Tell Congress to Pass a Budget
Conference Resolution that Places Human Needs Ahead of Tax
Cuts
March 22, 2005
Issue
The President's budget request called to reduce the deficit
primarily by cutting programs that meet basic human needs.
Last week the Senate and House passed two vastly different
budget resolutions. The next step is for the Senate and House
to conference to come up with a joint budget resolution.
NASW strongly supports the maintenance of a strong safety
net for vulnerable populations and opposes these cuts to critical
human needs programs.
Background
Thanks to calls from social workers and other advocates, the
Senate voted to strip out of the Senate budget resolution instructions
to the Finance Committee to cut $15 billion from Medicaid.
Republican sponsor Gordon Smith was joined by fellow Republican
Senators Snowe, Collins, Chafee, Specter, Coleman, DeWine,
Democratic co-sponsor Jeff Bingaman, and all Democrats to protect
Medicaid. The amendment passed 52
to 48 . Unfortunately, the House resolution contains a
$20 billion cut that would primarily apply to Medicaid.
Another bright spot was the passage of a Kennedy-sponsored
amendment increasing the total level of discretionary spending
in the Senate budget resolution by $5.4 billion, in order to
boost education funding. The Senate also adopted an amendment
that seeks to avert cuts to the Community Development Block
Grant. Because the amendment does not add any dollars to the
budget, the effect is mostly symbolic, but sends the message
that the Senate rejects the steep cuts proposed by the President.
New Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
One disappointment was the failure of the Senate to apply
any brakes to the runaway train of new tax cuts for the wealthy.
Not only did the Senate reject a "pay-as-you-go" amendment
offered by Senators Chafee and Feingold that would have held
tax cuts to the same sorts of limits now applied to new spending,
Senators voted to put MORE tax cuts in the budget resolution.
As it went to the Senate floor, the resolution allowed for
$70 billion in new tax cuts and gave those tax cuts the special
protection of reconciliation procedures. This would mean the
$70 billion tax cut bill to be written by the Finance Committee
later this year will need only 51 votes to pass, rather than
the typical 60 votes. Senators defeated an
amendment offered by Senator Carper that would have removed
fast-track reconciliation protection from the new tax cuts.
Later in the day, Senators passed an
amendment offered by Senator Bunning that nearly doubled the
size of the tax cut package to about $130 billion. The budget
resolution does not specify which tax cuts should be included
in the $130 billion, but Senator Bunning intended his amendment
to repeal a tax on Social Security benefits of upper income
retirees from 1993.
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 resolution calls for $17 billion
in cuts to mandatory (or entitlement) programs over the next
five years. The House budget 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 $106-$129 billion in new tax cuts, which would disproportionately
benefit high-income households.
Medicaid: The House budget resolution instructs the House
Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $20 billion over five
years. Almost all of these cuts are expected to come out of
the Medicaid program. The Senate budget resolution has no cuts
to Medicaid. This is a key area of disagreement between the
House and Senate resolutions. We will have to continue to advocate
eliminating cuts to the Medicaid program.
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families), Title IV-E Child Welfare, Social Services Block
Grant: The House budget
resolution instructs the House Ways and Means Committee to
cut $18.7 billion from mandatory programs under its jurisdiction,
which include the programs listed here. This is roughly equivalent
to the total amount that households with incomes exceeding
$1 million will receive in tax cuts over the next five years
from two tax cuts. Combined, TANF and the Child Care Block
Grant could get $2.4 billion in cuts. Title IV-E Child Welfare
could have as much as $900 million in cuts. The Social Services
Block Grant is looking at $208 million in cuts. There is not
a similar instruction in the Senate resolution, so conference
negotiations on a cut of this size will be sticky.
Domestic Discretionary Programs
The Senate budget resolution cuts domestic discretionary programs
$202 billion below their current level, adjusted for inflation,
over five years. The House budget resolution 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 Prevention and Treatment Act).
Action Requested
First, we must thank Senators who stood up for vulnerable
people by opposing cuts to the programs they need and who stood
against tax cuts that increase the deficit. We must ask for
their continued support. And we must continue to pressure every
Senator to reject a final budget resolution that cuts Medicaid,
TANF, Child Welfare, or the Social Services Block Grant while
giving tax cuts to the wealthy.
- Thank Senators who voted for the Smith-Bingaman
Amendment to eliminate Medicaid cuts from the Senate Resolution.
Sens. Snowe (R-ME), Collins (R-ME), Chafee (R-RI), Specter
(R-PA), Coleman (R-MN), DeWine (R-OH), Smith (R-OR), and
Jeffords (I-VT) as well all Democratic Senators supported
this amendment.
- 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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