The reduction of assistance to “vulnerable populations” was one of several reasons the Obama Administration issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) opposing the House bill.  The vulnerable groups which the Administration identified as likely to receive fewer services under this bill include “veterans, low-income adults, youth, adults with literacy and English language needs, people with disabilities, ex-offenders, and others with significant barriers to employment.”

Of particular concern is the fact that the legislation would freeze funding levels for 7 years.  Low-income advocates including the National Skills Coalition view the legislation as providing a rationale for deep cuts in job training programs in the Budget Resolution now before the House.

The SKILLS Act passed with a vote of 215-202, with only 2 Democrats supporting the legislation and 14 Republicans opposing it.  It is unclear what action the Senate will take on these workforce programs this year, but the Senate is unlikely to endorse the House bill.

The post CHN: Controversial SKILLS Act Passes in House appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

The Senate blocked a vote on Tuesday that would have ended the delaying tactic of further debate on the Employee Free Choice Act (S.1041).  The motion failed 51-48, nine votes short of the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture, effectively stalling the legislation. All Democrats (except for Sen. Johnson, D-SD, who is still recovering from a major health issue) voted in favor of ending debate, along with Sen. Specter (R-PA).  All other Republicans voted against cloture, which can be interpreted as opposition to S. 1041.  H.R. 800, the House counterpart bill, passed with bipartisan support by a vote of 241-185 in March.  However, that vote was well short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override a veto promised by President Bush.

The bill would have leveled the playing field in the workplace by allowing workers to join a union without employer interference, requiring mediation and arbitration between the union and employer if a timely agreement is not reached during bargaining on the first contract, and creating penalties for employers who intimidate employees.  Currently, employers have the right to demand a secret ballot election before a union can be certified.  In the proposed legislation, union organizers could bypass elections when a majority of employees sign cards in favor of establishing union representation, known as “card check.”  Union advocates contend that the current secret ballot elections are really management-controlled processes because corporations have so much power to intimidate employees trying to organize a union. “Card check” or majority sign-up for employees would likely minimize workplace conflict.

Too many employers have carried out unjust practices against union employees.  Currently, 92 percent of employers force employees to attend mandatory closed-door meetings against the union.  One in four employers illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns.  EFCA would greatly reduce such illegal and intimidating tactics by increasing penalties on employers for violations against  employees’ rights.

Reports confirm that there are clear advantages for union workers.  For example, union workers’ median weekly earnings amount to around $833 while nonunion workers’ median weekly earnings only amount to $642 – a 30 percent difference.  While 15 percent of nonunion workers are without health care coverage, only 2.5 percent of union workers are without health insurance.  Other fringe benefits such as guaranteed pensions, short-term disability benefits and paid vacation days are improved for workers affiliated with a union.  In addition, women, African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans disproportionately receive better wages when they are able to associate with a union.

According to a Peter D. Hart survey, 60 million Americans who are currently nonunion workers say they want to have a union in their workplace.

For more information about majority sign-up and secret ballot elections:

http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/majoritysignup.cfm

The post CHN: Workers Lose As Senate Legislation Fails appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

The failure of the final conference agreement was a surprise to House leaders. All Democrats and 22 Republicans rejected the bill. Several Republican lawmakers voted no because their special projects had been eliminated. In addition, Democrats and some Republicans were concerned about cuts to rural health funding and education programs and the lack of increase for home energy assistance in the face of rising energy costs.

The bill includes $142.5 billion in discretionary funding, $329 million less than last year’s level. Several human needs services, such as mental health, child care, Title I education, workforce training and others are funded at levels not adjusted for inflation, or below last year’s level.

But the cuts contained in the legislation are not the end of the story. It is widely expected that Congress will approve an across-the-board cut, which would affect all discretionary programs (those that must be approved each year). The across-the-board cut, which could be in the neighborhood of one or two percent, would be attached to the only other unfinished appropriations bill — the one funding the Department of Defense. For an explanation of how such an across-the-board cut may harm human needs programs, see a recent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report.

In coming days negotiators will try once again to come up with a final Labor-HHS-Education bill that can be approved on the House floor and Senate floor. But if House leadership is unable to round up the necessary votes, then appropriators will seek to attach the bill to the Department of Defense bill. The two bills joined together would be difficult for lawmakers to vote against.

For More Information

Conference report 109-300
Appropriations Committee Republican staff: Highlights of the bill  ***Page Not Found
Appropriations Committee Democratic staff: Democratic views of the bill  *** Page Not Found

The post CHN: Labor-HHS-Education Bill Must Clear One Last Hurdle appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

Lawmakers have yet to agree on the bill that funds the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (H.R. 3010). Typically the Labor-HHS-Ed bill is the most contentious. Disagreements remain over funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and preparations for avian flu. The House version contains $2.4 billion for LIHEAP; the Senate bill has $2.2 billion. Because of sharply rising energy prices, pressure is growing to increase LIHEAP funds closer to the authorized level of $5.1 billion. The House spending reconciliation bill included a $1 billion increase in LIHEAP funding over the current year (to $3.16 billion).

Labor-HHS-Ed negotiators have agreed to a total discretionary level of $142.5 billion, which is $329 million less than fiscal 2005. Many human needs programs such as child care, Head Start, Title I education for low-income students, workforce training, mental health services and many others are funded through this bill. Many of these programs are funded either at last year’s levels or lower.

Other appropriations bills not yet passed include Defense, Military Construction and Veteran’s Affairs, and the Treasury, Transportation, and Housing bill (H.R. 3058). Several cuts to housing proposed by the President in his budget were rejected by the House and Senate. One victory in particular is the bi-chamber support of the Community Development Block Grant program. The President’s budget eliminated CDBG but the House bill provides $4.2 billion and the Senate provides $4.3 billion. (The fiscal 2005 level was $4.671 billion.)

An across-the-board cut that hits all domestic discretionary programs remains a possibility. Such a cut could be tacked onto any of the remaining appropriations bills and could affect even those appropriations bills already approved by Congress. End of the year across-the-board cuts are becoming standard operating procedure for appropriators. In 2003 the across-the-board cut was 0.65%, in 2004 it was 0.59% and in 2005 it was 0.8%. Across-the-board cuts mean that programs described as “flat-funded” are actually shrinking – even before taking inflation into account.

The post CHN: Appropriations Bills Moving Towards Completion; Across-the-Board Cuts Threatened appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

The discretionary level for fiscal 2006 is $164 million (0.1 percent) less than for fiscal 2005. In June the House passed its Labor-HHS spending bill, which also provided $142.5 billion in discretionary spending.

Several amendments were offered on the floor of the Senate to increase funding for services for low-income families, but the amendments failed.

Many services aimed at low-income families will receive the same or less funding as last fiscal year. Due to inflation and a series of across-the-board cuts in the last several years, many programs are funded at levels far below their 1990s’ levels.

Senators rejected several amendments that would have boosted spending for programs serving low-income individuals. An amendment sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) to increase spending for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by $2.9 billion (bringing funding up to $5.1 billion) was defeated 54 to 43. The LIHEAP Coalition predicts dramatic increases in home heating expenses this winter.

Senators also defeated a proposal by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) to add an additional $5 billion to Title I, which provides federal funds to low-income schools. The No Child Left Behind Act authorized Congress to provide $22.8 billion to Title I programs in fiscal 2006 – but the bill approved Thursday provides just $12.8 billion.

Funding for Head Start is $6.9 billion in the Senate bill, an increase of just $31 million over fiscal 2005 and not enough to cover inflation. The Senate defeated an amendment sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) that would have boosted Head Start funding by an additional $153 million.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) offered an amendment to increase spending on education for children with disabilities by $4 billion. The Senate’s bill provides $10.7 billion for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act , $100 million more than last year but far below the amount promised in the legislation authorizing the program.

By voice vote the Senate approved an amendment offered by Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) increasing funding to community health centers by $198.5 million. The Senate also accepted an amendment to increase spending to develop an avian flu vaccine.

The total discretionary level of the bill would have been $3 billion higher were it not for some accounting maneuvers by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). The Senator shifted mandatory Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments by a few days from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2007. Advocates for the poor elderly and disabled who depend on SSI caution that recipients depend on receiving their benefits on a timetable and may not be able to easily adjust to a late benefit check. Sen. Specter used this same accounting measure last year, but it did not survive conference with the House.

A conference committee with the House is the next step for the bill. Conservatives in the House have been clamoring for across-the-board cuts that will affect all discretionary spending, including programs funded in this bill. Currently only three of twelve fiscal 2006 appropriations bills have been signed into law; most federal agencies are operating under a continuing resolution that is due to expire November 18.

The post CHN: Senate Approves Labor-HHS-Education Spending Bill appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

Not content with cutting mandatory programs such as Medicaid and Food Stamps by $35 billion (see story this issue), Congress is contemplating going after programs that are funded annually, also called discretionary programs. A two percent cut from all federal agencies and their discretionary programs, including defense and homeland security, would amount to a $16 billion loss in funding for fiscal year 2006.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA) said he supports a 2 percent across-the-board cut, but the appropriators who oversee defense and homeland security spending are unlikely to support cuts to defense. If Congress decides to hold homeland security and defense programs harmless from a sweeping cut, the domestic programs may be cut even more steeply.

In addition, the President is encouraging Congress to look more closely at the 150 programs his budget proposed eliminating, freezing or cutting in order to cut spending. Some of these programs are: Even Start, vocational education state grants, tech prep state grants, Upward Bound, Early Learning Opportunities Fund and universal newborn hearing and screening. A full list can be found on pages 17 and 18 of the PDF document “Major Savings and Reforms in the President’s 2006 budget”: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/pdf/savings.pdf

Although the fiscal year began October 1, Congress has finalized funding only for the Department of the Interior and for itself (as part of the legislative branch bill). The House has approved all of its appropriations bills but because the Senate has not finished its work, ten other bills that fund the rest of the government have not yet been approved in final form.

In order to keep the government running, Congress approved a continuing resolution (CR) that will last until November 18. (See September 30 Human Needs Report .) The CR already contains many cuts to human needs programs. For any appropriations bills not completed before November 18, Congress will have to approve another CR.

An across-the-board cut could be made at any time and could affect even those programs for which the funding was already approved by Congress. If, for example, the final housing appropriations bill is approved before November 18, Congress could later put into effect an across-the-board cut making rescissions to housing programs.

The total level of discretionary spending for fiscal year 2006 approved by Congress in the budget resolution is already lower than last year’s level. An additional across-the-board cut of 2 percent would translate into unprecedented cuts to domestic spending.

The post CHN: Low-Income Programs Threatened with Across-the-Board Cuts appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

The measure gives Congress several weeks to complete its appropriation bills, only two of which have been signed into law so far (the Interior-Environment and Legislative Branch appropriations). The House has already passed its 11 appropriations bills, while the Senate has passed 8 out of its twelve. With the House adjourned, the Senate had to pass the bill in order to avoid a partial government shutdown.

The continuing resolution (CR) funds each program by the lowest of either the FY 2005 spending level or the levels passed by the House or Senate for FY 2006. This would in fact result in a cut for some programs. The House frequently includes cuts in its appropriations bills that are rejected by the Senate, but the structure of this CR means that those cuts will be in effect at least until November 18, when the CR is no longer in effect.

For example, the House made cuts in the Science-State-Justice-Commerce spending bill it passed on June 16 (H.R. 2862) which provides $299 million for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention programs in fiscal year 2006, a $47.5 million reduction from last year’s level ($346.5 million). The House Labor-HHS-Education spending bill (H.R. 3010) passed on July 24 slashes adult training by $30.8 million (-3.4 percent, not adjusted for inflation), youth training by $36.2 million (- 3.6 percent), and dislocated worker assistance by $70.8 million (- 4.7 percent). Funding for Job Corps, which has enjoyed bipartisan support, is cut by $9.8 million, and the bill also eliminates emergency funding for LIHEAP, trimming total LIHEAP by $175.6 million, while.

The House Labor-HHS-Education appropriation bill also reduces the Community Services Block Grant to $320 million, nearly cutting the program in half. That would mean that from now until November 18, the CR would cut in half funding for the Community Services Block Grant. Senator Harkin (D-IA) proposed an amendment that would restore this funding in the CR, but this was defeated 39-53 with some saying adopting such a measure would result in a shutdown because the House adjourned after passing its version of the bill. This amendment was added to the defense appropriation bill in the Senate, which could pass next week.

The post CHN: Congress Approves Stop-Gap Measure to Keep Government Running appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

Congress and the President have scrambled over the last two weeks to respond to Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it has wrought on the Gulf Coast. First, Congress reconvened early on September 2 to pass a $10.5 billion supplemental appropriation ( PL 109-61 ) which was followed by a $51.8 billion supplemental ( PL 109-62 ) enacted on September 8. Both were mainly to fund the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), with some funds going to the Defense Department and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The FEMA funds are intended to support ongoing recovery efforts as well as the $2,000 grants to affected households announced by the President on September 8, to be distributed by FEMA and the Red Cross.

In addition, the President on September 8 granted the hurricane victims “evacuee status,” making them entitled to federal benefits administered by the states and streamlined enrollment process. These benefits include Medicaid, TANF, childcare, food stamps and others.

Democrats and Republicans disagreed over the extent to which amendments to appropriations bills were practical vehicles to aid the Gulf Coast. On September 15, the Senate passed the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriation bill (H.R. 2862 ) after rejecting certain Katrina-related amendments offered by Democrats but including $4.3 billion in emergency spending for the Gulf Coast as well as $595 million for loans and assistance to small businesses affected by the disaster. It is not clear yet how much of this will survive conference since the House bill was passed in July and thus does not contain Katrina-related spending.

Efforts to Provide Short-Term Benefits to Hurricane Victims

The House and Senate passed a series of short-term assistance measures over the past two weeks. On September 7, the House passed H.R. 3169 , allowing the Department of Education to waive repayment requirement for Pell grant recipients, and the next day passed H.R. 3668 allowing the Department to waive repayment requirements for Student Financial Aid for those college students evacuated from campuses. Both were passed by the Senate on September 15.

The House and Senate also passed legislation ( H.R. 3672 ) to encourage states to provide hurricane victims short-term grants under TANF (defined as four months or less under current regulations) that are not subject to the work requirements and time limits of the regular welfare benefits. The bill reimburses states for grants to families evacuated from other states, advances TANF funds that are otherwise due to the states at the start of the next fiscal year, extends the program through December, and also increases funding by 20 percent in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. It is likely that additional changes to TANF will be enacted beyond this emergency bill.

The bipartisan Grassley (R-IA) – Baucus (D-MT) emergency package (S. 1716, see below) would expand upon the legislation just passed to allow victims of Katrina to qualify for the full range of TANF aid, still without triggering the time limit, child support or work requirements. Advocates are attempting to add aid for immigrants affected by the disaster to the Grassley-Baucus package.

The Senate has also addressed the additional housing crisis left in Katrina’s wake. The Senate on September 14 adopted an amendment proposed by Paul Sarbanes (R-MD) to the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriation bill ( H.R. 2862 ) to provide $3.5 billion in housing assistance to survivors that would cover utilities and relocations costs as well as rent.

More Legislation Proposed

Members of both chambers are currently working to pass more legislation that would aid people displaced physically and economically by the hurricane. Some of the proposals include measures to address health care and nutrition needs.

To address nutrition needs of those affected, Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Harkin (D-IA) have proposed legislation that would, among other steps, increase the maximum Food Stamp benefit for affected households by 10 percent, increase the gross income limit from 130 percent of the poverty line to 150 percent, and exempt for one year bank accounts and other assets from the resource limits under Food Stamps.

One of the greatest concerns for the state and local authorities is how Medicaid can be provided and funded for the disaster victims. After several proposals were put forth by Senators of both parties, by September 15 most attention had settled upon a compromise crafted by Senators Grassley and Baucus (S. 1716) that would provide emergency Medicaid coverage to survivors in whatever state they are now residing for five months (with a possible 5-month extension) under a streamlined application process without the normal documentation required. States would not be required to apply for a waiver and rules would be waived to allow more mental health and home health care. Louisiana and Mississippi would receive a 100 federal funding match. Hurricane survivors who are below 100 percent of the poverty line (200 percent for children and pregnant women) would be eligible.

Also, the late enrollment penalty under Medicare Part B would be suspended and Medicaid recipients who are eligible to transition to the Medicare prescription drug benefit are to be notified of the new benefit.

The administration has indicated that it would rather act by offering Medicaid waivers to states similar to the one negotiated recently with Texas. The waivers would create a new category for evacuees in Medicaid and SCHIP and include a streamlined enrollment process. The administration’s waiver plan is generally not as broad as the Grassley-Baucus proposal. Able-bodied adults without children, for example, would not be eligible no matter how poor, and low-income children could receive the more limited benefits under SCHIP rather than Medicaid. The administration plan also would not change the federal matching rate for Medicaid and SCHIP.

The Grassley-Baucus package also includes assistance for paying premiums to continue job-based health insurance and 13 weeks of Unemployment Insurance payments, funded fully from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund, for hurricane victims who have exhausted their normal UI benefits.

In the House, Financial Services Chairman Michael Oxley (R-OH) and Richard Baker (R-LA) proposed a manager’s amendment to provisions creating a National Housing Trust in legislation ( H.R. 1461 ) regulating GSEs (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae). The National Housing Trust provisions, which were approved by the committee in May, would be amended so that the disaster areas and the evacuees would have priority in accessing the fund. Passage of the bill in the House is uncertain, and the version of the GSE bill approved by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee does not include Housing Trust provisions.

Tax Legislation

The House and Senate, under a suspension of the rules, each passed bipartisan tax legislation September 15 geared towards helping the Gulf Coast. The House bill ( H.R. 3768 ) is slightly different from the Senate bill ( S. 1696 ), which was crafted by Senators Grassley and Baucus.

The measures would allow hurricane victims (or anyone in disaster zones, in the Senate bill) to borrow tax-free from retirement savings for three years; expand work opportunity tax credits (for employers of TANF/FS recipients) to employers of hurricane victims; provide an extra personal exemption of $500 for each victim a taxpayer houses for 60 days or more and increase tax breaks for charitable donations. Both bills would make people living in the affected areas eligible for mortgage revenue bonds that are usually only available to first-time homeowners.

The Senate bill would also provide a tax credit for displaced businesses to continue paying workers, 40 percent credit for wages up to $6,000.

The Senate and House versions allow hurricane survivors to use their 2004 income in calculating eligibility for EITC if necessary to avoid losing the benefit.

Administration Actions and Proposals

Last week, President Bush used a provision in the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act allowing him, during a “national emergency” to waive the requirement that construction workers on a federal contract be paid a prevailing wage. The White House signaled that it was working to waive a similar prevailing wage requirement for service workers under the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act. The White House claimed that without such a move, many of the disaster workers might argue that the prevailing wage applies to them because their work is partly service work in addition to construction. But the McNamara-O’Hara Act does not have a provision allowing the rule to be waived, and Secretary of Labor Chao stated September 14 that the administration was not planning such a change.

The President announced additional proposals to address the disaster in a speech to the nation on Thursday night. Many were ideas recycled from previous Administration budget proposals that Congress has not so far acted upon. The President proposed $5,000 Worker Recovery Accounts for unemployed Katrina survivors. These could pay for job training, or supports such as child care or transportation. While much is not yet known about the plan, the dollars proposed fall far short of the actual costs of training under the existing Workforce Investment Act (WIA vouchers in 2003 were typically worth about $10,000), and child care costs could easily take up the whole amount. The President also proposed funding school vouchers that could be used in private and parochial schools as part of an education aid package, and the creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone for communities in the affected states, including various business tax breaks intended to encourage redevelopment. Low-income advocates will be monitoring these and other proposals to see whether they result in survivors being trained and hired for the recovery activities.

The post CHN: Washington Focuses on Aiding Gulf Coast Families appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

Congress moved one step closer to approving fiscal year 2006 funding for a wide range of education, health, workforce training and human service programs when the Senate Appropriations Committee approved H.R. 3010 by a vote of 27 to 0 on July 14. The House approved the spending bill June 24. (See story in Human Needs Report .)

Spending Totals

The Senate bill provides $145.7 billion next year for discretionary programs (programs that must be appropriated each year) within the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services. (The total size of the bill is $604 billion – but that amount includes mandatory spending for programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which cannot be controlled by the appropriators.) The House version provides $142.5 billion in discretionary funding.

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the appropriations subcommittee in charge of the bill, managed to boost the total discretionary spending through accounting maneuvers. First, the committee voted to deny Medicaid and Medicare funding to pay for impotence treatment drugs, which saved $105 million. (The House had adopted a similar amendment during floor consideration.)

Second, Senator Specter pushed $3.3 billion in Supplemental Security Income payments back by a few days from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2007. SSI recipients who would normally get a check on Friday, September 29, 2006 would instead get a check on Monday, October 2. Although supportive of the additional discretionary funding allowed by Specter’s creative accounting, the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities expressed caution about the possible impact on the extremely low-income recipients who rely on SSI. The Consortium urged the committee to instruct the Social Security Administration to alert SSI recipients of the one-time change. It is not clear if the additional funds created by this move will survive a conference agreement with the House.

Spending by Program

Some human needs programs fared better in the Senate bill than the House bill, but many programs received the same amount in each bill. Many human needs programs are “level-funded ” receiving the same amount of funding as last year. But level funding is a misnomer because inflation erodes the value of a program that receives the same nominal amount year after year so that fewer services can be provided over time.

The Senate committee rejected the deep cuts to workforce training programs that were part of the House bill. Youth Training and Dislocated Worker Assistance under the Workforce Investment Act were funded at last year’s levels while Adult Training programs were cut by $3 million from last year’s level. In stark contrast, the House slashed adult training by $30.8 million (- 3.4 percent, not adjusted for inflation), youth training by $36.2 million (- 3.6 percent), and dislocated worker assistance by $70.8 million (- 4.7 percent). Funding for Job Corps, which has enjoyed bipartisan support, was increased by $30 million in the Senate, yet cut by $9.8 million in the House.

Funding for Community Health Centers (currently funded at $1.7 billion) would grow by $100 million in the House bill and $105 million in the Senate bill. Funding for these local centers has grown considerably during the Bush administration. At the same time, the Healthy Community Access program would suffer a $23 million cut under the Senate bill (from its current level of $83 million) and would be eliminated under the House bill. Both the House and Senate cut the $723.9 billion Maternal and Child Health Block Grant – the House by $23.9 million and the Senate by $13.9 million. Ryan White AIDS programs would grow by $10 million (a 0.4 percent increase) in both the House and Senate bill.

The Mental Health Block Grant would be level-funded at $410.9 million in the House and Senate bills. Funding for Mental Health Programs of Regional and National Significance would remain at $274.3 million in the Senate; the House bill cuts those programs by $21 million. The Senate bill cuts Substance Abuse Treatment Programs by $10.2 million (- 0.4 percent); the House cuts those by $12.9 million

(- 0.6 percent). Substance Abuse Prevention Programs would grow under the Senate bill by $3.5 million while the House cuts them by $3.7 million.

Just one in six households eligible for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) gets help. Yet the House bill eliminates emergency funding for LIHEAP, trimming total LIHEAP by $175.6 million. The Senate provides a small increase in LIHEAP from its current level of $2.182 billion ($1.884 billion of regular funds plus $297.6 emergency funds) to $2.183 billion ($1.883 billion in regular funds plus $300 million in emergency funds.)

The discretionary portion of the Child Care and Development Block Grant would be level-funded once again at $2.082 billion under both the House and Senate bills. Somewhat surprisingly, Head Start fared better in the House, which provided $6.898 billion for next year (a $55.8 million increase). The Senate committee funded the program at $6.874 billion (a $31 million increase). To keep pace with inflation, Head Start would need an increase of about $190 million. At the levels contemplated under the House and Senate bill, 20,000 to 21,000 children could lose access to Head Start or Early Head Start, or programs could start laying off staff. The $35.7 million Early Learning Fund (which provides grants to communities to promote school-readiness) is eliminated in both the House and Senate bills.

Most child abuse programs were level-funded or near level-funded in both the House and Senate bills.

Both bills add $3 million for adoption opportunities; the House bill increases grants to states for child abuse discretionary activities by $5 million. The Senate would cut the discretionary portion of Promoting Safe and Stable Families (a child abuse prevention program) by nearly $9 million to just $90 million. The House would level-fund the program at $99 million. At one time the President promised to bring the discretionary portion of this program up to $200 million, but he has failed to push Congress to deliver on that promise. Training Vouchers for youth aging out of foster care are level-funded in the Senate but would grow by $3.3 million in the House.

The Senate would fund the Community Services Block Grant at the same level as last year – $636.7 million. In his budget, the President proposed slashing the Community Services Block Grant, and the House took up that suggestion by cutting funding nearly in half to $320 million.

Nutrition programs within the Administration on Aging (such as Meals-on-Wheels ) would get a $7.1 million boost under the House bill to $725.8 million. Funding would stay static under the Senate bill.

Title I (Education for the Disadvantaged) under the No Child Left Behind Act would rise by just $100 million under both bills (an increase of less than 1 percent), the smallest increase in years. If approved, next year’s level of $12.8 billion would be billions below the amount promised by President Bush when he signed the legislation. The $225 million Even Start family literacy program is eliminated entirely in the Senate committee bill; the House cuts it to $200 million. (The President recommended eliminating the program in his budget.) Four education programs would remain level-funded in both bills: Grants for Improving Teacher Quality would receive $1.481 billion, Reading First grants would receive $1.041 billion, Migrant Education would receive $34.2 million, and 21 st Century Community Learning Centers (after-school programs) would receive $991 million.

State grants for special education would rise to $11.565 billion in the House (a 1.3 percent increase) and $11.518 billion in the Senate (a 0.9 percent increase). Both the House and Senate would make some cuts to vocational education – a drop of $14.2 million in the House (- 1.0 percent) and $16.7 million in the Senate (- 1.2 percent). Adult education would stay at last year’s levels ($585.4 million) in both the House and Senate bills.

Next Steps

Under normal procedures, the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill would now go to the Senate floor for full debate and a vote. However, the Senate floor schedule will be jam-packed this fall, with a Supreme Court nomination, two reconciliation bills, the USA Patriot Act renewal and other must-pass legislation on the slate. The Labor-HHS-Education bill is one of the most contentious appropriations bills, and it is possible the Senate leadership, in order to save time, will wrap the bill up with other appropriations bills into a single “omnibus” bill. Unfortunately for advocates, omnibus bills often force lawmakers to make important spending decisions behind closed doors in the figurative (and sometimes literal) dark of the night.

For More Information

Senate Report 109-103: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp109:FLD010:@1(sr103 )

House Report 109-143: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp109:FLD010:@1(hr143 )

The post CHN: Senate Committee Agrees to Labor-HHS-Education Spending Bill appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.

The measure approved on the floor is very similar to Appropriations Committee’s recommendations. (See June 17 Human Needs Report .) The bill, sponsored by Appropriation Chairman Ralph Regula (R-OH), authorizes $142.5 billion in discretionary spending (funding that must be appropriated each year) for fiscal year 2006, a decline of $164 million (or 0.1 percent) from last year’s level. The President requested even less funding in his budget ($141.5). The total cost of the bill equals $602 billion, when mandatory programs such as Medicaid and Medicare are added in.

A proposed $100 million cut to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which supports public television and National Public Radio, attracted heated debate. Decrying the reduction, members of both parties took to the House floor holding stuffed Big Birds and Elmos. In the end, 87 Republicans joined with 196 Democrats to restore the funding by passing an amendment sponsored by Ranking Member David Obey (D-WI), Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA).

The bill as passed by committee and agreed to on the floor includes many other cuts to human needs services, including a $23 million cut to the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant (a 3.3 percent reduction), a $21 million cut to mental health services (a 2.3 percent reduction) and a $316 million cut (a 50 percent reduction) to community services . Employment and training services also suffered deep reductions, including a $30 million cut to adult training (a 3.4 percent reduction), a $36 million cut to youth training (a 3.6 percent reduction), and a $10 million cut to Job Corps.

To see a complete listing of funding and a comparison to last year’s levels, look at the chart prepared by the Appropriations Committee: http://appropriations.house.gov/_files/06LH_Hse.pdf   *** Page Not Found

The Senate will start its work on the Labor-HHS-Education bill after the Independence Day recess, which runs July 1 through July 11. The Senate’s total discretionary level for the bill, $141.344 billion, is slightly lower than the House amount.

The post CHN: House Approves Labor-HHS-Education Spending Bill appeared first on Coalition on Human Needs.