Tell Congress to Reject the House
and Senate Budget Committees' Cuts to Human Needs & Social
Services
March 15, 2005
Issue
The President's budget request called to reduce the deficit
primarily by cutting programs that meet basic human needs.
Last week, the House and Senate Budget Committees passed budget
resolutions that also cut programs that meet basic human needs.
NASW strongly supports the maintenance of a strong safety
net for vulnerable populations and opposes these cuts to critical
human needs programs.
Background
The Senate and House budget committees have reviewed the Administration's
budget request, questioned Administration officials about the
request, and developed a budget resolution that the full Senate
and House will need to vote on.
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 may do this in several ways: 1) by decreasing discretionary
or entitlement spending on programs in the budget resolution;
2) ordering congressional committees to pass legislation called “budget
reconciliation” to cut entitlements, including Medicaid, and/or
taxes; and/or 3) passing a budget process bill that would cap
all spending, cap entitlement spending, cap discretionary spending
and/or institute “pay-as-you-go” rules for entitlement programs
only. These three separate budget bills are necessary to enact
all of the budget cuts the Republican leadership has indicated
it wants.
Key areas of concerns include:
Mandatory Programs
Overall, the Senate Budget Committee's resolution calls for
$38 billion in cuts to mandatory (or entitlement) programs
over the next five years. The House Budget Committee's resolution
calls for cuts of between $30-$35 billion. Low-income Americans
would absorb a large and disproportionate share of the cuts
in mandatory programs. In addition, both the Senate and House
resolutions propose between $70 - $106 billion in new tax cuts,
which would disproportionately benefit high-income households.
Medicaid: The House Budget Committee instructed the House
Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $20 billion over five
years. The Senate Budget Committee has instructed the Finance
Committee to cut $15 billion over five years. Almost all of
these cuts are expected to come out of the Medicaid program.
This will shift costs from the federal government to states,
force states to cut enrollment for optional populations, or
cut optional services.
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families), Title IV-E Child Welfare, Social Services Block
Grant: As stated above,
the majority of cuts required by the Senate Finance Committee
are likely to be made in Medicaid, but other mandatory programs,
such as those listed here, could be cut as well. In the House,
the Budget Committee instructed the House Ways and Means Committee
to cut $15 billion from programs under its jurisdiction, which
include the programs listed here. The Committee could chose
to cut unemployment insurance, the child tax credit, child
support enforcement, or other programs under its jurisdiction,
but low-income programs are the most likely targets.
Domestic Discretionary Programs
The Senate Budget Committee cuts domestic discretionary programs
$207 billion below their current level, adjusted for inflation,
over five years. The House Budget Committee cuts domestic discretionary
programs by $216 billion below their current level, adjusted
for inflation, over five years. Domestic discretionary programs
include such NASW priorities as the Elementary and
Secondary School Counseling Program, loan forgiveness, and
CAPTA (Child Abuse and Treatment Act).
Action Requested
Now is the time that all Members of Congress will be voting
on their support for or opposition to the budget resolution.
Contact your Senators and Representatives to share your opposition
to budget cuts that target human needs while also cutting vitally
needed revenues to support key federal programs.
- Send a pre-drafted letter to your member through
NASW's Congress Web at www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/grassroots/congressweb.asp
- Call or fax your Members of Congress (you
can find contact information via NASW's Congress Web (link
above)
- Request an in-person meeting with your Member
of Congress during the recess during the weeks
of March 18-April 4. You can find District office
information on their Web sites
- Attend a Town Hall Meeting
hosted by your Members of Congress
If you make a phone call or set up a meeting, please let us
know via e-mail at advocacy@naswdc.org
Check out NASW's Federal
Budget Page for the association's most current information
about the federal budget process.
For additional information, please contact Dina Zarrella,
senior field organizer, at dzarrella@naswdc.org or
202-336-8218. |
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