Pages tagged "Federal Budget"
Senate “Labor-H” Appropriations Bill Invests in Kids
Washington – The bipartisan children’s advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter today urging members of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee to support the committee’s draft federal fiscal year 2014 appropriations bill for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies. The “Labor-HHS” appropriations bill authored by Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) would, as the letter observes, restore recent cuts to critical children’s initiatives and strengthen investments in key priorities.
“Chairman Harkin’s plan recognizes that the only way to build a stronger tomorrow for children is by providing the things they need to succeed today,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.
Automatic federal budget “sequestration” cuts reduced investments in children by more than $4 billion in 2013 alone. Since 2010, federal “discretionary” budget cuts have cost children nearly $6 billion. The committee’s Labor-HHS bill is part of an overall appropriations allocations package that would replace sequestration, restore cuts to kids and make targeted investments in America’s future. The Senate bill would benefit specific children’s priorities, including early education, K-12 education, and primary health care. The bill would also finance a new State Paid Leave Fund, intended to help states create initiatives that allow working parents remain employed while managing a child’s illness or other family emergency.
By contrast, the comparable U.S. House of Representatives funding allocation would cut investments in children by more than 22 percent from pre-sequester federal fiscal year 2013 levels. While the House has not yet released Labor-HHS appropriations language, the letter observes that applying this cut proportionally throughout the bill would mean cuts to education for children with disabilities, schools serving military families and Native American children, health and nutrition for pregnant women, new moms, and their babies, and less funding to protect children from child abuse and neglect.
“Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but children didn’t create them, and Chairman Harkin recognizes that denying kids the help they need to grow and thrive is the wrong way to solve them,” said Lesley.
# # #
The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org .
First Focus Campaign for Children Supports the Fiscal Year 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill
On July 11, 2013, the Senate Appropriations Committee will consider a bill providing for the Fiscal Year 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations. This bill contains the majority of discretionary funding for investments that matter to children. First Focus Campaign for Children sent the following letter to Senate appropriators in support of the legislation.
Child Well-Being and the Safety Net
On June 18, 2013, the Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee held a hearing presided over by Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA) titled “More Spending, Less Real Help: Reviewing How Today’s Fragmented Welfare System Fails to Lift Up Poor Families.” The hearing focused on the effectiveness of current safety net programs in serving low-income families. The FFCC submitted this statement on the importance of safety net and work support investments for child well-being. It also includes suggestions on how to best address current gaps in the safety net where policy and implementation changes can be made to improve outcomes for children.
Hungry Children Win with House Farm Bill’s Loss
Washington – The U.S. House of Representatives today voted 195-234 to reject the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (H.R. 1947, colloquially the House “Farm Bill”), legislation weakening federal investments in child nutrition.
The legislation would have cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) by more than $20 billion over 10 years. Forty-seven percent of SNAP funding goes to children.
“The House Farm Bill’s defeat is a victory for kids. Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but hungry kids didn’t cause them, and cutting anti-hunger investments is the wrong way to solve them,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley. “It’s simple math – nearly half of every SNAP dollar goes to children, so the House Farm Bill would have taken food away from hungry kids.”
The bill also makes several SNAP policy changes that would make it harder for hungry children to get the food they need. Specifically, it would have:
- Directed state SNAP agencies to take families’ SNAP funds away if not fully used within 60 days, as families might do to stretch resources in response to a job loss, an illness, a wage cut, or other economic setback;
- Ended the U.S.-Mexico Partnership for Nutrition Assistance Initiative, which helps low-income, legal immigrant (often citizen) children get access to the food they need;
- Denied SNAP to some ex-offenders, which harms children by reducing the family’s net SNAP resources;
- Encouraged states to impose a work requirements on families receiving SNAP, by allowing states to reallocate half of any savings from a work requirement program that results in SNAP denials; and
- Allowed states to drug-test children and other SNAP recipients.
“It’s too early to know why the House Farm Bill failed, but I sure hope the idea of drug-testing three-year-olds played a part,” said Lesley.
The legislation would also weaken the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). FFVP provides funding to help local schools make fresh produce available to children in low-income communities, but the bill would make dried, canned, and frozen produce – including products with added sugar, salt, or other additives – eligible for FFVP funding.
“Politicians and agribusiness lobbyists can’t fool the American people – pizza’s not a vegetable, and canned fruits packed in sugar syrup aren’t fresh,” said Lesley.
# # #
The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.
Senate Appropriations Committee Protects Child Nutrition Safety Net
Washington – The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations voted today to approve legislation funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and related agencies for federal fiscal year (FY) 2014. The legislation provides $548 million more for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for FY 2014 than 2013 levels. This overall funding level allows the Senate bill to maintain investments in critical nutrition initiatives, including:
- An initiative that helps new mothers breastfeed their babies;
- A congressionally mandated initiative to modernize WIC, by moving from paper eligibility cards to more secure electronic cards; and
- Restore partially the WIC contingency fund, allowing WIC to accommodate increases in food costs or increases in need driven by economic conditions.
In addition to the legislation’s WIC provisions, it also funds School Meals Equipment Grants. Many local schools rely on central kitchens and maintain only warming equipment on site. The bill would provide $35 million in competitive grant funding to help schools acquire kitchen equipment ranging from salad bars to ovens. These grants would also help schools replace equipment like deep fryers with equipment useful in preparing meals better aligned with the objectives of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010.
The Senate’s increased child nutrition funding reflects higher overall funding allocations made under the Senate-passed FY 2014 budget resolution. In total, the Senate appropriations allocation package provides an estimated $3.3 billion more to critical children’s priorities than 2013 funding levels. When federal budget sequestration is taken into account, the increased funding allocation for children’s priorities in 2014 is even greater.
This compares to a House Agriculture Appropriations bill that cuts WIC by more than $200 million in 2014 and fails to fund School Meals Equipment Grants. The overall House funding allocation package would result in estimated cuts totaling nearly $15 billion to critical children’s priorities.
In response, First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley released the following statement:
“Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but hungry kids didn’t cause them. While the House makes deep and dangerous cuts to child nutrition, the Senate Appropriations Committee recognizes that we can’t build a stronger tomorrow for children by denying them the things they need to succeed today.”
# # #
The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.
Children’s Advocates Urge House to Protect Child Nutrition
Washington – The First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization, sent a letter today urging members of the U.S. House of Representatives to reject provisions of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (colloquially, the House “Farm Bill”) that weaken investments in child nutrition.
“Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but hungry kids didn’t cause them, and cutting anti-hunger investments is the wrong way to solve them,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.
The legislation cuts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) by nearly $21 billion over 10 years. Forty-seven percent of SNAP funding goes to children.
“It’s simple math – nearly half of every SNAP dollar goes to children, so the House Farm Bill would take food away from hungry kids,” said Lesley.
The bill also cuts funding for the SNAP-Education program. This initiative, commonly referred to as “SNAP-Ed,” funds local schools’ efforts to inform kids about healthy food choices and the benefits of healthy eating. SNAP- Ed also helps parents learn how to buy and prepare healthy foods and get the most nutritional value for every SNAP dollar.
“A Congress serious about fighting child hunger and curbing the childhood obesity epidemic would never cut SNAP-Ed,” said Lesley.
The legislation would also weaken the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). FFVP provides funding to help local schools make fresh produce available to children in low-income communities, but the bill would make dried, canned, and frozen produce – including products with added sugar, salt, or other additives – eligible for FFVP funding.
“Politicians and agribusiness lobbyists can’t fool the American people – pizza’s not a vegetable, and canned fruits packed in sugar syrup aren’t fresh,” said Lesley.
The U.S. Senate passed its own version of Farm Bill legislation last week. The Farm Bill debate stalled last year, when the Senate passed a Farm Bill, but the House did not.
# # #
The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.
House Appropriations Committee Vote Weakens Child Nutrition Safety Net
Washington – The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations voted today to approve legislation funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and related agencies for federal fiscal year (FY) 2014. The legislation provides $214 million less for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for FY 2014. The lower WIC funding brings the bill in line with lower overall funding allocations made under the House-passed FY 2014 budget resolution. That appropriations allocation package would result in cuts totaling nearly $15 billion to appropriations bills that fund critical children’s priorities. The bill specifies that funding to serve the immediate needs of current beneficiaries is to be prioritized, a move that is anticipated to result in the following funding reductions:
- No funding for an initiative that helps new mothers breastfeed their babies;
- No funding for a congressionally-mandated initiative to modernize WIC, by moving from paper eligibility cards to more secure electronic cards;
- USDA will likely need to deplete the WIC contingency fund, leaving no reserves to accommodate increases in food costs or increases in need driven by economic conditions.
In response, First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley released the following statement:
“If budgets are about priorities, appropriations allocations that cut support for children’s initiatives show that the House doesn’t place a high priority on kids. Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but making it harder for babies to get the nutrition they need is the wrong way to solve them.”
# # #
The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.
Protect Child Nutrition, Advocates Urge Ag Committees
Washington – The bipartisan First Focus Campaign for Children sent letters today to congressional agriculture committee members, urging them to protect critical investments in child nutrition. The letters, to the chairs and ranking members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee, were sent as each body prepared to consider “Farm Bill” legislation affecting initiatives that fight child hunger and obesity: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), SNAP-Education (“SNAP-Ed”), and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP).
“One in five kids will go to bed tonight not knowing if they or someone in their family will have enough to eat tomorrow,” said Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley. “This is a critical time for Congress to protect investments that reduce child hunger and obesity.”
The Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft Farm Bill protects the FFVP and the SNAP- Ed program. However, it cuts SNAP funding by $4.1 billion over 10 years. The House committee’s bill cuts SNAP by more than $21 billion, including an estimated $274 million cut to SNAP-Ed. It also weakens the FFVP, by permitting schools to serve canned, dried, and frozen fruit and vegetable products as though they were “fresh.”
FFVP provides funding to help local schools make fresh produce available to children in low-income communities. SNAP- Ed funds local schools’ efforts to inform students about healthy food choices and the benefits of healthy eating. SNAP- Ed also helps parents learn how to buy and prepare healthy foods and get the most nutritional value for every SNAP dollar. SNAP is the largest federal child nutrition initiative, serving more than 20 million children every year. An estimated 47¢ of every SNAP dollar goes to feed children.
“SNAP, SNAP- Ed, and FFVP work together to tear down the knowledge and cost barriers that stand between children and nutritious diets,” said Lesley. “If Congress is serious about fighting child hunger and curbing the childhood obesity epidemic, it’s essential to protect every one of these initiatives.”
# # #
The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.
Kids Need Investments, Not Flexibility
Senator’s Praise Children’s Budget Act
In the midst of the Senate budget vote-a-rama that occurred before the spring recess, we at the First Focus Campaign for Children were intently listening to a conversation that occurred on the Senate floor between senior Senators about the Children’s Budget Act (CBA). The CBA would require the President’s budget submission to Congress to include a deliberate and full accounting of all the money the Federal Government spends on and for children.
An exchange between Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is the author of the CBA, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, shows that there is energy and support for moving this legislation forward. Senator Menendez explained that the Children’s Budget would “provide the Budget Committees and Appropriations Committees with a comprehensive look at how funding is affecting the youngest Americans.”
Senator Murray pledged her backing saying “I agree with [Senator Menendez] that it is important that we have a full accounting of how the Federal Government serves children throughout our Nation… I want to assure my friend that I will work closely with him to find a path forward on the children’s budget and achieve our shared goal of ensuring that the government is doing its best to efficiently and effectively serve our Nation’s children.”
You can read their full conversation in the day’s Congressional Record.
This legislation is a no cost addition that would provide invaluable information on whether we are making adequate investments to meet the needs of our children. With nearly one in every four children living in poverty, rates not seen in decades, our nation’s future depends on investing appropriately in our children.
As three-time Champions for Children, we applaud Senator Menendez for pushing this important issue and greatly appreciate Senator Murray’s support. Look for more information on the reintroduction of the Children’s Budget Act in the 113th Congress shortly.