Welcome to our August edition of the Rapp Up!

August heat makes for a good month for reading. And so we added an extra section this month. The Digging Deeper section takes an in-depth look at one of the arguments made to support abortion bans — that unwanted babies can easily be dropped off for adoption. Is that really true? We look deeper at the facts…

The Our Take section features articles on: the Republican party’s record of tilting the economy in favor of big business, whether Virginians need more tax cuts or better higher education opportunities, and the curious story of Bob Good’s effort to enable the firing of all federal employees for “any cause at all”.

In the Around the Commonwealth section, we feature a good news story about how Virginia’s successful medicaid expansion has helped 675,000 Virginians.

In Other News, there is an explanation of the major health care savings that families will get from the Inflation Reduction Act, plus a look at how a proposed cap on insulin costs in that same bill was stripped out at the last minute by… Congressional Republicans!

So it’s a full issue! Happy reading. Is there a topic you would like to hear more about in future newsletters? Just click here to leave us a message. And, if you have not already, please  subscribe!

Digging Deeper: Are Adoption and Foster Care really Solutions to Abortion Bans?

Editor’s note: Is it really true, as pro-lifers argue, that forcing women to give birth is no big deal because the babies can be simply given up for adoption? This month’s Rapp-Up digs deeper with three different, and very personal, looks at how adoption and foster care really work.

I was a foster child. Foster care adoptions won’t solve the end of Roe

Andrew Bridge, Washington Post, August 123, 2022. Andrew Bridge grew up in foster care and then devoted his career to helping children caught in that system. He writes powerfully based on first-hand knowledge, excerpted below:

“No mother can simply hand her child to a foster care department. If she tries, she’ll be given a lawyer, and her baby will linger in the system while a court decides what to do. In every state, the mother will be billed for the cost of care… The laws vary on how old a newborn can be, who can take the baby and what a mother will be asked. If a mother gets it wrong, she’ll be open to criminal prosecution.

The abandoned infant will enter foster care with no family to call, no one to share information on its medical history, no history of any kind. Safe havens are simply not that safe. Post-Roe newborns given up by their mothers will join the 43,000 babies already in foster care. But they will be a class of their own, with even fewer chances than other foster children.”

Read the full article here

Will pro-lifers “step up” to adopt or foster care the babies resulting from abortion bans?

Elizabeth Haney, Feminist News (Facebook), August 4, 2022. Haney uses an interview format with a hypothetical pro-lifer to highlight how the pro-life community has ignored the true costs of abortion bans. Excerpts here:

Me(Elizabeth Haney): Do you know what a domestic adoption costs? PL(Pro-Life advocate): I don’t know. $15,000 maybe? Me: The average cost of domestic adoption in the United States is $70,000 if you go through a private agency. PL: Oh, I didn’t realize it was that much Me: Yep, it’s really expensive. It can be more if you want a newborn straight from the hospital. Up to $120,000! PL: Well, all life is precious. Me: It really is. I’ve adopted through foster care and am currently a licensed foster parent. Would you be interested in becoming a foster parent yourself? PL: Oh no, I couldn’t do it.

Continue reading here

Virginia Can Provide More Hope For Foster Children

Barbara Favola, Washington Post, May 27, 2022. Although the number of Virginian children in foster care is relatively low, Favola, a Virginia state senator, writes that “Virginia is one of the three worst states in the country for children aging out of the foster care system without a permanent connection”.

Read the full article here

Falsely blaming Biden for inflation raises questions about trusting Republicans to run the economy

If you compare what Republicans are saying about Biden and the Democrats being to blame for inflation and size it up against the facts, you can understandably wonder whether Republicans can be trusted to run the economy.

Their policies and actions over decades have led to a structural problem of excessive corporate power that companies are exploiting in this time of economic stress.  As one big example, Republicans have a long history of opposition to government oversight of companies gobbling up their competitors. This has led to one industry segment after another being so controlled by a few companies that they can pretty much dictate prices with impunity. 

Eighty-five percent of beef supply is controlled by just four companies, who have dramatically raised their prices to consumers, and their profits, while small farmers have seen virtually no increase in the price they get for the cattle. Only three companies control the entire US insulin market. It is no surprise that Americans pay 10 times more for that much-needed drug than folks living in all other economically developed countries. The same story is being played out in the oil industry where, again, big oil is seeing all-time record profits. And the list goes on. 

Continue reading here.

Tax Cuts or Better Higher Education: What do Virginians need more?

Governor Youngkin claims that Virginia’s current budget surplus means that Virginians should get a big tax cut.  But what else could we do with that budget surplus that might benefit average Virginians more than a tax cut?  How about making our higher education system more affordable and more accessible to everyone?

Because the truth is that Virginia woefully underfunds its community colleges and state universities relative to other states.  In fact, Virginia ranks 44th of all states in its per student funding of two-year colleges! At $5,000 per student, it is well below the national average of $8,000. It’s neighboring states, even West Virginia, are all above or near the national average. As a result, community college tuitions in Virginia are as much as 40% higher.  No surprise that enrollment has declined in recent years.

Virginia state universities meanwhile, despite their public mandate, are in fact catering mostly to upper income and out-of-state students.   Indeed, only 11-14% of students at top schools like UVA and William and Mary receive Pell grants, meaning these schools have very low admissions from students in families from areas like our own. That is one of the lowest rates for public universities anywhere in the country. 

Continue reading here

Attention mail carriers: Bob Good wants the right to get you fired for “no cause at all”

Last week, Virginia’s Representative Bob Good joined four other members of Congress’ most radical right to introduce a bill to make all federal employees – right down to your mail carrier –  “at will” employees.  What does “at will” mean?  The bill says that they can be fired for “good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all”! (read the actual bill here)

 Why would Good and his friends want to do this?  Because they want absolute loyalty from federal employees.  Not loyalty to the American people who pay their salaries – but to the politicians and the political party in power. 

 What would it mean to be fired for “no cause at all”?  Just that.  Perhaps Bob Good, or a fellow politician, is angry that you haven’t contributed to his political campaign.  You’re fired.  Perhaps you won’t give his mail priority over other people’s.  You’re fired.  Perhaps he just has a friend he wants to give your job to.  You’re fired.  Or perhaps you have a job that gives you access to confidential, personal information and you won’t give it to him.  (Never mind that that would be illegal).  You’re fired.

So who wins from turning our mail carriers and other federal workers into political pawns?  

Continue reading here

Virginia’s Medicaid Expansion is a major success, Virginia Mercury, 8/1/2022. In 2019, after years of Republican opposition, Democratic control of the Virginia legislature finally led to the passage of a Medicaid expansion law. Since then, according to a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University, 675,000 Virginians have enrolled in Medicaid, and both their health and their financial security have improved tremendously. A huge win for lower income Virginians!

Democrats are saving families a lot of money on health care. It’s a big deal. Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, August 11, 2022. According to the Third Way think tank, “A typical family with health coverage at work will save about $1,000 a year, and a family with coverage through an exchange will save about $1,400 a year” between 2022 and 2025.” Meanwhile Medicare patients will get an annual cap of $2000 for out-of-pocket prescription drug costs and a $35 monthly limit on insulin. It’s a big deal!

Republicans block $35 cap on insulin costs for millions of patients, Washington Post, August 7, 2022. Republican senators took advantage of complex Senate procedural rules to delete a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that would have capped out of pocket insulin costs at $35 per month for insured patients. This despite the outrageous and unexplained explosion in insulin prices in recent years. “One branded insulin drug called Humalog, which cost about $21 per vial when Eli Lilly introduced it in 1996, lists today at about $275 in the United States — an increase that has mystified and angered public health experts, who say the drug formula has not changed, even as its price has multiplied.” Why did Republicans oppose a cap that would have saved millions of Americans substantial amounts of money, as insulin prices have exploded in recent years? Good question. Most are trying to avoid the question.