Volume 6, Number 10
In this Issue:
--Congress Completes FY 2008 Spending Bills - Cuts Prevention Funding
--Congress Passes Long-Term Extension of SCHIP
Congress Completes FY 2008 Spending Bills - Cuts Prevention Funding
Having passed just one out of the 12 annual spending bills, Congress opted to wrap the remaining 11 bills into one “omnibus” package rather than attempt to pass them all separately. To avoid a veto, Congress met the overall FY 2008 discretionary spending limit requested by the President and provided $70 billion to fund the war. While the President received the overall limit he requested, Congress did shift spending within that limit to provide more funding for their priorities. The Senate passed the package on Tuesday, followed by the House on Wednesday. The President is expected to sign the bill.
Impact on Prevention Funding
In the package, Congress provides $144.8 billion in discretionary funds to the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education appropriations bill (Labor-HHS), $6 billion less than the Labor-HHS bill vetoed by the President in November (see the November Prevention Advocate for details). With some exceptions, Congress stayed within the new funding limit by subjecting Labor-HHS discretionary programs to a 1.747 percent cut below FY 2007 funding levels. Labor-HHS contains the majority of the funding for child abuse and neglect prevention programs, which means that the majority of our programs were cut by at least 1.747 percent. Congress cut one of our priorities, Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF), by an even greater amount of almost $26 million.
Summary of PCA America’s Appropriations Priorities
Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF)
PSSF provides the largest dedicated federal funding stream for child maltreatment prevention services and consists of two funding streams, one mandatory and one discretionary. The discretionary funding stream is funded through the annual appropriations process.
FY 2008 Final Appropriation -- $63.3 million, representing a $25 million cut below the FY 2007 level. PSSF was cut at the last minute despite the President, the House, and the Senate all supporting level-funding the grant at $89 million throughout the year.
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)
CAPTA provides funding for the prevention of child maltreatment services.
- CAPTA State Grants: State grants provide funds for states to improve child protective services.
FY 2008 Final Appropriation -- $26.5 million, representing a 1.747 percent cut below the FY 2007 level.
- CAPTA Community-Based Grants: Community-based grants help states develop and implement effective approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect.
FY 2008 Final Appropriation: $41.6 million, representing a 1.747 percent cut below the FY 2007 level.
- CAPTA Discretionary Research and Demonstration Grants: These grants fund for data collection, technical assistance, and grant-funded research and demonstration projects.
FY 2008 Final Appropriation: $27.1 million, representing a 1.747 percent cut below the FY 2007 level.
- CAPTA home visiting: In his FY 2008 budget, the President requested a $10 million increase to the CAPTA to support competitive grants to states to invest in home visiting.
FY 2008 Final Appropriation: $10 million in new funding and the following instructions:
“The conferees expect that the Administration for Children and Families will ensure that States use the funds to support models that have been shown, in well-designed randomized controlled trials, to produce sizeable, sustained effects on important child outcomes such as abuse and neglect. The conferees also recommend that the funds support activities to assist a range of home visitation programs to replicate the techniques that have met these high evidentiary standards. In carrying out this new initiative, the conferees instruct the Department to adhere closely to evidence-based models of home visitation and not to incorporate any additional initiatives that have not met these high evidentiary standards or might otherwise dilute the emphasis on home visitation.“
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 Final Appropriation: Fully funded at $1.7 billion. Congress did not cut the program by the $500 million requested by the President, nor was SSBG subject to the across-the-board cut.
Congress Passes Long-Term Extension of SCHIP
After enduring a second presidential veto on December 12th, Congress this week gave up on passing a five year reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Instead, they opted to extend the current program through March 31, 2009. The extension bill (S. 2499) passed by both the House and the Senate continues the current funding level of $5 billion a year and provides up to an additional $1.6 billion to enable states to maintain their current enrollment levels. The President is expected to sign the extension bill.
The bipartisan reauthorization legislation twice passed by Congress and twice vetoed by the President would have provided an additional $35 billion over five years to SCHIP, making coverage available to an estimated 10 million children. Congress will continue to grapple with SCHIP reauthorization next year, and PCA America will continue to advocate for a substantial investment in the program.
New CMS Guidelines to Effect Eligibility
In August, the Administration’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new guidelines that direct state health officials to establish a firm income eligibility limit of 250 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) for their SCHIP programs, unless states can meet a series of strict requirements. From its inception, the program has allowed individual states to determine their own income eligibility requirements for SCHIP coverage, providing flexibility to adjust for differences in cost of living and other factors that might make states’ needs different. Senators Menendez (D-NJ) and Specter (R-PA) led efforts to place implementation of the guidelines on hold. Unfortunately, their attempts to include language to this effect in the SCHIP extension bill were unsuccessful. More information is available at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families. 
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