Federal Budget: Keep the Pressure
On
April 8, 2005
Issue
The President's budget request called to reduce the deficit
primarily by cutting programs that meet basic human needs.
The Senate and House passed two vastly different budget resolutions.
The next step is for a Senate-House conference committee 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.
Action Requested
Call Your Representative and Senators on Tuesday, April
12 : Tell them: w e'll pay our share in taxes, but we
expect you to set the right priorities when you spend those dollars!
As Tax Day approaches, remind Congress what the money should
be for, now that they are back at work on the federal budget. The
House and Senate will soon be working out their differences
to determine what goes in the budget for fiscal year 2006 --
and whether or not human needs programs are cut.
TOLL-FREE CALL-IN NUMBER: 1-800-247-2971
This toll-free number is provided courtesy of the
American Friends Service Committee which has launched a new
budget campaign, www.saveourservices.org .
If you cannot get through on that line, please call the U.S.
Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or find your Members
of Congress' direct lines at http://63.66.87.48/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=NASW (scroll
to the bottom of the page and enter your zip code to find your
Members of Congress and their contact information).
For a flier you can distribute, with specific talking
points for making calls, click this link: http://www.chn.org/pdf/april12callin.pdf
If you make a phone call, please let us know via e-mail at advocacy@naswdc.org
Background
The House has not yet named their budget conferees, but the
Senate appointed Gregg (R-NH); Domenici (R-NM); Grassley (R-IA);
Allard (R-CO); Conrad (D-ND); Sarbanes (D-MD); and Murray (D-WA).
The conferees will have to work out differences in a number
of areas.
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).
New State-Specific Information on Budget Cuts from CHN
The Coalition on Human Needs has produced fact
sheets , based on information from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, showing
how federal budget cuts now being considered will affect people in each state.
View these at http://www.chn.org/issues/opportunityforall/statefactsheets.html
Check out NASW's Federal
Budget Page for the association's most current information
about the federal budget process http://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/issues/budget.asp
For additional information, please contact Dina Zarrella,
senior field organizer, at dzarrella@naswdc.org or
202-336-8218.
|
About
NASW