FEDERAL POLICY UPDATE:
March 2006
Federal Budget
In February, the President proposed a Fiscal Year 2007 budget that would impose deep and
long-term cuts in critical children's programs proven to reduce crime. In 2011, one out of
seven kids in Head Start and one out of five kids in child care would be cut. One out of ten
kids being served by after-school programs would also be locked out.
To fight the cuts, we released a new national report showing that crime committed by
methamphetamine addicts has doubled over a period of two years. We should thus be increasing
rather than decreasing crime-fighting investments, including those that help children get on
the right track. We released the report at the National Press Club with a bipartisan group of
four state Attorneys General from South Dakota, Utah, California and Oklahoma. The report was
featured in 126 stories in 46 media markets nationwide reaching an audience of more than 4.2
million readers and viewers.
The Senate recently introduced their budget package, which largely mirrored the President's
proposal and included major cuts to crime-prevention programs. With the help of many allies,
we worked for passage of a Senate floor amendment by Senators Specter (R-PA) and Harkin (D-IA)
which restores $7 billion in funding for education, health and human services. The House will
introduce its package in the coming weeks. We are working to ensure that any final budget
package is not detrimental to crime-prevention investments in kids.
Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention
The federal government currently guarantees funding to help provide a safe foster home for
all eligible abused and neglected children who cannot stay safely at home. This protects the
child from further abuse or neglect and protects us all from increased crime down the road.
However, there was a serious threat in 2004 and 2005 that a cap on foster care funding could
be enacted. We were concerned that this cap would be similar to a bill proposed in 2004 by
Ways and Means Subcommittee Chairman Representative Wally Herger (R-CA). His proposal would
end the guarantee of federal funding for a safe foster home for every eligible child who has
been abused or neglected, and jeopardize funding for child abuse and neglect prevention, such
as in-home parent coaching. We prepared research reports that called for a continued
commitment to provide safe homes for abused and neglected children who need them and
emphasized the importance of a non-block-granted approach to foster care, particularly given
the threat of rising caseloads as a result of a nationwide methamphetamine epidemic. We also
worked throughout the summer and fall of 2005 to hold meetings with key members of Congress.
Fortunately, the foster care cap has not been enacted, though it is proposed again in the
Administration's FY07 budget. Unfortunately, a key child welfare funding source, the Social
Services Block Grant, has been targeted for a $500 million cut (almost 30%) under the
President's FY07 budget proposal.
In-home parent coaching (IHPC) is another major focus of our child abuse and neglect
prevention efforts. In-home parent coaching programs offer coaching on good parenting
practices and other assistance to new parents to help prevent child abuse and neglect, which
in turn helps to prevent future crime and violence. One of our major goals is to win
additional funding for IHPC programs by enacting the Education Begins at Home Act.
In March 2005, Senators Bond (R-MO), DeWine (R-OH) and Talent (R-MO) introduced the
Education Begins at Home Act (S. 503). The bill would provide $400 million over three years
in grants to states for in-home parent coaching programs. It would also provide $100 million
over three years in grants for English language learners and military families, and would
strengthen Early Head Start. A House version (H.R. 3628) was introduced in July 2005 by
Representatives Davis (D-IL), Platts (R-PA) and Osborne (R-NE). Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
played a critical role in securing Rep. Platts as a cosponsor of this bill (thereby ensuring
active bipartisan cosponsorship) and helped make some key improvements to the original Senate
bill. The House bill includes several improvements over the Senate version, such as not
naming a specific program model and focusing on using research-based approaches.
We are working to ensure that Congress will move this bill forward through committee and
to the full House and Senate this year, with funding next year. As the bill moves forward,
we will continue to strengthen the Education Begins at Home Act. We suggest giving funding
priority to evidence-based in-home parent coaching programs to ensure that at-risk families
receive services that effectively reduce abuse and neglect and later delinquency. The bill
should also give priority to funding programs in locations with high concentrations of
poverty that help serve low-income families who are most at risk of engaging in crime and
experiencing other negative outcomes.
Head Start
Congress is currently reauthorizing the Head Start program, our nation's premier school
readiness program for children in poverty. Since 1965, it has provided comprehensive
education, social and emotional development, and physical and mental health services for
children, along with parent coaching, to help children succeed in school and reduce later
crime.
Both the full House and the Senate Committee have passed Head Start bills (H.R. 2123 / S.
1107) that do not weaken quality standards and include new college degree requirements for
Head Start teachers. The House bill also includes an amendment supporting Early Head Start.
Unfortunately, the funding levels remain inadequate to allow all eligible poor children
access to Head Start. Even so, these bills are a significant improvement over the Head Start
reauthorization passed by the House in 2003, which would have allowed eight states to
abandon current federal quality standards altogether through a new state grant system.
When the bill goes to the Senate floor, we will work with allies to implement additional
positive changes. We also hope to achieve a substantial increase in Head Start funding over
the next few years in order to serve more eligible at-risk children, including infants and
toddlers, and to improve Head Start quality through research-proven approaches such as
enhanced teacher qualifications.
Child Care
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) helps working families pay for quality
early care and education and after-school activities for their kids. Last year, the Senate
and House Committees approved legislation (S. 525 / H.R. 240) increasing the quality
set-aside from 4% to 6%. The full House and Senate may soon work to complete the
reauthorization of the "discretionary" portion of CCDBG. The mandatory portion of CCDBG
funding was reauthorized in early 2006 as part of the FY06 budget reconciliation bill
(S. 1932). This reauthorization included a $1 billion increase from FY06-FY10 in child care
funding, which is not enough to keep pace with inflation, meet unmet need or improve quality.
After-School
After Fight Crime: Invest in Kids and our allies successfully fought the President's
proposed 40 percent cut in after-school programs in 2003, the President proposed no
significant cut in his FY05, FY06 or FY07 budgets. Though Congress has failed to increase
funding in recent years, we are continuing to educate policy-makers about the importance of
after-school programs and the need for increased funding to give more kids access to quality
after-school activities.
Juvenile Justice
The Juvenile Accountability Block Grant (JABG) provides grants to states and localities to
implement programs that strengthen the juvenile justice system. JABG was reauthorized in the
fall of 2005 as part of the Department of Justice reauthorization (P.L. 109-162). This bill
allows JABG funds to be used on research-based bullying and gang prevention, as well as for
reentry purposes. The bill also specifies a preference for funds to be used for evidence-based
approaches.
The federal government currently provides funds every year for JABG and the Title V
Delinquency Prevention Program to help finance programs that prevent crime, keep kids from
joining gangs and help youth get back on track after incarceration. Despite the fact that
these programs are absolutely crucial in helping youth to make responsible decisions and
successfully transition to adulthood, JABG and Title V are seriously under-funded and under
constant threat of deep cuts.
For the past several years, the President has proposed drastic cuts in his budget for teen
violence prevention programs. The President's FY07 proposal includes elimination of JABG and
a 50% cut to Title V. As in the past two years, we are working to educate policy-makers that
these programs are effective and that they should not be cut. Our law enforcement members
held a media event and released a national report in 2004 urging Congress to maintain funding
for these critical crime prevention programs. In 2005, we released a state-specific report
in the district of the relevant Appropriations Subcommittee Chair. We will be working this
year with members in key states and districts to help us educate members of Congress about
the importance of the crime-prevention funding sources.
Reentry
When young offenders leave juvenile correctional facilities and prisons, they must
transition from confinement to "life on the outside." Research- proven offender reentry
programs provide comprehensive support to allow juveniles to successfully make this
transition into society. In April 2005, Representatives Portman (R-OH), Cannon (R-UT),
Davis (D-IL) and others introduced the Second Chance Act of 2005 (H.R. 1704). In October,
Senators Specter (R-PA), Biden (D-DE), Brownback (R-KS) and others introduced a Senate
version (S. 1934).
This bill would provide assistance to states and localities to implement strategic plans
for providing and coordinating comprehensive efforts to enable juvenile and adult
ex-offenders to successfully reenter their communities. The bill would also establish a
federal inter-agency task force on offender reentry, provide for research on reentry and
create a national resource center to collect and disseminate information on best practices
in offender reentry.
The House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee has held three hearings on the bill, with a mark-up
on February 15th, 2006. The bill was approved by unanimous voice vote and sent to the full
Committee. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids member Chief Ike Shirley from Oklahoma spoke at a
November 2005 briefing for Senate staff. We hope for further House and Senate Action this
spring, followed by enactment and funding at the authorized level.
Bullying Prevention
We continue to build on the momentum of our September 2003 report, "Bullying Prevention
Is Crime Prevention" by working with key federal policy-makers. In May, 2005 Fight Crime: Invest
in Kids Ohio member Sheriff Thomas G. Maurer spoke at a bullying prevention event on
Capitol Hill sponsored by Court TV. The event was planned in conjunction with the release of
Representative John Shimkus (R-IL)'s Anti-Bullying Act of 2005 (H.R. 284) which would allow
schools to use Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act funds to support bullying and
harassment prevention programs. We will work to move this legislation forward.
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