the recruitment and funding campaign for Senate candidates this cycle—tells the Post he is against any program that might help a non-working parent. So once that baby is popped out, get back on the Amazon warehouse floor, peasant. Retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (Pa.) has no problem admitting to the Post that the idea that maybe these kids and families need some support hadn’t occurred to him. Ted Cruz (Texas) said sure they would think about “policies that make it easier for families to raise kids,” just as long as they are spending no money on it. So, that’s a no from him.
There’s also the faction that’s not going to be content with Roe being overturned—the “states’ rights” folks like Rand Paul (Ky.) want the entire nation to suffer, as he called for a nationwide ban on abortion.
If they do come up with any big ideas for aid to new parents and babies, you can bet it’s going to be at their own expense. Like the really bad idea Marco Rubio (Fla.) was kicking around when he was trying to get Ivanka to spend time with him: robbing future Social Security payments to provide “paid” family leave.
They’re not going to support additional food or housing assistance or family leave or preschool or expanded Medicaid or a higher minimum wage for parents or, well, anything. Because the majority of them simply don’t care.
Joan McCarter is senior political writer for Daily Kos, where this appeared.
From The Progressive Populist, June 1, 2022
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