FY 2009 Budget - NETWORK's Statement in Support of Priority Populations

February 25, 2008

Children and Families

Our children, our greatest treasure, are becoming increasingly vulnerable as prices of energy, food, housing and healthcare rise, and more and more working families cannot afford to provide basic necessities. We all share the responsibility to ensure that our children are safe, healthy and well-educated—to provide a bright future for both them and for our nation, and to ensure that they grow in strong families who provide for and nurture them. As prices of energy, food, housing and healthcare rise, more and more working families cannot afford basic necessities. Seven years of cuts to human needs programs create financial, emotional and physical strain. Under the current economic conditions, strong funding for programs supporting healthy children and families are especially crucial.

Home Energy Assistance

• Since 2001, the costs of heating our homes have risen 65%. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides heating and cooling assistance for low-income families and elderly people struggling with these rising costs. However, the program served only 15.7% of eligible household in FY 2007 due to limited funding. Despite the overwhelming need, the president proposes a 20% reduction in funding for benefits, after accounting for inflation. This cut would force LIHEAP to drop 1.2 million families and elderly people or impose a 28 to 36% reduction in benefits, to say nothing of the millions of eligible people unable to receive assistance. The president would also eliminate the Weatherization Assistance Program, which assists people with incomes less than 150% of poverty in making their homes more energy-efficient, reducing energy use and utility bills by 30 to 35%.

Child Care

• According to the National Women’s Law Center, nearly two-thirds of mothers with children under six are working outside the home. For the seventh consecutive year, the president has requested flat funding for the program, representing a 12% decrease in program funding between 2005 and 2009. This would result in 200,000 children and low-income families losing assistance for quality child care that enables them to work. The president also proposes freezing funding for Child Care Access Means Parents In School.

Housing Assistance

• As rents rise, the cost of housing eats more and more of families’ budgets. The president has requested cuts in Section 8, the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which would result in the elimination of 100,000 vouchers for low-income household. The administration also proposes to decrease by 20%, after accounting for inflation, the Public Housing Capital Fund for repairs and maintenance on public housing. They would also reduce by 20%, after accounting for inflation, the Community Development Block Grant Program, which is used to improve housing, the living environment, and economic opportunities for persons with low and moderate incomes.

Healthcare

• As the cost of healthcare skyrockets, the president has also proposed shifting greater costs of Medicaid to states by cutting federal funding reimbursement for programs such as case management for abused and neglected children and school transportation for students with disabilities. States’ constitutions mandate that they must balance their budgets, and decreased tax revenues resulting from a recession will force states to make cuts to programs such as Medicaid. At this critical time, the federal government should be providing more aid to states to ensure that low-income people are not dropped from their health insurance. Additionally, the president would prohibit states from serving families over 300% of poverty. These few higher-income recipients are often enrolled due to chronic illness or medical problems that require expensive services beyond their economic means.
• The president proposes to increase the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $19.7 billion over 5 years. However, it would cost $21.5 billion to continue providing services to existing clients. This level of funding would also force painful cuts where services are desperately needed.

The Elderly and People with Disabilities

We are all taught to respect our elders. These most senior members of our society built our country’s prosperity through their years of work. However, the real value of money saved by the elderly continues to deteriorate as inflation rises, and service providers report large numbers of seniors appealing for economic assistance. Those with disabilities also deserve the tools to participate fully in our society. Both the elderly and people with disabilities deserve access to any assistance they need to live dignified lives.

Medicare

• The president has proposed arbitrary across-the-board cuts in payments to hospitals, nursing homes and health care providers. These cuts will result in decreasing numbers of providers willing to receive Medicare patients. The administration chooses to recommend these cuts instead of the more just alternative—reductions in overpayments to private insurance companies through private Medicare plans in the Medicare Advantage Program. Medicare Advantage pays the private insurance companies that administer these plans an average of 13% more than the cost of public plans. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an independent congressional agency, has found that these private plans do not provide any additional services to justify their increased cost and have repeatedly recommended cutting the payments to the rate of public plans. The president would also eliminate preventive health and Alzheimer’s demonstration programs under the Administration on Aging.

Housing

• Despite a tumultuous housing market and increasing rents, the president has recommended cuts of 35% and 40%, after adjusting for inflation, to Section 202 Housing for the Elderly and Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities, respectively.

Native Americans

Health Care

• The administration recommends freezing the funding of the Indian Health Service, while eliminating the Urban Indian Health program, which funds primary care clinics and outreach programs that provide culturally acceptable and affordable health services to an underserved urban off-reservation population. The current funding level is estimated to meet only 22% of the need for primary care services.

Education

• Government-wide education funding would also decline. Programs that target Indian students would be eliminated. Impact Aid, which helps public schools on tribal and federal lands that receive less tax revenue, is flat-funded.

Infrastructure

• The president has proposed large cuts in infrastructure. Roads maintenance at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) would be cut in half. The Housing Improvement Program at BIA would be eliminated. Funding at the Department of Energy for tribes would fall from $6 million to $1 million.

Refugees and Iraqi Civilians

Thousands of Iraqi civilians act as translators and drivers for American troops and diplomats in the nation. Danger to their lives and families increases as they continue this support. Many hundreds have escaped into surrounding countries and are among the two million refugees living in difficult and dangerous conditions.

NETWORK supports the following endeavors to benefit Iraqis, whose lives are in turmoil due to our war.

• Encourage the U.S. State Department to meet its target goal of resettling 12,000 refugees this year, allocating additional resource to expedite processing,
• Increase funding for Migration Refugee Assistance (MRA)
• Encourage the U.S. government to fund the UNHCR appeal for $261 million to a more significant level than the 1/3 currently offered
• Support bilateral funding to regional governments that are hosting large refugee populations.

For more information, see NETWORK's statement on the proposed FY 2009 Budget.