Meet Lady Budgeton, Planned Parenthood Action Fund's Most Trusted Source for All Things Congressional Appropriations Happenings

Planned Parenthood Action Fund launches new feature to highlight various attacks on sexual and reproductive health care in the appropriations process

Dearest gentle readers, 

Please allow me the honor and privilege of introducing myself. My name is Lady Budgeton. It is with a sense of duty and obligation that I take up my quill to illuminate the happenings within the hallowed halls of the United States Congress as deliberations begin this appropriations season. 

What is appropriations season you may well ask? It is the most exciting of times, when the elected representatives of our federal government gather in their finest sensible shoes and assemble a prodigious list of items for which the public purse must pay.

While it is folly to expect a diamond to emerge from the House side of the marble dome, we nonetheless turn a discerning eye to these bills, for they will determine how we fund essential government programs – including the very programs that protect our *ahem* sexual and reproductive health. 

As you might recall, last season, certain members — those who cling to their positions of power as fervently as they endeavor to control our bodies, lives, and futures — proposed government funding bills in the House that would have catastrophically obliterated programs by which people plan their families, blocked access to health care at Planned Parenthood health centers, and prevented our esteemed members of the armed forces from accessing abortion and gender-affirming care…to name but a few. 

We had little faith that this bunch would change course this year and we have, alas, been proven correct. This author was not surprised in the least to learn that last week these members dug into their threadbare bag of tricks and are pushing forward the same tired attacks — once again passing a bill that would deny our honorable veterans access to essential health care, and introducing bills that pull the purse strings on funding for global reproductive health programs and harm those seeking reproductive health care in our nation’s capital. Land of the free, indeed.

One cannot help but wonder if the authors of these bills are more preoccupied with political posturing than with the duty and responsibility they have to protect the health and well-being of the very people they represent and countless communities around the world.  

Much like a debutante wearing the same gown to ball after ball, their strategy grows tiresome. How can one expect to find favor when they act counter to the desires of the populace?

Fret not, dear readers. For regardless of the twists and turns that fate may have in store this appropriations season, rest assured that I, your ever-faithful chronicler of Congress’s comings and goings, shall remain steadfast in my commitment to keep you informed.

Until we speak again, 
Lady Budgeton

P.S. To receive all of my updates, kindly subscribe to The Quickie, Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day here. 

###

Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy, and limited electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.