Issue Position: Advocate for Women and Their Families

Issue Position

Just as she has throughout her life, Alison Lundergan Grimes will continue fighting for women as Kentucky's first female United States Senator. Alison learned the value of public service at an early age, and her passion has always been increasing opportunity for every citizen of the Commonwealth. She entered public service to give a voice to the voiceless -- experience she gained as an attorney for victims of domestic violence.

As Secretary of State, Alison championed the first-ever address confidentiality program for victims of domestic violence to ensure their safety and security are not compromised when they exercise their right to vote. Alison has also ushered in new laws that maintain the integrity of the democratic process and protect the voting rights of our men and women in uniform and absentee voters. She is committed to guaranteeing that every eligible Kentuckian has access to the ballot box.

ALISON'S VISION
When elected to the U.S. Senate, Alison will work to create good-paying jobs, fight to close the gender wage gap and raise the minimum wage to ensure middle class security for women and their families. She is committed to:

MAKING CHILDCARE MORE AFFORDABLE: Affordable childcare is out of reach for many Kentucky families. Over 140,000 working Kentucky mothers have a child under 6[1], positioning them as increasingly likely to need childcare services. Alison strongly believes that we must begin addressing this problem by providing additional tax breaks to Kentucky businesses that create on-site child care centers or help their employees find child care services. We must also develop federal and state partnerships to improve access to quality childcare for rural areas, where working parents often face unique challenges.Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell has actually repeatedly voted to slash funding for childcare services in Kentucky. Under a proposal supported by McConnell, approximately 1,700 fewer Kentucky children would have child care through the Child Care and Development Block Grant[2].

EXPANDING ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION: Alison will also work with families, educators and schools to ensure our children have access to quality education and are equipped with the tools and resources necessary to succeed. Education is the passport out of poverty, and every child has the right to a quality education. A good education is an economic necessity and should not be a luxury. Education is the gateway to good-paying jobs, economic growth and a strong middle class.Mitch McConnell negotiated a Washington budget deal that caused 1,100 Kentucky children to lose access to early childhood education[3] and cut an estimated $31.8 million from Kentucky schools[4]. He also opposed legislation to hire and preserve jobs for teachers[5] and blocked legislation to preserve low interest rates for students[6].

PROTECTING VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: As Secretary of State, Alison championed the first-ever address confidentiality program for victims of domestic violence to ensure their safety and security are not compromised when they vote. In the Senate, Alison will continue to be a voice for victims of domestic violence. According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, "a woman is assaulted every 15 seconds"[7] and one in six women in the U.S. will be victims of domestic violence over the course of her lifetime[8] -- troubling statistics that must be addressed.
Despite political attempts to disguise his real record, Mitch McConnell has repeatedly opposed the Violence Against Women Act[9] and even blocked an effort to vote on the bill to protect women[10].

KEEPING PROMISES TO KENTUCKY SENIORS: An estimated 600,000 Kentuckians rely on Social Security[11] and nearly 800,000 Kentuckians depend on Medicare[12]. Alison will protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare as Kentucky's next U.S. Senator. Protecting these programs is critical to the economic well-being for the Commonwealth's women and families. Women rely more heavily on income from Social Security than men do, and the majority of Medicare recipients are women.
Women have more health care needs, live with chronic conditions and have higher life expectancies than men. Therefore, women are especially reliant on the health care services provided by Medicare. The promise of a secure retirement is one we must keep for our nation's seniors and make sure these programs are still intact for our children and grandchildren. Alison is focused on spending smarter, reducing waste in the Medicare system, and improving coordination of care.

Instead of strengthening and preserving these critical programs, Mitch McConnell wants to privatize Social Security and end Medicare as we know it, increasing seniors' out-of-pocket costs by nearly $6,000 per year[13].

ACHIEVING PAY EQUITY: Women are half of the labor force in this country yet still make 77 cents for every dollar -- 23 percent less than their male counterparts[14]. In Kentucky, women lose nearly five billion dollars in wages each year[15] -- a statistic that is staggering and unacceptable. With that money a working woman in Kentucky could purchase 78 more weeks of groceries, pay 14 more months of rent, make 8 more months of mortgage and utilities payments or buy 2,477 additional gallons of gas[16].In contrast, Mitch McConnell has called equal pay for equal work just another "special interest vote"[17] and voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act[18] and the Paycheck Fairness Act -- not once, but twice[19][20].
INCREASING MINIMUM WAGE: In order to grow our middle class, we must raise the minimum wage to help hardworking Americans achieve a basic standard of living. An overwhelming majority -- two thirds -- of minimum wage workers in the United States are women. Consider a single working mother of two who makes the current federal minimum wage who brings home just $14,500 annually -- nearly $4,000 below the poverty line[21].
Rather than forcing our own neighbors to choose between putting food on the table, getting to work and paying the rent, all Americans deserve a living wage that is consistent with our values. Raising the minimum wage would increase incomes for more than 30 million workers in the U.S.[22], and is an important step to ensure workers see the benefits of a growing economy.

Earlier this year, the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy pointed to a report detailing the impact a minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour would have in Kentucky. According to this report, doing so would:

Lift the wages of over one in four Kentucky workers.[23]
Increase annual earnings for the nearly 30 percent of Kentuckians who make minimum wage or just above by $2,369 on average and $863 million in total.[24]
Grow Kentucky's GDP by $546 million by 2015 and create 2,200 jobs.[25]
Mitch McConnell has voted against raising the minimum wage at least 16 times[26], while voting in favor of raising his own government salary[27].

As Kentucky's first woman Senator, Alison Lundergan Grimes will continue being a staunch advocate for women and their families. She will seek common ground and work across the aisle for solutions that put Kentucky and our country back on the right track. The contrast with Mitch McConnell could not be starker.

[1] [NACCRRA, Kentucky Fact Sheet]
[2] [Senate Democrats, 2013]
[3] [WKYT, 2/21/13]
[4] [WFPL, 3/28/13]
[5] [Politico, 10/20/11]
[6] [Associated Press, 5/8/12]
[7] [Kentucky Cabinet For Health and Family Services]
[8] [Kentucky Cabinet For Health and Family Services]
[9] [MSNBC, 7/15/13]
[10] [Roll Call, 7/31/12]
[11] [SSA, 12/12]
[12] [The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation report, 2012]
[13] [Center for American Progress, 3/21/12
[14] [Huffington Post, 9/17/13]
[15] [National Partnership for Women and Families, 4/13]
[16] [National Partnership for Women and Families, 4/13]
[17] [Senate Republicans transcript, 4/23/08]
[18] [Vote 19, S.47]
[19] [Vote 115, S.3220]
[20] [Vote 249, S.3772]
[21] [National Women's Law Center, 10/4/13]
[22] [National Women's Law Center, 10/4/13]
[23] [Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, 4/3/13]
[24] [Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, 4/3/13]
[25] [Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, 4/3/13]
[26] [Vote 23, 1/24/07; Vote 179,6/21/06; Vote 26, 3/7/05; Vote 257, 10/19/05; Vote 76, 4/7/00; Vote 356, 11/9/99; Vote 239,7/30/99; Vote 94, 4/28/99; Vote 77, 3/25/99; Vote 278, 9/22/98; Vote 184, 7/9/96; Vote 183,7/9/96; Vote 519, 10/27/95; Vote 33, 7/31/95;Vote 68, 5/17/89; Vote 39, 4/12/89]
[27] [Vote 406, 10/23/03]

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