What It Boils Down To: Men Cutting Health Care Funding for Women

Excellent read in Huffington Post from Ryan Grim about what's holding up budget negotiations.

Grim pointedly begins:

WASHINGTON -- The United States government is on the verge of shutting down over a dispute about subsidized pap smears, according to sources familiar with the budget negotiations.

This has nothing to do with cutting funds. It's all about social issues.

Sen. Durbin:

"It's not about reducing the deficit. It's about hitting programs. He's [Boehner] gotta cut programs. And we think still we can reach agreement on the money. But he is under enormous pressure and he says it's not from the Tea Party, it's from the old guard, the Republican guard, that wants to once and for all show that they can force through some of these social issues, like abortion," Durbin told reporters Thursday evening in the Capitol. "The rider list gets longer and longer and non-negotiable."

Grim candidly remarks that the budget negotiations are presided over by men.  Men wanting to cut funding for centers that provide health care to women.  That's what this is about.