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Legislative Update
November 18, 2005
House Approves $600 Million Cut in Foster Care in Budget Reconciliation Bill
With legislators working past midnight, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill this morning that reduces federal spending for entitlement programs by $50 billion. The final House passed budget bill includes $600 million in cuts to foster care and supports for grandparents and other relatives caring for abused and neglected children.*
The vote in the House had been delayed for a week due to the protest of a group of moderate Republicans who called for changes in the bill. These members of Congress were responding to the flood of phone calls they received from CWLA members and other advocates urging them to reject the final bill. Negotiations to get the needed Republican support for the bill continued up until the time of the vote. Since all Democrats in the House opposed the bill, the Republicans could not afford the loss of many party votes to pass the bill. In order to secure final passage of the bill, changes were made to reduce some of the food stamp cuts and modify the new co-payments requirements for Medicaid recipients. These modifications were very minor and do not significantly soften the bill's impact on vulnerable low-income families.
The final vote was extremely close, with the final tally 217 to 215. Fourteen Republicans joined with all of the Democrats in opposing the bill.**
NEXT STEPS
The Senate-approved budget reconciliation bill does not contain the foster care cuts in the House bill. Therefore, this difference will be one of the items that members of a Senate-House conference committee will consider when crafting a final compromise bill. After Thanksgiving, members of the conference committee will be appointed and begin negotiations on a final budget reconciliation bill. Both the Senate and House will then vote on the final bill.
We need to keep our voices heard so that at a minimum the final budget reconciliation bill does not include the $600 million in foster care cuts. When the conference committee members are announced after Thanksgiving, CWLA will ask you to join us in making targeted phone calls to stop these cuts.
Thanks for all of your hard work! Without your efforts, the needs of abused and neglected children would not be heard in Congress.
For more information, including background and analysis, visit CWLA's No Caps on Kids! Campaign website or contact Liz Meitner, CWLA Vice President of Government Affairs, at emeitner@cwla.org or 202-942-0257.
* For a more detailed description of the House child welfare provisions, go to http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/fostercare051109.htm
** The Republicans who voted against the House budget reconciliation bill on November 18, were: Representatives Jim Gerlach (PA), Nancy Johnson (CT), Timothy Johnson (IL), Walter Jones (NC), Jim Leach (IA), John McHugh (NY), Bob Ney (OH), Ron Paul (TX), Jim Ramstad (MN), Chris Shays (CT), Robert Simmons (CT), Christopher Smith (NJ), John Sweeney (NY), and Heather Wilson (NM). Two Democratic Representatives, Leonard Boswell (IA) and Edolphus Towns (NY), did not vote. The one Independent in Congress, Representative Bernie Sanders (VT), also voted against the bill.
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