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FY 2003 Final Budget and Bush Budget 2004
For more information, contact
Joyce Johnson
Phone: 804/492-4519
Cell: 703/980-7641
E-mail: jjohnson@cwla.org
FY 2003 Budget Finalized
Four months into current fiscal year, Congress finally completed action on the FY 2003 budget. Since only two of the 13 annual appropriations bills passed last year, Congress decided to roll together the remaining 11 bills into one omnibus appropriations measure. To help finance increases in some priority areas, the omnibus FY 2003 budget bill includes a 0.65% across-the-board cut for almost all domestic programs.
The budget does include a $100 million increase in the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program and first time funding of $42 million for educational and training vouches for youth aging out of care and $10 million for mentoring of children with incarcerated parents. Funding for several child welfare programs will continue at current levels (minus the across the board cut), including Child Welfare Services, Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act State grants, Adoption Opportunities grants, and Adoption Incentive Payments to states.
In FY 2003, funding for the Title V Local Delinquency Prevention Grant program was cut from $94.3 million to $46.5 million. This program is the only federal funding specifically targeted toward primary local delinquency prevention efforts. It funds programs that target high risk youth that have not had contact with law enforcement.
For more details about the FY 2003 budget, please see Funding for Selected Children's Programs.
President Bush Releases FY 2004 Budget
With the FY 2003 budget process complete, congressional deliberations and negotiations will now begin on the FY 2004 budget and annual appropriations process for all federally funded programs, including programs for children, youth, and families. Those deliberations and negotiations will, in part, be in reaction to the Administration's funding priorities for fiscal year 2004, recently released by President Bush. It is also anticipated that Congress will soon consider a FY 2003 supplemental spending bill to provide additional funding for military operations in Afghanistan, as well as homeland security.
The President's FY 2004 budget offers sweeping proposals in several human service areas that, if enacted, would have long-term implications for the children and families we serve. The proposals include major reforms for Title IV-E Foster Care, Medicaid, Head Start, and Section 8 housing assistance. Seeking to give states more control over the delivery of social services, these proposals include some elements of fixed state block grants with less federal direction on how these funds may be spent. The President's budget provides only an outline of these proposals. Until more specific legislative language is available, many details of these proposals remain unknown.
In addition, the President's proposed budget once again provides significant new funding for defense with a 4.7% increase or $17 billion. The budget also included proposed tax cuts totaling $674 billion over 10 years. The centerpiece of the tax plan is a $374 billion proposal to eliminate the tax on investment dividends. The President's budget also includes $400 billion for a Medicare overhaul. The budget anticipates a record annual deficit of $307 billion for FY 2004. This figure includes the impact of the tax cut plan, but does not cover the cost of a possible war in Iraq.
The overarching criteria used in evaluating any sweeping reforms of major federal funding sources for child welfare services must be whether or not they advance our goal of better protecting our children and assisting families.
For more detailed information, see:
If you have any questions, contact Liz Meitner, CWLA's Vice President of Government Affairs, at 202/942-0257 or emeitner@cwla.org.
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