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Below are just some of the points they might have missed by having only a couple of hours to read a 774-page bill that the House narrowly approved after an all-night session. Some of these cuts to health and welfare-to-work programs were slipped in at the last minute and are worse than anything originally approved by the House or Senate. Others were in the House bill all along, with dangerous consequences but not exactly making headlines.
You've probably read about how the Senate was deadlocked at 50-50 on the budget bill. Vice President Cheney, playing the role of Anti Claus,* broke the tie to enact the cuts. But the Senate made some changes to the bill. The House must either (1) approve those changes, (2) send modifications back to the Senate, (3) send it all back to another conference committee, or (4) just vote the whole thing down . Option (4) sounds good to us. Groups in Washington and around the country are starting to plan activities for January. We will let the country and Congress know that this bill hurts children, seniors, struggling families, students, and people with disabilities. It sacrifices opportunity and security for all – only to pour billions of dollars into tax cuts for the few. We are counting on your help, because you have been there each step of the way. Many, many thanks – and best wishes for a happy and restful holiday. (*Thanks to our friends at MoveOn.org for the Claus connection.) The dead-of-night deal threatens far more children with loss of medical care than the House originally proposed. States are allowed to restrict benefits for nearly all of the 29 million children receiving Medicaid – something new slipped into the bill and worse even than the Medicaid provisions that originally passed the House. Under current law, children in Medicaid programs must receive comprehensive care – including screening for health problems and the necessary treatment. The bill allows the basic benefits package to be scaled back, with some care only provided through extra “wrap-around” coverage that health policy experts think will not result in assured care. The Congressional Budget Office agrees care will be lost – they estimated $6.1 billion in federal funds will not be spent because of this change. The dead-of-night deal will make it harder for states to run effective welfare-to-work programs. A last-minute provision will prevent states from operating separate programs with rules states have determined make the most sense for special populations like two-parent families or families coping with serious barriers to work. Under current law, states may use their own funds to operate such programs, and those funds count towards the minimum spending that qualifies states to receive their share of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) dollars. The new provision will not count such funds towards the state spending requirement, making it extremely difficult for states to continue programs they have judged to be effective. In addition, states will have to dramatically increase participation in work activities – a 69 percent increase over the 2003 level. The bill also reduces funds now used for welfare to work programs and includes a very inadequate increase for child care ($1 billion over 5 years, leaving funding $12.5 billion too low to meet current and new needs). This leaves states with a renewed incentive to drive families off TANF through harsher requirements and no help to meet them. Despite new funds to promote marriage, the impact of the other changes will be to end services for two-parent families in many states. Poor people will not receive Medicaid because they will be required to show a birth certificate or passport to qualify. A little known provision, this is targeted at illegal immigrants, although the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out that the HHS office of the Inspector General has not found substantial evidence that such false applications are a problem. But many low-income citizens will be excluded, because they do not have the required documents. A study has estimated that up to one-fifth of African Americans born around 1940 do not have a birth certificate. Many more people will be hurt by the budget reconciliation bill now back in the hands of the House. These are only a few examples. For more information, see Overview from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities TANF implications from CLASP Child support cuts from CLASP
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