Federal Budget

The Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to markup its budget resolution this week, March 9, 2005, and the Congressional budget will then go to the floor of Congress next week.

Mountain State Centers for Independent Living urges you to contact your Senators and Representatives this week! Tell your elected representatives in Washington that you are counting on them to produce a responsible, compassionate budget resolution that protects human service programs.

To view more information on the federal budget please visit: White House Web site.

Background Information

Budget Statistics Nation-wide (Source: Center for Community Change)

The President's budget is $18.3 billion below the amount needed to maintain programs that serve people at home. As a consequence numerous government programs will face massive funding cuts such as:

300,000 children will lose child care assistance under the President's budget.
200,000 to 300,000 people will lose food stamp benefits, as $1.1 billion is cut from the program under the President's budget.
25,000 children will lose access to Head Start and Early Head Start under the President's budget.
The President's budget will eliminate funding for Even Start, a $225 million program that targets low-income children at risk of illiteracy
Nearly 230,000 children will lose Medicaid coverage under the President's budget.
The President's budget will eliminate the Perkins student loan program that helped 673,000 students in 2004.
The President's budget will cut funding for Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by almost $200 million, even though two-thirds of all families receiving LIHEAP assistance have incomes of less than $8,000 a year.
The President's budget will eliminate the Hope VI housing program that helps local communities improve the lives of residents of severely distressed public housing properties and take back nearly $150 million already committed to the program.
The President's budget will cut Medicaid funding by $60 billion. The dollar amount lost in the fifth year of the proposal alone would provide health coverage for over 345,000 or almost 1.8 million children
The President's budget will eliminate the Community Food and Nutrition Program. This will impact such programs as free and reduced school lunches, WIC program, and meals on wheels programs for seniors. For more information on the "federal food program" visit: http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/cfnp.html
The President's budget will cut nearly $370 million from a fund that supports efforts to improve water quality.
Funding for One-Stop Career Centers is reduced from its current $963 million to only $84 million - a cut of $879 million.
The President's budget will eliminate the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), a $637 million program that helps provide a wide range of housing, nutrition, education and employment services to low income people.

In addition, the Senate Budget Resolution contains no reserve funds for the Bush Administration's New Freedom Initiative proposals (i.e. Money Follows the Person, respite services) and the Family Opportunity Act.

Budget Statistics specific to West Virginia

The President's budget makes drastic cuts in funding for programs that matter to West Virginia families. These cuts will shift responsibility for funding these priorities onto the already cash-strapped state. Since West Virginia will not be able to provide the same level of services with less federal funding, the budget cuts will force the state either to reduce funding for schools and leave more people hungry, homeless, cold and uninsured, or to raise state taxes.

EDUCATION:

The President's budget would reduce funding for education and training programs in West Virginia in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger in later years. No program, including K-12, will be spared.

West Virginia will lose more than $79 million in total elementary and secondary education spending (Unless otherwise specified, all data is from analysis done by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, see http://www.cbpp.org/2-22-05bud-reportandtables.pdf];
Funding for special education programs will be cut by more than $50 million in West Virginia;
West Virginia school improvement programs will lose $35 million; and
Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by more than $41 million in West Virginia.

FAMILY SERVICES:

Programs providing needed services to low-income families in West Virginia face major cuts in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger over time. Under the President's budget proposal, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), programs for abused and neglected children, Head Start, and child care assistance programs all face steep cuts.

West Virginia will lose more than $4 million in WIC funding, and 4,200 people will be cut from the program;
In West Virginia, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose more than $25 million;
Roughly 214 children in West Virginia will lose access to Head Start in 2006 (National Head Start Association), and 1,000 will lose access to the program in 2010; and
In West Virginia, 1,900 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:

The President's budget targets housing and community development programs in West Virginia for funding cuts in 2006 and beyond.

Roughly 2,600 families in West Virginia will lose rental assistance vouchers;
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by more than $1 million in West Virginia; and
In West Virginia, Community Development programs will be cut by more than $71 million.

HEALTH:

The budget would cut funding in West Virginia for HIV/AIDS treatment services, including funding to help those with HIV/AIDS purchase drugs. President Bush has also proposed major cuts to the Medicaid program in West Virginia.

West Virginia will lose roughly $700 thousand in HIV/AIDS funding;
Medicaid funding for West Virginia will be cut by more than $377 million (All Medicaid data from Families USA); and
15,900 children or 2,600 seniors in West Virginia could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010.

PENTAGON:

While taxpayers in West Virginia would lose local services, they will pay increasingly more for the Pentagon.

West Virginia will spend more than $55 million for the proposed increase in military spending (Pentagon spending figures from the National Priorities Project); and
More than $431 million of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from West Virginia.

Actions to be taken

Contact your representatives today. Tell your elected officials that you do not support a budget that contains harmful and potentially devastating provisions for people with disabilities, West Virginians on limited incomes, our children and seniors. Make sure they understand that they must vote against a budget that would cut programs like Medicaid, food stamps, child care, education, veterans medical care, community development, and law enforcement programs. Tell them that you will not forget if they vote to cut or cap programs such as these in a budget that includes more than $1 trillion in tax breaks for the wealthy.

We are asking you to call and/or write or email a letter to your Senators asking them to oppose a budget resolution that would oppose deep cuts in mandatory programs such as Medicaid and food stamps and domestic discretionary programs such as education, housing, employment and transportation.

Senator Robert C. Byrd
311 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Web Email form: http://byrd.senate.gov/

Senator John Rockefeller, IV
531 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Email: senator@rockefeller.senate.gov

Sample Letter: (edit or add your own text)

Put the date here

The Honorable (insert Senator's name)
United State Senate
(insert address)
Washington, DC 20015

Dear Senator:

As Congress begins its work on the budget resolution, I urge you to reject a budget resolution that is harmful to people with disabilities, low-income and other working families by cutting funding for programs and services that help them.

Members of Congress must not support a budget that makes deep cuts to or caps spending on programs like Medicaid, child care, food stamps, veterans' medical care, community development and education. Cuts to these and other programs would reduce or eliminate services critical to people with disabilities, low-income families, other working families and vulnerable citizens of our state. They will have no other options if Medicaid services are eliminated or cut. Home and community based services, food stamps, prescription drugs, and housing are fundamental to keeping people healthy and enabling them to live and work independently. West Virginia is struggling to maintain current levels of supports now and any additional federal cuts would prove devastating to the citizens of our State.

Deficit reduction must be fair and balanced and take into consideration the current future well-being of all Americans.

I strongly urge you to oppose any Budget Resolution that includes cuts in Medicaid and other human service programs. West Virginians and their families are counting on you.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Address
City, State, Zip

Updated: March 9, 2005