Assembly Republicans’ Budget Resolution An ‘Empty Election-Year Gesture’
TRENTON — Senator Loretta Weinberg, sponsor of legislation to reverse the governor’s cuts to women’s health and family planning programs, today criticized the laundry list of Assembly Republicans who have been dribbling out press releases throughout the day trumpeting their sponsorship of a budget resolution that purports to restore funding, yet would do nothing to alleviate the current crisis in women’s health care.
Weinberg (D-Bergen) released the following statement:
“The Assembly Republicans are utterly confused. It’s not a question of money, it’s a question of access.
“We face a crisis in women’s health care because the governor’s decision to write his political ideology into his budget has forced six family planning clinics to close, and many others to cut back hours and services. We face a crisis because the FQHC’s cannot handle the thousands of women who now lack care. We face a crisis because last year the same Republicans who now magically care so much about women literally couldn’t be bothered to lift their fingers to vote to keep those clinics open and fully functional.
“The tired refrain about abortion is an embarrassment to all of us who take this issue seriously. This issue has nothing to do with abortion, yet the Assembly Republicans seem more than willing to beat that drum if it wakes up their right-wing supporters.
“If my Republican colleagues really cared about women’s health, they would sign on to the legislation Assemblywomen Quijano and Vainieri Huttle and Majority Leader Cryan are sponsoring in their house that would actually make a difference in the lives of women. It is a bill Senators Diane Allen and Jennifer Beck supported in the Senate.
“Instead, the best they can offer is this empty election-year gesture, a bunch of hot air, and their dubious voting history.”