Budget Talking Points

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Socials workers strongly support the maintenance of a strong health insurance safety net for vulnerable populations, and state Medicaid programs provide the most critical safety net for low-income Americans in need of health care services.
Currently, Medicaid provides coverage to 47 million Americans including one-in four U.S. children, 4.1 million elderly, and seven million blind and disabled individuals.
If enacted, these cuts will make deep reductions in provider payments and reduce coverage for millions of recipients. Among the services most hurt by the changes would be case management services, which were singled out for heavy reductions ($11.7 billion over 10 years).

As part of the welfare system's last reform, Congress and the State Governors agreed to reduce SSBG funding to $2.38 billion for five years, and to return it to its former level of $2.8 billion in 2003. Unfortunately, the funding level was reduced in 1998 and is currently $1.7 billion a year.
The cut in SSBG funding has driven social-service providers to discontinue services to children, families, the elderly, and people with disabilities. It has also forced them to lay off staff and reduce benefits for vulnerable families.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program has been funded at $16.5 billion since 1997, and as a result, has fallen significantly in real value.
Caseloads have also fallen, but now a large share of TANF expenditures go to provide supportive services for low-income working families, who are outside of the traditional welfare system.
In FY 2003 (the most recent data available), states spent only about one-third (35 percent) of their TANF funding on basic assistance; 18 percent was spent on childcare.
Unless Congress increases TANF funding, it is virtually inevitable that states will be forced to cut (or further cut) TANF-funded services and benefits.

The proposed �Child Welfare Program Option,� which block grants Title IV-E foster care, would jeopardize the IV-E training program by eliminating its entitlement funding and enhanced federal match and pitting it against the need for services.
A well trained, highly skilled, and stable workforce is necessary to address the problems facing the child welfare system and the Title IV-E training program is the only program with the capacity to systematically improve caseworkers' knowledge and skills.
The program has demonstrated that it enhances worker competence and increases worker retention, thus improving services to children and families and reducing the costs of turnover.

The ESSCP helps school districts to establish or expand school-based counseling services through qualified state licensed or certified school social workers, school counselors, school psychologists, or appropriately qualified psychiatrists and psychologists.
The program helps improve school safety and increases students' academic achievement by expanding students' access to counseling services.
The ESSCP has served tens of thousands of students nationwide.
For the 2004-05 school year, the ESSCP provides support services to students in 99 school districts in 31 states and the District of Columbia , representing hundreds of schools nationwide.

Social work salaries continue to be among the lowest for professionals in general and for those with master's level educations in particular.
Due to unmanageable student loan debt, many of these dedicated professionals are forced to leave positions that may be in desperate need of their skills and knowledge for positions that are more financially rewarding.
The Perkins loan forgiveness program is one of the few federal programs available to social workers interested in working in the social services.
The Perkins program must be maintained and loan forgiveness eligibility for social workers must be extended to the larger guaranteed and direct student loan programs.