Monica masks are expected to be the hottest ticket on Halloween night -- but... she'll be b-a-a-a-a-ck for a two-year rerun unless cooler heads are elected to the next Congress. What's more, conservative publications are already touting a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and licking their chops over the possibilities for making affirmative action and abortion illegal. One group can stop this on election day -- WOMEN. We have the votes to control any election, and usually turn out in greater numbers than men. This year must not be an exception. VOTE PRO-WOMAN on election day, and the ghouls in Congress will disappear like magic.

NASA sent Senator John Glenn (age 77) into space this week to "conduct research on aging." A grassroots campaign to send Jerrie Cobb, 67, up next is gaining momentum. Jerrie (and a dozen other women) passed the same grueling tests that the guys did to qualify as astronauts, but NASA grounded them in favor of men "as a fact of our social order," according to Glenn. NASA director Daniel Goldin met with Jerrie, and snidely told her was only doing it as a courtesy to Hillary Clinton, who suggested the meeting. NASA should send Jerrie into space (she's still in top physical condition). Remind Goldin we need to study women's aging too (fax 202-358-2810). Congressmembers can also influence this decision -- call 202-225-3121 (or e-mail your Representative and Senator).

ABORTION POLITICS AND A YOUNG MOTHER'S LIFE

A 26-year-old Shreveport, Louisiana mother of two is battling heart failure, and is waiting for a heart transplant that could save her life. But she was caught in a cruel Catch-22 when she discovered she was pregnant. Even though her heart condition would prevent her from carrying the pregnancy to term, Louisiana State University Medical Center refused to allow a requested abortion because her doctor has not certified that she has a greater than 50% chance of dying without it. Members of Congress, led by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY; 202-225-3615; fax 202-225-7822; E-mail) protested to LSUMC (fax 504-568-5177) this week. The hospital stuck by its extreme interpretation of "danger to the life of the woman" -- a Louisiana requirement -- so abortion rights groups paid for Michelle Lee to go out of state by ambulance to get the procedure. The situation starkly reminds us that the U.S. Senate is only 3 votes short of a filibuster-proof anti-choice majority. If rabids pick up 3 seats in November, national anti-abortion bills will steamroll in the Senate. To find out where your Senator stands, contact NARAL at 202-973-3000, or check voting records at www.naral.org

...is the slogan for the Working Women Vote '98 campaign. With the message getting action means taking action, WWV'98 has an action kit designed to help you get friends and co-workers to the polls. The kits highlights equal pay, health care, schools & child care, and retirement as hot-button election issues for women. Free from AFL-CIO Women's Department at 888-971-9797.

Congress blew off the Constitution last week, and blew town this week, but not before passing a few good bills along with funding to keep the government running. Thanks to calls from activists, the Feminist Majority, and abortion rights groups, the onerous provision prohibiting RU486 research (WFF 8/14) was dropped from the Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill. Other bills benefitting women also passed at the last minute. With the help of activists who called and faxed, Congresswoman Connie Morella (R-MD; 202-225-5341; fax 202-225-1389; e-mail) was able to push through HR 3007, establishing a comission to study barriers to women in science and technology, and HR 3296, a bill providing $30 million for campus child care centers. And thanks to the untiring efforts of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV; 202-224-3542; fax 202-224-7327; e-mail), contraception will be covered by health insurance for federal employees. (Republican leadership had ignored majority votes in both houses and stripped the provision from the Treasury appropriations bill, after Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ; 202-225-6276; fax 202-225-7768; e-mail) had claimed birth control could be considered a type of abortion.

*** Congress bought twenty C-130 transport planes for $1 billion, even though the Air Force doesn't want them. They're built in Newt Gingrich's district, and will be put at bases in Republican Majority leader Trent Lott's state. *** Many bills were sacrificed on the altar of impeachment grandstanding, including repeal of the marriage tax (WFF 10/2).

WFF has a call to action at the polls from Young Women Vote '98, a coalition of young women who care about the future. Citing voter apathy and a fear of an even more anti-woman Congress if young women don't go to the polls, the group is circulating a different kind of "pledge petition" -- a pledge to vote. Sign up today and pledge online at http://feminist.com/ywvote98.htm

The Republican Majority in Congress limited debate yesterday on opening an investigation to impeach President Clinton and overturn the last election to 1 1/2 hours (this opposed to the 1 1/2 days it allocated to renaming an airport) -- this so they can rush home to soapbox for the election. Congress' preoccupation with sex is producing fallout for women. A Violence Against Women Act II postcard (WFF 9/25) was canceled this week "because key sponsors are on the House Judiciary Committee dealing with impeachment." And even though Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Paul Wellstone (D-MA) introduced the Battered Women's Economic Security Act (S. 2558), it will die for the obsession with Monica. Let one-time VAWA champion Orrin Hatch (R-UT; 202-224-5251; fax 202-224-6331; E-mail) and majority leader Trent Lott (R-MI; 202-224-6253; fax 202-224-2262; E-mail) know that grandstanding on every talk show in the country is a poor substitute for action on VAWA that could save women's lives.

The Pentagon has accounced that it will spend $50 million in the coming year to provide Viagra to American troops and military retirees. This is the same military that is prohibited by Congress from allowing abortions in military hospitals -- even if servicewomen pay themselves. Share your outrage with Secretary of Defense William Cohen at fax 703-697-9080 (or send E-mail) and your local rep at 202-224-3121 (or e-mail your Representative).

One reason for the child-care shortage in the U.S. is tight money for construction, because private lenders think day-care providers are at high risk for liability. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) has a remedy in the form of "Kiddie Mac" -- a development commission that would make lending easier for building or upgrading child care centers. Kiddie Mac is bi partisan, and the Senate version (S.2178) will get a hearing next Tuesday. The House bill (HR 3637) has a good chance of passing -- but Rick Lazio (R-NY), has it bottled up in committee and refuses to let it go forward. Pressure is needed NOW -- time is short for this session. Tell Lazio to quit playing child's games and get going with Kiddie Mac at 202-225-3335; fax 202-225-4669; e-mail [email protected]

. . . without married women having to pay extra for the privilege. The "marriage penalty," or amount a married couple pays over two single earners with the same income, averages $1400 per household. It's usually the women's earnings that are unfairly taxed, because the marriage penalty taxes the income of a second wage earner at a much higher rate than that for a comparable single earner. The Marriage Tax Elimination Act (HR 2456) passed by the House allows joint filing but separate and equal (with singles) tax rates. Republicans have promised to stop ranting about rank sex enough to get this to the Senate floor before adjournment. Tell your Senators to co-sponsor at 202-225-3121 or send E-mail).

Thanks to all of you who contacted Congress about (HR 3150) which would have forced parents seeking back child support to compete with credit card companies if the ex-spouse declares bankruptcy (WFF 4/24). The onerous provisions have been removed from the bill, and children now have precedence over the likes of Amex and Visa in such proceedings. The bill will likely pass before Congress adjourns. ** No doubt because women flooded Congress with calls, conservatives failed to pass a ban on a so-called partial birth abortion (WFF 9/18) by only three votes. Calls count.