Action for Children Legislative Update

Greetings,

Action for Children North Carolina is pleased to provide you with this FEDERAL legislative update.



Congress took important action on key issues before adjourning on December 19. Since the House comes back into session today (Senate returns on January 22), we wanted to recap actions taken in December and update you on what to expect in the new session.



We do not intend our updates to be this long in the future, but a lot has happened in the last month, and many of the programs we care about are up for reauthorization.



SCHIP

FARM BILL

JUVENILE JUSTICE

OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS BILL

HEAD START

CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT

OTHER ISSUES UPCOMING IN 2008



SCHIP Continued but Not Reauthorized

Despite broad public and Congressional support, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was not reauthorized in 2007. Instead, Congress passed the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (S. 2499), a stop-gap measure to extend SCHIP until March 31, 2009. The bill was signed by the President on December 29. Twice in 2007 the President vetoed SCHIP reauthorization bills that had bipartisan support and would have expanded the program to cover more children.

The Act provides sufficient funding for states to continue covering the six million children currently enrolled in the program, but it does not address the August 17th Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) directive. By effectively capping eligibility for SCHIP at 250% of the federal poverty line, which in 2007 was $51,635 a year for a family of four, this directive will have a negative impact on children’s coverage. Some states will have to curtail their programs while other states (like NC) may not be able to proceed with planned expansions. A new report issued by the Center for Children and Families gives more detail and a state-by-state impact analysis.

North Carolina enacted legislation during the 2007 state legislative session to expand coverage to children up to 300% of the federal poverty level (NC Kids’ Care). The expansion is due to be implemented in 2008, but the state will have to submit its plan to CMS for approval before it can receive federal funding for the expanded coverage. It is not yet clear what effect the directive will have on North Carolina’s expansion plans.

Next Steps in 2008: There is support in Congress to revoke the CMS directive. A letter signed by more than a dozen Senators has been sent to the Finance Committee and Senate leaders, urging Congress to repeal the directive. This issue will be a priority for advocates in 2008. Advocates are hopeful that the Medicare legislation (or some other legislation) will provide a vehicle for Congress to address the CMS directive.

In addition, a vote has been scheduled for January 23rd to attempt to override the President's veto of the latest SCHIP reauthorization bill.



US Senate Passes a Farm Bill

On December 14, after weeks of stalemate, the Senate passed the 2007 Farm Bill with nutrition provisions (Food Stamps and the Emergency Food Assistance Program - TEFAP) that closely mirror those passed by the House in July. For details on how the House and Senate bills compare, please see the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Food Research and Action Center.

Both bills:



Index for inflation and make other improvements to the food stamp program’s standard deduction and minimum benefit.
Eliminate the food stamp cap on the dependent care deduction and exempt tax-preferred retirement and education accounts from the asset limit.
Increase annual funding for TEFAP from $140 million to $250 million.
Significantly expand the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides free fresh produce to children in schools.
The Critical Difference between the two bills is that while the House bill makes the above changes permanent law, the Senate bill would end the major improvements in 2012 and policies would return to current law.

Next Steps in 2008: Farm Bill negotiators are hoping to finalize a compromise bill by February. How much funding is allocated for Food Stamps and Emergency Food Assistance, as opposed to going for other titles in the farm bill, will be decided in these negotiations. The highest priority for conference is to follow the House’s lead and make the above benefit improvements permanent.

The Farm Bill, which expired in September, has been temporarily extended several times and is currently continued until March 15.

Senate Committee Conducts Hearing on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Reauthorization



The Senate Judiciary Committee held a December 5th hearing on the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). Senators called for increased investment in the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency. The Act, last authorized in 2002, assists states in addressing juvenile justice issues and provides funding for prevention. Core components include:



Keeping status offenders (minors that skip school, miss curfew, drink alcohol) out of secure confinement;
Ensuring that youth are not detained in adult facilities if they are not tried as adults;
Ensuring that youth are not exposed to adult offenders in the special circumstances when they are placed in adult facilities;
Addressing the disproportionate percentage of minority youth in the criminal justice system.
Next Steps: Without Congressional action, the act will expire in 2008.



Resources: Please see the following links for transcripts of this and other recent JJDPA hearings.



Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, December 5, 2007
House Education & Labor Committee hearing, September 2007
Healthy Families & Communities Subcommittee and House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism & Homeland Security, July 2007
Please see Voices for America’s Children for more information about the Administration’s proposal for juvenile justice funding and criticisms against it.



Please see Action for Children’s recent report on raising the age of juvenile delinquency, Putting the Juvenile Back in Juvenile Justice.



Additional juvenile justice research and policy updates are available at Act 4 Juvenile Justice.



President Signs Omnibus Appropriations Bill

Congress passed H.R. 2764, a $555 billion omnibus appropriations bill that provides funding for 11 of the 12 spending bills Congress must pass each year. (The bill funding the Pentagon’s regular budget, not including the wars, passed earlier.) In order to avoid a presidential veto of the omnibus bill, Congress trimmed overall spending in bills it had passed and added $70 billion in unrestricted funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The President signed the bill on December 26.

While disappointed that more funding was not provided for domestic human needs programs, advocates were pleased that some important programs received funding well above the President’s request. For more details on final funding levels and how they differed from the President’s proposal, please see an article and chart from the Coalition on Human Needs.

Important programs that received more funding than the President proposed include Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP), Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program (WIC), Community Services Block Grant, education for disadvantaged students, special education, job training, Section 8 housing, community health centers, Pell Grants and Head Start. No new money was allocated for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG); however, the President’s proposal to slash SSBG funding by $500 million was rejected.

Next Steps in 2008: There will likely be a supplemental appropriations bill in the spring to provide more funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such a bill could be a vehicle for additional domestic spending, as well. The fiscal year 2009 budget resolution, which will set a ceiling on FY09 appropriations, will also be considered, and the President is expected to set a low number for domestic spending and refuse to negotiate, as he did in the FY08 process. The hope is that fewer Republicans will support the President in an election year, and advocates are looking to get as high a “top-line” for appropriated programs as possible in the resolution.

President Signs Head Start Bill

On December 12, President Bush signed the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act, H.R. 1429, after it passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bi-partisan support. Earlier the President had proposed to dismantle the program by instituting state-controlled block grants. The bill authorizes $7.35 billion in funding for Head Start in FY ’08, up from $6.9 billion in FY ’07, but this funding level is still insufficient to restore cuts made since 2002.

Next Steps in 2008: While advocates applaud the improvements in the bill, adequate funding levels will be critical to strengthening the program.

Cuts to Child Support Enforcement Still Stand

The Deficit Reduction Act, signed by the President in 2006, cut the Child Support Enforcement Program by $6.7 billion over 10 years. Despite strong bi-partisan support, Congress failed this session to reverse those cuts. States will begin to feel the greatest impact from the 2006 cuts beginning this month, as staff layoffs result in more child support dollars going uncollected. In 2006, more than 17 million children and their families received $24 billion in child support through the help of the program, which collects over four dollars in child support for every dollar it spends.

Next Steps in 2008: Efforts to restore lost federal funding will continue, bolstered by a letter of support from the National Governor’s Association.

Other Issues Upcoming in 2008



Medicaid: The Administration is expected to propose harmful regulatory changes to Medicaid in the President’s budget proposal in February. Advocates will seek a moratorium on such cuts.



EITC/ Child Tax Credit: Advocates are looking for an appropriate tax bill to pursue an expansion of the EITC or the refundable component of the child tax credit. Groundwork has been laid on these issues in both the House and the Senate, and there is some bipartisan support in the Senate to expand the child tax credit to lower income households.



Affordable Housing: The House has already passed bipartisan legislation that would improve the Section 8 housing voucher program (H.R. 1851), and the Senate is likely to consider a similar bill early this year. This reform could impact millions of families who live in public housing or use housing vouchers to rent in the private market.



Economic stimulus package: Economists are predicting a recession, and talk of tax cuts has begun in DC. If a stimulus package is considered, advocates’ top priorities would be to ensure that any tax cuts were well-targeted, temporary and progressive, and that the bill included additional resources for state fiscal relief and assistance to poor households who are most hurt by recession.



Estate Tax: Permanent estate tax reform legislation (likely a proposal for “near-repeal”) is expected to be introduced in the Senate this spring. Advocates will be working to prevent such a bill from passing the Senate and to discourage the House from taking it up, should the Senate pass it.



Thank you,

Action for Children North Carolina