Volume 6, Number 5
In this Issue:
House Home Visitation Legislation Introduced - TAKE ACTION
Federal Appropriations for Prevention Services Move Forward
SCHIP Reauthorization Beginning to Take Shape
Speaker Pelosi Convenes National Experts on Child Well-Being
House Home Visitation Legislation Introduced
Take Action on the Education Begins at Home Act
On May 16th, Representatives Danny Davis (D-IL-7) and Todd Platts (R-PA-19) reintroduced the Education Begins at Home Act (EBAH, H.R. 2343). EBAH would establish the first dedicated federal funding stream to support parents with newborns and young children through quality, voluntary home visitation. As reported in the March Prevention Advocate, Senators Kit Bond (R-MO) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) introduced the Senate version of EBAH (S. 667) earlier this year.
Of the $500 million authorized in EBAH, $400 million would be provided to states on a formula basis to expand and enhance home visiting programs, while the remaining $100 million would be divided between two competitive grants to reach military families and families with English Language Learners. If enacted, EBAH would extend to a broad range of families the opportunity to benefit from home visiting programs like Healthy Families America.
Take Action Now on the Education Begins at Home Act
To bring EBAH closer to enactment, we need to demonstrate broad support for the legislation by building the list of cosponsors. Prevent Child Abuse America has created a sample e-mail asking members of Congress to cosponsor EBAH. We encourage you to personalize the e-mail with local information before sending it on to your Senators and Representative.
Keep in mind that this is a new Congress, so members of Congress who were on the bill last year will have to sign onto the bill again this year. A regularly updated list of EBAH cosponsors for the 110th Congress is available at: http://thomas.loc.gov/.
Senate Cosponsors from 109th Congress not yet signed on to S. 667 of June 28th
Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
House Cosponsors from 109th Congress not yet signed on to H.R. 2343 of June 28th
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI-2)
John Barrow (D-GA-12)
Marion Berry (D-AR-1)
Marsha Blackburn (D-TN-7)
Jo Bonner (R-AL-1)
John Conyers (D-MI-14)
Elijah Cummings (D-MD-7)
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3)
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-25)
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI-3)
Rahm Emanuel (D-IL-5)
Jay Inslee (D-WA-1)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18)
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Patrick Kennedy (D-RI-1)
Randy Kuhl (R-NY-29)
John Lewis (D-GA-5)
Daniel Lipinski (D-IL-3)
Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY-4)
Jim McDermott (D-WA-7)
Michael McNulty (D-NY-21)
Michael Michaud (D-ME-2)
George Miller (D-CA-42)
Gwen Moore (D-WI-4)
Jim Moran (D-VA-8)
John Murtha (D-PA-12)
James Oberstar (D-MN-8)
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Donald Payne (D-NJ-10)
Rick Renzi (R-AZ-1)
Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD-2)
Bobby Rush (D-IL-1)
Tim Ryan (D-OH-17)
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL-9)
Mark Souder (R-IN-3)
John Tierney (D-MA-6)
Mark Udall (D-CO-2)
Tom Udall (D-NM-3)
Nydia Velazquez (D-NY-12)
Zach Wamp (R-TN-3)
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Congressional Briefings Highlight Value of Home Visitation
Prevent Child Abuse America cosponsored briefings on Capitol Hill to draw attention to the home visit field and increase support for EBAH. On May 23rd, a briefing was held for Senate staff; a second briefing took place the following afternoon for House staff. Panelists at the briefings included home visitation program participants, program site administrators, researchers, and law enforcement representatives. The House briefing featured a mother participating in the Healthy Families Arlington (VA) program who provided a powerful testimony on the positive impact home visitation has had on her life. Both events were cosponsored by the Home Visiting Coalition, an informal group of national organizations who promote home visitation on Capitol Hill as a proven strategy for improving parenting and family health and ensuring school success.
Federal Appropriations for Prevention Services Move Forward
The Senate Appropriations Committee has completed its Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS) spending bill for FY 2008, while the House bill is awaiting final mark-up by the full House Appropriations Committee (which is not expected to result in any significant deviations from the recommendations of the House Labor-HHS Subcommittee). The Labor-HHS bill is the largest of the annual spending bills Congress passes, and it contains the majority of the funding for child abuse and neglect prevention.
The Senate bill’s total level of discretionary funding ($149.2 billion) is approximately $9 billion over the Administration’s request, while the House bill is expected to include spending that exceeds the Administration’s request by approximately $11 billion. This could present a challenge as the process moves forward, since the President has threatened to veto appropriations bills that exceed the Administration’s requested spending level. Another point of contention is a provision currently included in the Senate bill that would expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, which would almost certainly prompt a presidential veto if it is included in the bill that reaches the President's desk.
Below is a summary of how key programs that provide prevention funding have fared in the appropriations process to date.
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA): CAPTA provides funding for the prevention of child maltreatment through three types of grants:
- CAPTA State Grants: State grants provide funds for states to improve child protective services.
FY 2008 appropriation: Level-funded at the $27 million in both the House and Senate bills. - CAPTA community-based grants: These grants help states develop and implement effective approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect.
FY 2008 appropriation: Level-funded at $42.4 million in both the House and Senate bills. - CAPTA discretionary research and demonstration grants: These grants fund for data collection, technical assistance, and grant-funded research and demonstration projects.
FY 2008 appropriation: Funded at $36.1 million in the House bill (a $10.4 million increase over FY 2007 funding). Funded at $37.7 million in the Senate bill (a $12 million increase over FY 2007 funding).
In addition to this difference in funding level, there are some key differences in language within the reports issued by the House and Senate Committees regarding the use of the additional funding. Language included in the Senate report instructs the Administration for Children and Families to direct this funding specifically and exclusively to nurse home visitation programming and states that the ACF “should not expand these interventions to integrate other initiatives or services that could dilute the program.” Prevent Child Abuse America supports letting communities choose from a range of high quality, evidence-based home visitation models based on which programs best meet the needs of their community. Therefore, PCAA supports the language included in the House report which states, “The Committee intends the increased funding to be dedicated to support State use of research- and evidence-based home visitation models that use professionals, nurses, paraprofessionals, and trained volunteers from the community to improve parenting and family health. The Committee has funded the Administration's request for this activity after reviewing the research supporting the value of a range of early childhood home visitation models and their positive affect on prenatal health, preventing child maltreatment, and improvement in other important outcomes for these young families."
Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF): Otherwise known as title IV-B (2) of the Social Security Act, PSSF grants help states pay for four “core” services: family support, family preservation, family reunification, and adoption support. States are expected to spend 20% of their allotment on each service category. Prevention efforts in some states are paid for using PSSF family support dollars. PSSF consists of two funding streams, one mandatory and one discretionary.
FY 2008 appropriation: The discretionary grant was level-funded at the FY 2007 level of $89 million in both the House and Senate bills (along with full mandatory funding of $305 million for core services).
Social Services Block Grant (SSBG): SSBG is a capped entitlement that funds a range of social services for children, families, the elderly, and the disabled. Services funded by SSBG dollars include child abuse prevention, child care, and adoption assistance.
FY 2008 appropriation: Both the House and Senate bills fully funded this program at $1.7 billion, rejecting the President’s requested $500 million cut for the second year in a row.
Next Steps in the Appropriations Process
The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to take up Labor-HHS following the July 4th recess. Floor action in both the House and Senate could happen by the end of summer. Following floor votes in both chambers, select House and Senate appropriators will then conference to reconcile the differences between their respective spending bills, resulting in a single bill that will be sent to the President, who will either sign or veto the legislation.
SCHIP Reauthorization Beginning to Take Shape
Reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) continues to move forward in the Senate, with Finance Committee mark-up expected after the July 4th recess. Funding is shaping up to be a key issue in the reauthorization debate. The FY 2008 Congressional Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 21) included a commitment of a $50 billion increase for SCHIP over the next five years. However, with pay-as-you-go rules in place, this funding level is contingent on finding sufficient offsets in the budget, and lawmakers will need to find a compromise on exactly how to fund this crucial program.
One proposal circulating is an increase in the federal tobacco tax, a proposition with strong support from a number of high-ranking Senators including Senators Kennedy (D-MA) and Hatch (R-UT), who both helped to write the original SCHIP legislation in 1997. This proposal is also expected to face opposition, however, from tobacco state lawmakers along with others who are reluctant to increase any federal taxes. Another funding option that has been brought up would be to reduce payments to insurers offering private Medicare Advantage plans, who reportedly receive 12% more federal funding per beneficiary over the rate for traditional Medicare plans on average.
In addition to debate over funding sources for the program, income eligibility levels along with SCHIP coverage of adults under certain circumstances will continue to be points of contention as reauthorization moves forward.
Families USA has set up an Action Center with the latest information and calls to action on the SCHIP reauthorization debate.
Additional FY 2007 SCHIP Funding Secured
As reported in the April Prevention Advocate, many states were in danger of running out of funding for their SCHIP programs for the remainder of FY 2007. Fortunately, thanks in part to the efforts of many children’s health care advocates, the supplementary appropriations bill signed by the President last month included the $650 million needed for these states to address their funding shortfalls.
Speaker Pelosi Convenes National Experts on Child Well-Being
On May 22nd, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi convened the National Summit on America’s Children, a day-long meeting highlighting the latest research on an array of topics related to early childhood development. The summit, co-chaired by Representatives George Miller (D-CA-7th), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3rd), and Chaka Fattah (D-PA-2nd), was designed to help inform future policy decisions related to child well-being. In her opening remarks, Speaker Pelosi noted “We have gathered today to begin what will be a long-term conversation, and to signal our deep commitment to caring for our children and creating a prosperous future for them and for our entire nation.”
Four panels of national experts presented on topics including: brain architecture; the importance of healthy parent-child interactions; early learning; health and mental health; and income and family support. Several panelists noted the impact that abuse and neglect can have on child well-being and future success and made specific references to the positive role that early childhood home visitation services play in addressing many of the challenges families face. Throughout the summit, panelists reinforced one of Prevent Child Abuse America’s core beliefs, that ensuring that every child has the opportunity to have a healthy, safe and full life will require a comprehensive approach that looks beyond a single strategy, program, or appropriations line item.
A webcast of the summit is available on the Speaker's website.
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