Volume 6, Number 4
In this Issue:
Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Legislation Introduced
House and Senate Seek Compromise on FY 2008 Budget Resolution
SCHIP Reauthorization Proposals Emerge
Home Visitation Bill Continues to Gain Support Take Action
Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Legislation Introduced
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY-18) recently introduced the Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Act (S 1204, HR 2052). The legislation would provide $10 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and implement a public information and education campaign aimed at preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).
SBS refers to the injuries resulting from vigorous shaking of an infant or small child and is often triggered by an episode of crying. Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is preventable. Prevention programs have demonstrated that educating parents and other caregivers about healthy strategies for coping with a crying infant, infant soothing skills, and the danger of shaking young children can bring about a significant reduction in the number of cases of SBS.
The campaign created by the SBS Prevention Act would:
- Disseminate effective prevention practices and techniques to parents and caregivers through maternity hospitals, child care centers, organizations providing prenatal and postnatal care, and other organizations providing support to parents.
- Carry out trainings to ensure that those involved in the care of young children, home visitors, primary care providers, child care providers, and health care providers are aware of ways to prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome, and the need to secure immediate medical attention in cases of head trauma.
- Work to ensure that the parents and caregivers of children are connected to effective supports through the coordination of existing programs and networks and through the establishment of new programs when necessary.
The full text of the legislation is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/.
Senate Designates SBS Awareness Week
On April 20th, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution (S Res 163) designating the third week of April 2007 as "National Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week." The resolution was introduced by Senator Dodd along with 14 cosponsors: Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Robert Bennett (R-UT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Charles Schumer (D-NY).
House and Senate Seek Compromise on FY 08 Budget Resolution
Following the passage of both the House and Senate budget resolutions (H Con Res 99 and S Con Res 21) during the last week in March, the next step in the federal budget process will be a conference to reconcile the differences between the two budget resolutions. Conferees are expected to be named this week.
The House and Senate resolutions are similar in their goals to achieve a balanced federal budget by FY 2012 and increase funding for education and other domestic discretionary programs. Among these programs is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), for which both the House and Senate proposals would provide a $50 billion increase over five years. Both budget resolutions also reject the President’s proposed $500 million cut to the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), a key funding source for prevention. In terms of FY 2008 discretionary spending, the House resolution proposes about $7 billion more in non-defense discretionary funding than the Senate resolution (and about $25 billion more than the Administration requested in the President’s FY 2008 Budget).
The budget resolution sets the overall discretionary funding cap that the House and Senate Appropriations Committees then divide among their Subcommittees (which is then divvied up among specific programs). If Congress does not reach an agreement on a concurrent budget resolution by May 15th, Appropriators may “deem” a discretionary spending cap so that they can officially begin to consider appropriations bills.
SCHIP Reauthorization Proposals Emerging
As the authorization period for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program is nearing its end, legislative proposals for its reauthorization have begun to take shape. As mentioned in the above article, both the House and Senate have included a commitment of $50 billion for SCHIP over the next five years in their respective budget resolutions.
With the broad gap between the Administration’s proposed funding increase for SCHIP set forth in the President’s FY 2008 Budget ($5 billion over five years) and the level proposed by reauthorization bills introduced so far ($50 billion-$60 billion over five years), it is evident that there will be significant debate over what the program should look like.
The first full reauthorization bill to emerge, The Children’s Health First Act (H.R. 1535, S. 895), was introduced by Representative John Dingell (D-MI-15) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) on March 15, 2007. This legislation would allow states to expand children’s health coverage to families up to 400% of the federal poverty level (approximately $70,000 for a family of three) and receive increased federal payments. It would also give families and employers the option to buy health insurance coverage through SCHIP, and would provide new incentives to strengthen and protect employer-sponsored coverage. The legislation would require SCHIP to cover early and periodic screening, diagnostic and treatment services (EPSDT) including dental services. State allotted funds would be available for two years and would be based on prior year spending indexed by medical inflation and a state’s child population growth. As Representative Dingell serves as the Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over SCHIP financing, this bill is expected to feature prominently in the reauthorization process.
On the Senate side, Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) -- a member of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over SCHIP -- is expected to introduce a reauthorization bill shortly as well.
SCHIP Funding Shortfall for FY 2007 Unresolved
In the short-term, many states are facing funding shortages for their SCHIP programs and expect to run out of funds as soon as next month. Approximately $650 million in funding to cover SCHIP shortfalls has been included in the supplemental war spending bill that Congress cleared last week. However, the President has said that he will veto the bill as it includes language about a specific date for withdrawal from Iraq. Congress is unlikely to have the two-thirds majority required to override the veto, which means they’ll have to negotiate a compromise supplemental bill. It is unclear how soon the compromise supplemental will be finalized. Advocates for the SCHIP shortfall funding will have to work to ensure that the funding is retained in the final compromise.
Take Action on the Senate Home Visitation Legislation
Since the last Prevention Advocate, the number of Senate cosponsors for the Education Begins at Home Act (EBAH, S 667) has grown from nine to 15. But we’ll need even greater numbers than that to convince congressional leaders to take action on EBAH this Congress.
As noted in the March Prevention Advocate, EBAH would establish the first dedicated federal funding stream to support parents with newborns and young children through quality, voluntary home visitation.
As of April 30th, the following Senators have already joined Senators Bond and Clinton as cosponsors to S. 667: Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Tom Harkin (D-IA), John Kerry (D-MA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Pat Roberts (R-KS), John Rockefeller (D-WV), Gordon Smith (R-OR), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). If your Senator is on this list, please be sure to thank him/her.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Why Congress Should Pass EBAH:
- Home visitation is an effective, evidence-based, and cost-efficient way to bring families and resources together and help families to make choices that will give their children the chance to grow up healthy and ready to learn.
- Home visitation delivers parent education and family support directly to parents with young children in their homes providing guidance on how parents can enhance their children’s development from birth through kindergarten entry.
- Quality early childhood home visitation programs lead to proven, positive outcomes for children and families, including improved child health and development, improved parenting practices, improved school readiness, and reductions in child abuse and neglect.
- Existing home visitation programs like Healthy Families America serve only a small percentage of families in need of prevention and family support services. EBAH dollars would enable programs to reach thousands more families who have very young children -- the same cohort of children that suffers disproportionately from abuse and neglect in this country.
Take Action on EBAH!
Take action by e-mailing your Senators through Prevent Child Abuse America’s Legislative Action Center. Prevent Child Abuse America has created a sample e-mail asking Senators to cosponsor EBAH that we encourage you to personalize. All Senators can (and should) be asked to cosponsor the EBAH. Support from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is crucial, however, because it has jurisdiction over the legislation and can move EBAH forward. Italics indicate a Senator who has already signed on as a cosponsor to S. 667.
Senate HELP Committee
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Democrats
Edward M. Kennedy (MA), Chair
Christopher J. Dodd (CT)
Tom Harkin (IA)
Barbara A. Mikulski (MD)
Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Patty Murray (WA)
Jack Reed (RI)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY)
Barack Obama (IL)
Sherrod Brown (OH)
Independent
Bernard Sanders (VT) |
Republicans
Michael B. Enzi (WY), Ranking Member
Judd Gregg (NH)
Lamar Alexander (TN)
Richard Burr (NC)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Orrin G. Hatch (UT)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Wayne Allard (CO)
Tom Coburn (OK) |
And remember, this is a new Congress, so Senators who were on the bill last year will have to sign onto the bill again this year. Cosponsors from the 109th Congress who have not signed onto S. 667 as of April 30th are: Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Mark Pryor (D-AR), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). If your Senator is on this list please be sure to remind the Senator of his/her past support of the bill.
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