Mr. President, we must not allow a diaper gap!
Posted on 03/16/2016 9:50:35 AM PDT by jazusamo
On two different occasions Congress has rejected laws to give “needy” families government-subsidized diapers—in addition to free food and medical care—but President Obama is determined to make it happen, allocating $10 million in taxpayer money to the highly unpopular cause. The multi-million-dollar initiative is being promoted by the White House as essential to eradicate a national “diaper divide” and the goal is to abolish “diaper disparity” by expanding access to affordable diapers for America’s poorest families.
Behind this high-priced mission is Cecilia Muñoz, the White House Domestic Policy Director. A renowned open borders lobbyist in Washington D.C., Muñoz was vice president of National Council of La Raza (NCLR) before Obama brought her on as White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. A few years later the president promoted her to the more powerful and prestigious post of top advisor on domestic issues. Muñoz wields tremendous power, coordinating the policy-making process and supervising the execution of domestic policy in the White House. If she wants Uncle Sam to give poor families free diapers, it’s safe to bet that it will happen even if Congress has twice nixed the scandalous idea.
To get the ball rolling, the administration announced this month that it plans to spend $10 million to “test effective ways to get diapers to families in need and document the health improvements that result.” Because it’s unlikely that Congress will pass a law to accomplish this, Muñoz admits the administration is getting creative and using every tool it has to help solve this dire problem. The low-income families that will benefit from the administration’s diaper initiative already get essentials like food and health insurance from the government through a variety of federal programs such as Medicaid, the nutrition program known as Women Infants and Children (WIC) and food stamps. Diapers are just as imperative to babies’ health, according to Muñoz, who says that “no family should have to choose between keeping their babies healthy and keeping the lights or heat on.”
The costly initiative comes just months after Congress resoundingly rejected the second measure in four years to grant poor families government-subsidized diapers. The legislation, Hygiene Assistance for Families of Infants and Toddlers Act, was introduced in late November and would have allowed states to provide diapers or a diaper subsidy for low-income families. One of the federal lawmakers behind the measure, Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, says one in three families struggle to provide diapers for their children yet they are a basic need. “No parents should have to choose between buying diapers for their child or buying groceries,” according to the veteran Democrat legislator. “Diapers are expensive, but necessary, to keep children healthy and in daycare, giving their parents the freedom they need to work.”
Years earlier DeLauro introduced similar legislation that also got slammed in Congress. It was called Diaper Investment and Aid to Promote Economic Recovery Act and Judicial Watch wrote about it when it was creatively presented in October, 2011 as an economic development and health measure. Without an adequate supply of diapers, a child cannot attend day care and therefore “working mothers have a harder time getting work and can fall even further behind,” according to the economic development argument of the failed law. The congresswoman also asserted that infrequent diaper changes can lead to diaper rash, increased risk of urinary tract and skin infections and can even cause outbreaks of viral meningitis, dysentery, and Hepatitis A. At the time the veteran legislator was a ranking member of the House Labor, Health, Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee and the measure was expected to gain traction though it never stood a chance.
In Alaska, the bears have a favorite snack at village garbage dumps - dirty disposable diapers. They will fight over them. This is eyewitness testimony.
I used cloth diapers for all my kids. My youngest is 30. But, even back then, everyone was using disposables. I’d have to show babysitters how to use cloth diapers. I do have to say that if you don’t have easy access to a washing machine, using cloth diapers would be a big pain. I didn’t have a washing machine when my first son was born. I washed diapers in the bathtub. Fortunately, it was summer in Texas at the time, and it was so hot that by the time I finished hanging the diapers on the line, the first ones done were practically dry.
Mr. President, we must not allow a diaper gap!
Ah, to live a life of leisure on someone else's dime.
March 16,1964, LBJ started his War on Poverty claiming it would cost $1 billion. Today, 52 years later, the cost to taxpayers of this War is over $16 TRILLION, and it has been a complete failure, wtth millions on a multitude of welfare programs as generations accept life on the federal teat.
We had a baby diaper service in our area when I had babies. They would deliver a fresh package of cloth diapers once a week; and, you would put the soiled ones in a bag in the diaper pail, then leave it on the porch for pick up. It was surprisingly affordable, and, there was a nice cloth diaper on my baby's skin instead of paper and plastic.
No free diapers for old folk? I smell a class action lawsuit here.
What ever appropriation they are taking the funding from is over funded by at least $10M.
We used cloth for all of our kids, the disposable ones are an expensive waste of money.
Are all the diapers red?
Now if they came emblazoned with a por-tray of zerohissef on the inside...might be worth the 22mil.
What do the environmentalists say about all these disposable diapers? What about their effect on Climate Change? How is it the environmentalist lobby isn’t hard on the White House to abandon this treacherous, huge carbon footprint, plan?
Amusing that I have to work my middle class ass off to afford child care, diapers, and baby food for my own child but now I also have to work my ass off to afford your child care, diapers and baby food...
So that’s why grizzles are so darned mean. :)
When my daughter was born I was making $21K per year. Disposable diapers cost a minimum of ten dollars a pack....in 1989 dollars! We were in an apartment without the laundry facilities to effectively do cloth diapers.
I bit my tongue and paid for the pampers. These people can do the same.
16 trillion dollars is almost the entire national debt. This means that we borrowed 16 trillion of future generations’ money to make today’s generation comfortable. We won’t have any right to complain when they decide that we aren’t worth the cost of keeping us alive when we get to our 80’s and health care is rationed because the government can’t borrow any more money.
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