Federal Appropriations: Where
the Rubber Meets the Road
July 8, 2005
Issue
This week, Senators will be considering the Fiscal Year (FY)
2006 Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS)
appropriations legislation which funds a number of social service
programs. On Tuesday, July 12, the Appropriations Subcommittee
on Labor-HHS will be “marking up” the bill, and
on Thursday, July 14, the full Appropriations Committee will
be doing the same. During mark-up, Senators who are members
of the subcommittee and full committee have an opportunity
to debate, discuss, and offer amendments to increase funding
for the bill.
Action Requested
Send a letter to your Senators by Thursday, July 14, asking
them to increase funding for crucial social service and health
programs. Go to http://63.66.87.48/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=NASW to
send a letter to your Senators.
We worked hard during the budget process to avert excessive
cuts in social service and health budgets. Now that the appropriations
process is moving along, social workers need to continue to
be heard about the need to fund these programs fully.
Background
A number of issue areas will be considered for funding during
the Appropriations mark-up. Here are some specific programs
to advocate for
Domestic Discretionary Programs
CAPTA (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act): CAPTA
funds improvements in the delivery of child protective services,
training, prevention activities, and research. Last year,
Congress approved increases in CAPTA funding for the first
time in 10 years, but they were not as high as the President
proposed. The House approved level funding for FY 2006,
but NASW is asking the Senate to include increases that
would match the President's request for FY 2005: Title
I-State Grants-$42 million; Title II-Community-based Prevention
Grants-$65 million; Title III-Research & Demonstrations-$35
million.
Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program: The
program provides competitive grants to school districts
to hire interdisciplinary teams of school social workers, school
counselors, and school psychologists. The President zeroed
out funding for the program in his proposed FY 2006 budget,
but the House restored funding to its FY 2005 level: $35
million. NASW is asking that the Senate also restore funding
to at least the $35 million level.
HIV/AIDS Funding: There are currently no
increases for care, treatment, and, support services in the
Ryan White CARE act and a marginal increase in the Drug Assistance
Programs (ADAPT). NASW recommends an increase from the current
$2 billion for the Ryan White CARE Act and $300 million in
funding for ADAPT.
Title VII-Health Professions: Currently,
the Health Professions Programs are slated for elimination.
NASW’s recommendation is to provide at least $550 million
to support Title VII and VIII programs in FY 2006. The programs
are essential to the development and training of primary health
care professionals and contribute to the nation's overall efforts
to increase access to care by promoting health care delivery
in medically underserved communities.
Mental Health Programs: Despite the work
of the House to restore funds cut in the President’s
recommendation, funding for mental health services at the Center
for Mental Health Services at SAMHSA remains $21 million below
last year’s funding level in the House passed bill. At
the very least, we urge you to hold funding for mental health
services “harmless” and restore funding to last
year’s level.
Older Americans Act: To help support the
aging population, NASW recommends increasing funding for the
services provided through the Older Americans Act (OAA) by
at least 10 percent.
The following are Senators who serve on the Senate Appropriations
Committee. Members in bold also serve on the Labor, HHS, Education,
and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
Republicans
Senators Thad Cochran, Chair (MS), Ted Stevens (AK),
Arlen Specter, Subcommittee Chair (PA), Pete Domenici
(NM), Mitch McConnell (KY), Conrad Burns (MT), Richard
Shelby (AL), Judd Gregg (NH), Robert Bennett (UT), Larry
Craig (ID), Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), Mike DeWine (OH), Sam
Brownback (KS), and Wayne Allard (CO).
Democrats
Senators Robert Byrd, Ranking Member (WV), Daniel
Inouye (HI), Patrick
Leahy (VT), Tom Harkin, Subcommittee Ranking Member (IA), Barbara
Mikulski (MD), Harry Reid (NV), Herbert Kohl (WI), Patty Murray (WA), Byron
Dorgan (ND), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Richard Durbin (IL), Tim
Johnson (SD), and Mary Landrieu (LA).
For additional information, please contact Dina Zarrella,
senior field organizer, at dzarrella@naswdc.org or
202-336-8218.
Thank you for your advocacy. |
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