For Immediate Release

July 27, 2020

Contact: Abhi Rahman, (720) 299-0654, press@txdemocrats.org

RELEASE: Under Trump, Texas Women Have Been Dealt A Terrible Hand

Austin, TX – Today, as Vice President Joe Biden unveiled his comprehensive plan to further women’s economic and physical security and ensure that women can fully exercise their civil rights, Texas Democratic Party Vice Chair Dr. Carla Brailey slammed Donald Trump’s record of broken promises to Texas women.

“Donald Trump and his Republican enablers have made it crystal clear to women in Texas and across the country that they don’t have our backs,” said Dr. Carla Brailey. “Under Trump, Texas women have been dealt a terrible hand, from relentless attacks on our health care to enduring unequal pay for equal work. Now, Trump’s failed pandemic response is hitting women particularly hard, and threatening our lives and livelihoods. Texas women deserve a leader who will expand economic opportunity for working families, ensure access to quality, affordable health care, and won’t back down from the fight to protect our rights. That leader is Joe Biden.”

BACKGROUND ON TRUMP’S BROKEN PROMISES TO TEXAS WOMEN

Promise: Trump said he would “do more for women than anybody else” and promised to “take care of women and women’s health care issues.” [Trump Campaign Rally, 10/21/15]

Reality: Trump and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton are aiming to strike down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits insurers from charging women more on the basis of gender or preexisting conditions. Meanwhile, the coronavirus could put women’s health at disproportionate risk.

Reality: Trump supported overturning the ACA without a replacement plan in place, which could add to the ranks of uninsured women across the country. In Texas, 23% of women between the ages of 19 and 64 are uninsured — the highest rate in the nation.  Additionally, 1.6 million Texans have likely lost their employer-sponsored insurance during the pandemic, and job losses have hit women particularly hard.

Reality: The Trump Administration has methodically moved to limit access to birth control and abortion. Trump also issued a Title X gag rule, aiming to strip federal funds from health care providers like Planned Parenthood, leaving many low-income women without access to birth control and other essential reproductive health care services.

Promise: As a candidate, Trump pledged that “we are going to make childcare affordable.” [Trump Campaign Rally, 10/4/16]

Reality: Trump’s tax scam helped the wealthy at the expense of working parents, reducing the value of the child and dependent care tax credit for many working families while handing out massive giveaways to billionaires and corporations. Trump’s proposals have utterly failed to meet the needs of working families who need relief the most and instead, have been called a “gift to the rich.”

Reality: Even after the outbreak of the pandemic, the Trump administration scaled back paid leave requirements for employers, allowing many companies to decline to provide sick leave for child care. Some 17.7 million health care workers were excluded from emergency paid leave, 75 percent of whom are women.

Reality: A 2019 report found that many lower-income Texas families spend up 30% of income on child care alone. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), child care is one of the biggest expenses that Texas families — and out of reach for many low-wage workers. Additionally, EPI reports that “infant care in Texas costs $679 (7.8%) more per year than in-state tuition for four-year public college.”

Promise: In 2016, Trump vowed to “bring back our jobs” for the “70 million American women and children” that “live in poverty or near the brink of poverty.” [Trump Campaign Rally, 10/29/16]

Reality: During the coronavirus crisis, women have been disproportionately likely to be laid off, to have left the labor market, or to quit their jobs to care for their families.

Reality: Trump’s White House revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order and spent two years trying to sabotage an Obama-era rule to close the gender pay gap by requiring companies to release pay data by race and gender.

Reality: In Texas, women still only make 80 cents for every dollar that men make.