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Community Corner

Garrett: Sending Women Back to the 1950's

Failing to Stand Up for Northern Jersey’s Women;For Weakening Protections Against Domestic Violence, Against Equal Pay & Health Care
Ridgewood, NJ -- Roy Cho, candidate for Congress in the 5th District, today excoriated the record of Tea Party incumbent Scott Garrett as endangering the safety and economic well-being of Northern New Jersey’s women.
Cho noted Garrett’s extreme record on women’s issues, one in which he has positioned himself squarely against protecting victims of domestic violence, opposing that women receive equal pay for equal work, and blocking access to life-saving mammograms and cancer screenings.
“Scott Garrett may claim to live in the 21st Century, but his record is one that seeks to send women back to the 1950’s,” said Cho. “His extremism would put women’s lives in danger. It would ensure that women continue to be shortchanged in the workplace. It shuts the door to life-saving health care. It’s an abysmal record that, quite frankly, is shameful and dangerous.”
Cho pointed to Garrett’s opposition to last year’s reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act as a recent example of Garrett putting his out-of-the-mainstream ideology before women of the district. Garrett was actually one of only 9 House members to vote against even holding a final vote for the bill, which expanded protections for domestic violence victims and victims of stalking, and ensured grant funding for clearing backlogs of rape investigations.
Garrett has also opposed efforts to enact laws aimed at ensuring women receive equal pay as their male colleagues for equal work, opposing the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which strengthened laws against wage discrimination. According to the American Association of University Women, women in the 5th District make only 73 cents on the dollar versus their male colleagues in equal jobs.
He also voted “no” on numerous bills to strengthen federal workplace discrimination protections.
Garrett also voted to defund programs that protect a woman's access to mammograms and other preventative and life-saving cancer screenings.
Cho said that not only would he have voted in the interests of Northern New Jersey’s women in each case, he also would vote to make permanent the federal child care tax credit, to ensure women are able to afford high-quality child care while they further their careers.
“Northern New Jersey’s women need a champion who will vote to promote their interests and protect them and their families,” said Cho. “Scott Garrett’s extremist Tea Party voting record has failed them miserably. Our women and families deserve a voice that will move them forward, not more Garrett Gridlock that turns the clock back.”

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