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February 2005 - Vol. 7, No. 1
 Please
Note: As of July 1, 2004, we have changed our name! The Center
on Fathers, Families and Public Policy is now The Center for Family
Policy and Practice.
President’s Budget Includes
Deep Cuts for Social Service Programs
President Bush presented his Fiscal Year 2006 Budget to Congress
on February 7. Overall, the budget would increase spending for the
Defense Department by 4.8%, the Department of Homeland Security
by 7%, and the State Department (including foreign aid) by 15.7%.
Departments targeted for cuts include Housing and Urban Development
(11.5%), Agriculture (9.6%), Transportation (6.7%), the Environmental
Protection Agency (5.6%), and the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (12.4%). At least 150 programs would be eliminated or
drastically cut back, one-third of which are education programs.
The budget request makes some unprecedented changes to procedure
in order to meet the president’s goals of making the 2001
and 2003 personal income tax cuts permanent and cutting domestic
programs to reduce the deficit, estimated in the budget to be $427
billion in 2005. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
has analyzed the initial budget proposals and found the following:
- For the first time since 1989, the budget does not identify
funding allotments for individual programs beyond 2006. This means
that $196 billion in cuts to domestic programs, or all of the
cuts slated for years 2007 through 2010, are not identified in
the budget request.
- Excluded from the budget request in spite of their critical
impact on federal spending are funds for military costs in Iraq,
making permanent or extending federal tax cuts and enacting proposed
Social Security reforms.
- Estimates of the funding cuts for programs in fiscal year 2010
were made by CBPP using the reductions in programs for fiscal
year 2006 as a basis. By this method, it is estimated that the
current budget's $18 billion in cuts to domestic discretionary
programs will grow to $66 billion in cuts for those programs in
the 2010 budget, with programs receiving on average a 16% cut
in funding.
- Cuts in domestic spending are represented as a necessary step
to reduce deficits, despite the fact that such domestic programs
account for only 7% of the cost of legislation enacted since 2001.
Tax cuts constitute 48%, and defense and homeland security 37%,
of the costs associated with post-2001 legislation.
- A proposed new budget rule would require that any legislation
introduced that would make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent
be treated (in estimating its cost) as if that same legislation
had already been enacted. This would result in estimates that
show the costs of extending the tax cuts as zero, despite their
actual significant cost, estimated to be $1.8 trillion through
fiscal year 2015.
Among the budget items most likely to affect low-income families:
- Frozen child care funding, which would result in an estimated
300,000 fewer low-income children receiving child care assistance
by 2010. Estimates that include a projected reduction in the TANF
allotment for child care assistance place the number of lost child
care slots at 375,000.
- Maintenance of current funding levels (without adjustments
for increases in the cost of living) for TANF, Social Service
Block Grants, Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, and the
Substance Abuse Block Grant.
- A $57 million cut in the Food Stamp program achieved by limiting
eligibility to some categories of TANF and SSI recipients. The
cut would result in a termination of Food Stamp benefits for an
estimated 300,000 low-income individuals. Recipients in eleven
states, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North
Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin
would be affected by the cut.
- A reduction in net Medicaid funding by more than $45 billion
over 10 years. According to CBPP, the budget also implies a cap
on Medicaid funding that would end the entitlement to Medicaid
benefits for millions of low-income families and would result
in a shift - from funding that keeps pace with rising costs, to
level funding that represents an increasingly smaller share of
actual state obligations as health care costs continue to climb.
- The Community Development Block Grant is eliminated and its
programs consolidated and moved from Housing and Urban Development
to the Commerce Department, and incurring a cut of $1.8 billion.
- The Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
would be cut to $2 billion from $2.2 billion.
- Department of Labor adult training programs would be cut by
$329 million.
- Adult education and family literacy programs would be cut by
62%, or $362 million.
- The Community Services Block Grant, which provides job training,
is eliminated.
- The Perkins Vocational and Technical Education program, funded
at $1.3 billion this year, is eliminated and its funds are folded
into the Administration's high school initiative.
- Funding reductions that the National Head Start Association
estimates would result in the elimination of services to at least
25,000 children.
Particularly notable items in the budget include:
- Funding for abstinence-only education would triple from
2001 levels to $206 million, increasing by $39 million.
- $161 million would be set aside for grants to faith-based
organizations to "mentor children of prisoners and provide
a safe place for young pregnant and parenting mothers."
- Funding for the apprehension of army deserters would more
than double.
For more information, see multiple articles at www.cbpp.org
and at the Coalition on Human Needs, www.chn.org.
See also President’s Budget Projects 300,000 Low-Income
Children to Lose Child Care by 2010, www.clasp.org,
and Budget Needs to do More for Troops, www.housedemocrats.gov.
Two Wisconsin Court Decisions Could Benefit Low-Income
Parents
A Wisconsin Supreme Court decision requiring fees from lawyers
that would be directed to legal services for the poor and a Court
of Appeals decision on birth cost recovery from low-income noncustodial
parents may positively affect poor families in the state once implementation
of the court decisions takes place. The decisions:
- A Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision, Rusk County v. Thorson,
addressed the issue of reimbursement of birth costs paid by a
state Medicaid program. Under current Wisconsin law and federal
law, only the unmarried father of the child can be held responsible
to reimburse the government for these expenses. Under Wisconsin
law, an individual father can be ordered to reimburse the government
“based on that father’s ability to pay or contribute
to those expenses.” No previous Wisconsin Court of Appeals
decision had determined the meaning of this language in the statute.
In the Thorson case, the child support agency argued that if the
state was prohibited from obtaining an order for birth costs from
parents who have no ability to pay those costs, it would “virtually
eliminate collection of lying-in expense [Medicaid-paid birth
costs] from a father.” The state collected more than $17
million in birth costs in 2003.
The Court of Appeals, however, ruled that only when and if the
father has the ability to pay could the child support agency seek
an order for him to reimburse the government.
The decision is part of a larger trend toward placing limitations
on the ability of child support agencies to seek reimbursement
of Medicaid-paid birth costs. The federally created Medical Child
Support Working Group recommended in June 2000 that Congress pass
legislation to ban the practice of child support agencies seeking
this fee. As part of the Child Support Distribution Act of 2000,
the House passed legislation by a vote of 405 to 18 that, had
it been passed by the full Congress, would have prohibited this
practice.
Advocates who oppose this child support practice argue that it
deters pregnant woman from seeking prenatal care, creates or encourages
an adverse relationship between parents and the child support
agency, and further impoverishes low-income families (women, men,
and children).
For more information about this topic and particularly its impact
in Wisconsin visit the publication
page. A case analysis, Lying-In Costs Case Analysis,
is available at www.wislawjournal.com.
- The Wisconsin Supreme Court responded favorably on January 12th
to a petition seeking to require that the Wisconsin State Bar
collect a $50 annual fee from each active Wisconsin attorney to
fund legal services in the state. The court-mandated assessments
will begin July 1, 2005. It is anticipated that the fee will generate
$850,000 per year and will help to offset a drop in funding for
legal services from $2.1 million in 2001 to slightly more than
$869,000 in 2004. See Justices Approve $50 Fee for Services,
www.wislawjournal.com.
Tennessee Judge Orders English Skills as Condition
of Custody for Immigrant Parents
Judge Barry Tatum of Wilson County, Tennessee has instructed some
immigrant mothers to learn English or risk losing custody of their
children. In one recent case, an 18-year-old mother from Oaxaca,
Mexico was reported to the Tennessee Department of Children’s
Services for failing to immunize her child and for missing appointments.
Judge Tatum ordered her to learn English and to use birth control.
The judge has given similar orders to non-English speaking parents
in several cases. In another case, he instructed a woman who had
been cited for neglect of her 11-year-old daughter to obtain a 4th
grade level of English proficiency by her next court date, scheduled
six months later. If she failed, he warned that he would begin the
process of terminating her parental rights. In ordering the English
proficiency, the judge also denied the mother’s request for
counseling. The mother’s attorney noted that the task of achieving
4th grade English proficiency would not be possible given the mother’s
lack of basic education. The ruling has had the effect of prolonging
the daughter’s foster care by months, prompting the National
Coalition for Child Protection Reform to note that, “For a
judge to hold a child in foster care solely to impose his whims
and prejudices on the mother is an unconscionable act of judicial
child abuse.”
See Judge Tells Mom in Custody Cases to Learn English,
January 29, 2005, www.tennessean.com.
New York Governor’s Budget Includes Controversial
Child Support Measures
New York Governor George Pataki’s budget for fiscal year
2005 contains two provisions that would be the first of their kind:
- Noncustodial parents who are current on their child support
payments, are between the ages of 18 and 30, and earn less than
$11,490 annually would be eligible for a state-funded Earned Income
Tax Credit. The state estimates that average credits would be
approximately $980, and that 10,000 noncustodial parents would
qualify.
- Noncustodial parents who marry the mothers of their children
for whom child support is owed would have enforcement of their
child support arrears to the state suspended.
Other proposals related to the Governor's fatherhood initiative
include:
- A five-site demonstration establishing intensive work programs
and parent education for unemployed young fathers who have support
orders in place or have had paternity established for their child.
- An increase in the amount of earnings that a welfare recipient
may receive and continue to receive assistance; and
- Increased power for judges, including child support magistrates,
to order unemployed or under-employed noncustodial parents into
employment programs when such programs are available.
A summary of these budget provisions, Governor Announces New
Measure to Strengthen Families, is available at www.otda.state.ny.us.
Update on Faith-Based Funding
Funding of faith-based services continues to be a priority for
the Administration. Several developments in the Administration’s
faith-based initiative and results from a study of conservative
foundations follow:
- In a lawsuit brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation
against the faith-based prison mentoring program MentorKids USA
(see July 2004 CFFPP Policy Briefing
for details), U.S. District Court Judge John Shabaz ordered that
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services vacate funding
of the program due its advancement of religion in violation of
the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The program, a part
of Charles Colson’s ministry, works exclusively with Christian,
churchgoing volunteers to be a "presence for Jesus"
in the lives of children of incarcerated prisoners. Mentors must
sign a religious mission statement that the bible is "without
error in all its teachings, including creation, history, its origins
and salvation." Mentors are also required to provide monthly
reports on whether their mentee "seems to be progressing
in relationship with God," and whether they have "participated
in Bible Study," "attended church," or "accepted
Christ this month." The program will not receive its final
installment of $225,000 on its federal grant as a result of the
decision.
For more information on the original lawsuit and its request,
which was denied in Judge Shabaz’s decision, that HHS be
enjoined from funding its faith-based mentoring programs due to
its documented preference in funding religious organizations over
community-based organizations, see http://www.ffrf.org/news/2005/mentorkidsdec.php.
- The Job Training Improvement Act, H.R. 27, which amends
the Workforce Investment Act and reauthorizes the Adult
Basic Education Skills Act and the 1973 Rehabilitation
Act, is co-sponsored by Congressmen John Boehner (R-OH) and
Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA). According to the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the bill is unconstitutional in
that it exempts religious organizations from the constitution’s
prohibition on religious discrimination and allows taxpayer dollars
to fund religious organizations that discriminate against their
employees in the delivery of federally-funded services. An amendment
offered by Representatives and David Scott (D-GA) Chris Van Hollen
(D-MD) would restore current law barring such discrimination.
- A report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
(NCRP), Funding the Culture Wars: Philanthropy, Church and
State finds that conservative non-profit foundations are
using strategic grantmaking to fund political evangelical movements
that are increasingly influential. Thirty-seven foundations that
gave 3,200 grants totaling $168 million to 700 evangelical grantees
were evaluated. The report finds that:
- Organizations that fight against gay marriage rights, including
Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and Exodus
International, received approximately 10 percent of the total
grant monies studied.
- Forty one percent of grants studied were given as general
operating support, an effective strategy employed by right-wing
foundations to build the advocacy capacity of their grantees.
- Of the grant dollars devoted to international mission work,
$24.6 million were used to proselytize, while only $13.3 million
were used for humanitarian assistance and aid.
Print editions of the report can be ordered on-line at www.ncpr.org.
Many States Fail to Restore Voting Rights of Ex-Felons
Despite Statutes
A recent report from the Sentencing Project, Barred for Life:
Voting Rights Restoration in Permanent Disenfranchisement States,
surveyed the process of having voting rights restored in the 14
states that provide for permanent disenfranchisement of convicted
felons, even after they have completed their sentence. The survey
found the following:
- In 11 of the 14 states surveyed, less than 3% of ex-felons
had their voting rights restored. In Mississippi, a total of 107
of 82,002 disenfranchised residents had their voting rights restored
since 1992. In Nebraska, 343 out of a pool of 44,001 have had
their rights restored since 1993.
- Cumbersome and obscure processes that vary widely by state
for restoring voting rights represent often insurmountable obstacles
for ex-felons. In Tennessee, for example, the process is different
depending on which of five different time periods a felony conviction
was acquired. In addition, most of the states have a waiting period
before application can be made to have rights restored, but information
on the waiting period and tracking it are left to the ex-felon
to track.
- Some states, including Florida and Kentucky employ character
tests before restoring rights, a constitutionally questionable
practice. In Florida, applicants are asked if they drink alcohol
and in Kentucky letters of reference regarding the applicant’s
character are required.
The report includes a synopsis of the surveyed states’ processes
for reenfranchisement and numbers of ex-felons who have had their
rights established. It is available at www.sentencingproject.org.
Access to Banking for Poor Examined
A paper from the Brookings Institution describes the many barriers
to efficiently accessing financial services for low-income workers,
and recommends policy changes to improve such services. Among the
paper’s findings:
- Eighty-three percent of families with no checking or savings
account earn under $25,000 per year.
- The check cashing industry processes 180 million checks totaling
$55 billion annually, and generating $1.5 billion in fees. Low-income
families without banking options rely on these services but pay
fees ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 percent of the check’s value
to have the check converted to cash.
- Payday lenders, who provide short-term loans to low- and moderate-income
workers who lack credit, make over 65 million loans totaling over
$10 billion annually, and earn over $2 billion each year. The
average amount charged for a single, two-week loan of $300 is
$54. Payday loan customers, however typically take out 7 to 11
loans per year, spurring added fees for each loan renewal and
catching the customer in a “debt trap.”
- Approximately two-thirds of families who claim the Earned Income
Tax Credit (EITC) use commercial tax preparation firms to file
their taxes, and many use refund anticipation loans (RALs) to
receive their refund as a loan from the tax preparer. RALs and
the fees for services applied by the tax firms average 13% of
the EITC. A total of $1.75 billion in such fees are charged annually
to low-income households for EITC claims and loans. Low-income
households are pushed to take out RALs because, without a bank
account, refunds take 4 to 6 weeks to receive, and because the
tax preparation fee itself is deducted from the loan.
- Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) programs were established
as part of welfare reform to convert TANF payments from checks
to electronic deposits. The EBT held the potential of introducing
families to banking systems, but instead of establishing bank
accounts for recipients, states have used contractors to provide
debit cards that allow access to funds held in a state account.
This allows the state to have the benefit of the “float”
on benefit funds before recipients withdraw the funds.
The report, Banking the Poor: Policies to Bring Low-Income
Americans Into the Financial Mainstream, is available from
the Brookings Institution at www.brookings.edu.
Marriage Leaders Define Goals for Professional Sectors
A group of 209 professionals who refer to themselves as “marriage
leaders” have issued a statement published by the Institute
for American Values, What Next for the Marriage Movement.
The document begins with the group’s intention to “lead
a marriage renaissance in the United States,” and an observation
that there are “new opportunities and emerging crises for
those who wish to recreate a marriage culture.” The statement
includes an outline of the “challenges” to their efforts,
a description of the “marriage movement,” a statement
of their mission, and a list of their broad goals over the next
two years.
The group divides the marriage movement into eleven diverse areas,
and the statement lists the specific goals of each of the eleven
sectors of movement. The sectors include community organizers, youth
organizers, “culture changers,” “marriage educators,”
government officials, religious leaders, researchers, therapists,
legal reformers, policy analysts, and theoreticians. Each sector
has an explanation of the members’ responsibilities in the
marriage movement and a list of individual goals. The therapists
sector, for example, is described as therapists in the marriage
movement who “work to educate their colleagues that neutrality
as a therapeutic stance may interfere in the successful resolution
of marital distress and may actually foster hopelessness.”
They believe that “while therapists must respect the autonomy
of their clients’ decision-making, therapist neutrality regarding
marriage may not be consistent with research on best practices in
couples therapy, nor is it always in the best interest of couples
and families.”
The statement can be obtained at www.americanvalues.org
and www.marriagemovement.org.
Montana Considers Tax on Big Box Retailers to Offset
Welfare Costs
The Montana legislature is debating a bill that would impose a
tax on retailers that would range from 1% for those that make more
than $20 million in sales annually to 2% for retailers with more
than $40 million in sales. The tax would serve to offset costs assumed
by the state when employees of big-box retailers are paid low wages
and must obtain public assistance in order to make ends meet. See
Montana to Levy Tax on Wal-Mart?, February 16, 2005, www.money.cnn.com.
Feds to Stop Collecting Data on Employment by Gender
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has announced that it
plans to end its collection of data from the Current Employment
Statistics survey that tracks employment by gender. The data allow
for a reliable means to follow the differences between men and women
in employment and job loss by industry.
As if to underscore the need for tracking the economic status of
women, the U.S. Census Bureau has released a Special Report,
We the People: Women and Men in the United States that compiles
data from household surveys to compare the status of men to that
of women. The report finds that:
- In 1999, white women earned about 70 cents for every dollar
earned by white men, and black, Hispanic and women of "some
other race" earned about 85 cents for every dollar earned
by their male counterparts.
- In 1999, 13.5 percent of the female population, and 11.2 percent
of the male population lived below the poverty level.
For more information, see Statement by IWPR on the BLS Decision
to Discontinue Data Collection on Women's Employment, Institute
for Women's Policy Research, www.iwpr.org.
The Census Bureau report is available at www.census.gov. |
