Work on healthcare reform would be improved "quite dramatically" if there were a few women on the team working on the measure, former White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said Wednesday.
"Let's just say I think the group would be improved quite dramatically if you included some of the 21 women who are in the Senate," Jarrett said on CNN's "New Day," after being shown a photo of GOP senators working on reform measures.
Only 5 of the 21 female Senators are Republican, however.
"Ask yourself how comfortable would men be if a group of women were making decisions about personal healthcare issues, whether it's tests for prostate cancer," Jarrett said. "Do they want that solely decided by women? I don't think so. We make better decisions when the people's lives who are impacted are at the table."
Meanwhile, she said that she and former President Barack Obama are watching the White House like other citizens, and are "obviously concerned about some of the steps that have been taken that have a devastating impact on the American people."
For example, she continued, the House healthcare bill, along with Trump's proposed budget, "will be devastating," as it's been projected that 23 million people will lose healthcare and there will be $800 billion in Medicaid cuts.
Also, women will not be able to go to Planned Parenthood under the new budget, another devastating fact, said Jarrett.
"One in five women who in their lifetime used Planned Parenthood," said Jarrett. "There are lots of reasons to be concerned."
It's obvious that she and Obama were rooting for a different candidate.
"We thought President Obama was moving our country forward in economy, providing healthcare, ensuring our safety here in the United States as a top priority. And, so, sure, this would not have been our choice."
It is important, though, that Americans "realize that our democracy is always, always complicated. We take these zigs and zags and they have to be engaged."
Obama said during a speech in Montreal on Tuesday that it can seem like "the international order that we have created is being constantly tested," but Jarrett pointed out that he went on to say that there is still the opportunity for Americans to work together, and "we shouldn't pull back."
"We shouldn't go into our comfort zone," said Jarrett. "We have to figure out ways of working with one another, and that's where the solutions lie."
She is working with a new program that launches "galvanizing summits" that will help empower women to ensure all girls have the opportunity that boys have to grow up and achieve their dreams.
"We will start in Chicago and talk about how can we empower them, take control of our lives, ensure that every young girl has that chance to pursue her dreams, focusing on workplace values, whether it's paid leave, equal pay, workplace flexibility, affordability child care, the issues every working family cares about and how can we get women feeling empowered to be forces for positive change," she said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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