ADVOCACY

Head Start Reauthorization (October 26, 2007)

As reported in previous Legislative Updates, the Head Start reauthorization bills, which have passed both the House and Senate, are still being negotiated between committee staff and NHSA. The Senate has named its conferees or negotiators for Head Start reauthorization, but the House has not named their conferees.  

Congressional Action on Head Start and Early Head Star Funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008
On October 23, 2007 the Senate passed the Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill and appointed the following negotiators or conferees.  

Sen. Harkin (D-IA); Sen. Inouye (D-HI); Sen. Kohl (D-WI); Sen. Murray (D-WA); Sen. Landrieu (D-LA); Sen. Durbin (D-IL); Sen. Reed (D-RI); Sen. Lautenberg (D-NJ); Sen. Byrd (D-WVA); Sen. Specter (R-PA); Sen. Cochran (R-MS); Sen. Gregg (R-NH); Sen. Craig (R-ID); Sen. Hutchison (R-TX); Sen. Stevens (R-AK); Sen. Shelby (R- AL); Sen. Domenici (R-NM).

We also need the support of Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN), Sununu (R-NH), Collins (R-ME), Snowe (R-ME), Domenici (R-NM), Specter (R-PA), Brownback (R-KS), Roberts (R-KS), and Lugar (R-IN)

The Senate bill would increase funding for Head Start and Early Head Start by $200 million in FY 2008. This bill can help to make up for the 9 percent real cut that Head Start and Early Head Start programs experienced between FY 2002 and FY 2007.

What You Must Do

Please contact your senators (listed above) and tell them to vote in favor of the Senate Appropriations bill for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies containing a $200 million increase for Head Start and Early Head Start in FY 2008. In order to have enough votes to override the President’s veto. You can reach your senator by calling toll-free the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 1-800-965-4298.

SCHIP Veto Stands - House Attempts a New Effort
Although the United States Senate passed the States’ Children Health Insurance Program, the House of Representatives failed to garner the 269 votes necessary to override the president’s veto. The bill would have provided $35 billion to expand the program to families over a five-year period. SCHIP presently covers 6 million children, and under the defeated bill, 4 million more would have been added. The White House objected to the expansion beyond the FY 2008 budget request of $5 billion – the funding for the increase would be paid, through a 61-cent increase in the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes. The president has appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle, and National Economic Council Director Al Hubbard to negotiate with both the House and Senate. Congressional leaders, however, remain skeptical that a new bill, along the lines that the White House is demanding, is feasible. The revised version, under consideration and stymied by procedural motions, underscores that undocumented immigrants will not have access to the program; will ease adults off the program in one year, rather than the two in the vetoed version; and establishes a strict eligibility cap at 300 percent of the federal poverty, just more than $60,000 for a family of four.

Why we find ourselves in this fiscal predicament?
Below is an article entitled “Tax –Cut Con” by Paul Krugman, New York Times Magazine, September 14, 2003.  The New York Times article addresses the questions why we find ourselves in the present fiscal predicament and what kind of country do we want?

Excerpt from “Tax-Cut Con”:

“It is often hard to pin down what antitax crusaders are trying to achieve. The reason is not, or not only, that they are disingenuous about their motives -- though as we will see, disingenuity has become a hallmark of the movement in recent years…. Both doctrines favor the same thing: big tax cuts for people with high incomes. But they favor it for different reasons. One of those doctrines has become famous under the name ''supply-side economics.'' It's the view that the government can cut taxes without severe cuts in public spending. The other doctrine is often referred to as ''starving the beast,'' a phrase coined by David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director. It's the view that taxes should be cut precisely in order to force severe cuts in public spending. Supply-side economics is the friendly, attractive face of the tax-cut movement. But starve-the-beast is where the power lies. Here's the basic fact: partly, though not entirely, as a result of the tax cuts of the last three years, the government of the United States faces a fundamental fiscal shortfall. That is, the revenue it collects falls well short of the sums it needs to pay for existing programs. Even the U.S. government must, eventually, pay its bills, so something will have to give.”

“… America a couple of decades from now will be a place in which elderly people make up a disproportionate share of the poor, as they did before Social Security. It will also be a country in which even middle-class elderly Americans are, in many cases, unable to afford expensive medical procedures or prescription drugs and in which poor Americans generally go without even basic health care. And it may well be a place in which only those who can afford expensive private schools can give their children a decent education”. Click below to access the complete article.

The “Tax-Cut Con” article is provided for your appraisal and review. Click on the article title below!

"Tax-Cut Con" article by Paul Krugman

Research in the News

According to an October 2007 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry journal, a family-based early intervention can affect an at-risk child’s stress level and may reduce that child’s likelihood of becoming a juvenile delinquent. Please click here October 2007 - Archives of General Psychiatry for more information.

The Urban Institute published an August 2006 study showing that families on welfare had improved finances, but this study revealed that families who have recently left welfare face a relatively stagnant financial situation. This report also showed that families who have never been on welfare experience deteriorating finances. Please click here Urban Institute Study August 2006 to access this report.

Dollar Per Child
Thank you to those of you who have already begun sending your donations for the 2007-2008 Dollar per Child campaign.

 Please continue to mail checks to NHSA Dollar per Child Campaign, P.O. Box 890080, Charlotte, NC 28289-0080. Be sure to note which program, state, or region your donation is representing. Thank you for all of your support.