Budget
Update
February 10, 2006
The Congress just finished work on the FY 2006 federal budget
and the process is beginning again. On February 6, 2006, President
Bush outlined his proposal for the FY 2007 federal budget.
The President’s new budget calls for $187 billion in
cuts over five years in non-defense programs (i.e., domestic
and international programs) outside homeland security. This
includes reductions in both discretionary (i.e., annually appropriated)
programs and entitlement programs. It also includes terminating
141 discretionary programs.
Meeting Human Needs
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act’s (CAPTA)
community-based prevention grants are tagged for a $1 million
decrease. This is an unfortunate cut when one considers
that states report that 43 percent of confirmed victims of
child maltreatment do not receive needed services to remediate
the negative consequences of abuse and neglect.
Employment and Training
The Administration proposes cutting the Department of Labor’s
funding for the employment and Training Administration by $648
billion. This includes cutting funding for the Workforce Investment
Act pilots and demonstrations by 40%.
Head Start and Promoting Safe and Stable Families
The Administration proposes a zero increase in federal funding
for the Head Start and Early Head Start programs. According
to the Head Start Association, the proposed budget for Head
Start could result in the equivalent of closing enrollment
to at least 19,000 children in fiscal year 2007. This budget
leaves some services to children and families without the resources
needed to do the job of ensuring that children are safe and
protected. We do, however, commend the Administration
for proposing an increase of $40 million in mandatory spending
for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program.
Housing
The Administration proposes to eliminate the Department of
Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Hope VI program,
which replaces unviable public housing units with public and
privately owned mix-income housing.
The Administration also proposes cutting HUD’s core
programs by approximately 20%.
Medicaid
Medicaid is facing substantial cuts over the next five years,
according to the proposed budget. A proposed $14 billion
in new cuts to Medicaid would severely limit health care opportunities
for low-income people, including many seniors, children, and
people with disabilities. This cut includes a reduction in
funding for case management services that alone totals $1.2
billion over five years.
Medicare
Medicare is facing an even more drastic $36 billion cut, largely
by reducing institutional provider payments and also by reducing
services for seniors and individuals with disabilities.
Social Services Block Grant
The Administration’s budget request reduces the Social
Services Block Grant (SSBG) by $500 million after suggesting
flat funding five years in a row. See NASW’s information
on past fights for SSBG
funding restoration on our advocacy page.
Welfare
The Bush Administration’s budget maintains funding for
the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant
at the current $17 billion level, which means another year
of less funding due to inflation. It also increases work requirements.
The budget also fails to include any increased funding for
childcare and proposes to shift funding for current state bonuses
into funding for healthy marriages and fatherhood promotion
initiatives.
Improving the Profession to Protect Social Work
Clients
Child Welfare
The President once again proposes to block grant the Title
IV-E Foster Care Program—pitting funding for services
against funding for staff and training, and jeopardizing the
IV-E university-agency training partnerships. States who choose
the “Child Welfare Program Option” could receive
enhanced federal funding for the first year, but less in future
years so that it would be budget neutral over a five-year period.
Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program
For the fifth year in a row, the Bush Administration’s
budget request attempts to eliminate the Elementary and Secondary
School Counseling Program (ESSCP). ESSCP is a three-year grant
program, so if funds are eliminated this year, the school districts
that are already receiving ESSCP funds will not receive their
second and third year of promised money. See NASW’s information
on past successful fights for ESSCP
funding restoration on our advocacy page.
Health Professions
The Administration proposes to eliminate nearly all of the
Title VII Health Professions Training funding. It also freezes
funding for Title VIII of the health professions programs that
will halt development of a health care workforce prepared to
care for the most vulnerable populations. These programs are
essential parts of the health care safety net, supporting education
and training for health professionals, including clinical social
workers, who are prepared to serve rural and underserved areas.
Summary
The Bush Administration’s budget request started a process
that will go on for months as the Administration works within
the complex congressional budget process to secure passage
of these changes. Over the next few weeks, Congress will question
Administration officials about the budget and develop its own
spending plan called a budget resolution. The budget resolution
includes a total for discretionary spending and targets for
revenues and entitlement spending. Congress will consider cuts
and caps on domestic discretionary and entitlement spending,
including Medicaid, during this process. The budget resolution
will do this in two ways: 1) by decreasing the overall ceiling
for discretionary spending on programs in the budget resolution;
and 2) ordering congressional committees to pass follow up
legislation called “budget reconciliation” to cut
entitlements, including Medicaid and Medicare and reduce taxes.
These two separate budget bills are necessary to enact all
of the budget cuts the Republican leadership has indicated
it wants.
Thank you,
Dina L. Zarrella, MSS, MLSP
NASW Senior Field Organizer
202-336-8218 |
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