Update on the Child Health Insurance Program

The Senate approved its renewal of the CHIP program yesterday, extending health benefits to children of legal immigrants, and paying for it by raising the tax on cigarettes by 61 cents per pack. The vote was 66 to 32. For more details see this article in the Washington Post.

The Fed to State Economic Connection

The news is fast and furious this morning – yesterday the House passed its version of the federal economic stimulus package, and the Governor simultaneously released his proposed Fiscal Year 2010 budget and significant cuts to the budget for the current budget year.

How are these two things related? Pretty significantly, as it turns out. A little more than a quarter of the $819 billion estimated cost of the House’s economic plan takes the form of aid to states, according to the Boston Globe for expenses like highways, drinking water, weatherization, child care, school construction, help with Medicaid, and the largest category – fiscal stabilization. The National Council of State Legislatures has broken down the numbers for most states (but not Massachusetts) here.

Critics of the House bill are citing high costs, a rejection of additional tax cuts proposed by Republican members, and a shortage of investments in infrastructure and transportation. The bill definitely seems to have traded off some of the market-stimulating investments (especially infrastructure and tax cuts to businesses) for direct benefits to individuals and families – extended unemployment benefits, child care assistance, and one time $500 per person tax rebates – to ease the immediate effects of the economic crisis.

How these numbers come out in the end remains to be seen, but I’m thinking state legislators everywhere are feeling at least a little relief as they approach state budgets for next fiscal year. The Senate has released its version of economic stimulus plan from its Appropriations Committee, and is expected to debate it on the Senate floor next week. You can bet that state legislatures will be staying tuned to the federal debate in hopes of some help in handling their own budget woes.

In other, not completely unrelated news, President Obama signed his first bill into law today with fair pay icon Lilly Ledbetter at his side. The two people who I bet she wishes could be at the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act with her? Her husband who passed away last year, and the insightful and brave co-worker who passed her that note in 1998, telling her that she was being paid less than the 16 men who did the same job, some with less experience. Here’s a particularly lovely quote from President Obama from his speech at the signing:

And I sign this bill for my daughters, and all those who will come after us, because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams and they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined.

Towns and Schools Face an Uncertain Future Together

It’s going to be a tough budget year at the State House. With the economy in a continual downward spiral, Governor Patrick is simultaneously talking about another round of mid-year cuts and preparing municipalities, state employees, and other recipients of state funds for a deeper cut in the FY10 budget which is facing a gap of about $3.1 billion. We’re still in the beginning of a long period of darkness before the eventual dawn.
What will these next few months of deep budget cuts mean for kids and families?
One major impact on children will come through proposed cuts in state aid to municipalities. Governor Patrick has announced a total cut of about $500 million in local aid, about a quarter of which has to be implemented in this fiscal year (before June). The rest will be part of the FY10 budget proposal he is expected to release this Wednesday. In addition to the families who will lose income directly as towns lay off employees and make cuts to services ranging from libraries to public safety, the cuts will likely have a significant impact on school budgets. In Massachusetts, approximately half of public school expenditures are teacher and specialist salaries (about 37%) and related benefits like health insurance and retirement (about 15%). With most other categories (including administration, at around 3%) in the single digits, massive cuts are going to be hard to implement without cutting back on teachers and increasing class size.
Each municipality will have to decide how it will handle these cuts, and how much they will impact their school districts. Some of the factors they will have to consider are the percentage of the school budget already paid for with local taxes, the capacity and will of the community to raise more revenue through Proposition 2 ½ overrides, and their ability to cut expenditures both in school budgets and in the other areas of the municipal budgets. Ideally, towns will also consider the current quality and effectiveness of their school districts, and how cuts will impact the future of their students. Stakeholders in local districts (town elected officials, town and school administrators, residents and employees) need to start considering those factors now, and be ready to advocate for the most appropriate fiscal strategies for their communities.
What effects of the upcoming budget cuts are you already feeling – in your home, your workplace, or your community? What unexpected strategies have you found for getting by in these difficult times? What suggestions do you have to the Governor and legislature as they make these cuts? Let’s bring the discussion from the State House to the kitchen table and back again, so we can all own the solution to these difficult economic times.

An Update on Economic Recovery from NWLC

From the National Women's Law Center:

The House just released its proposal for the economic recovery package, and it provides funding for many important child care, early education, and related programs, including:

-$2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to provide child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.

-$2.1 billion for Head Start to provide comprehensive development services to help 110,000 additional children succeed in school.

-$600 million for IDEA Infants and Families for formula grants to help states serve children with disabilities age 2 and younger.

-$726 million for Afterschool Meals to increase the number of states that provide free dinners to children and to encourage participation by new institutions by increasing snack reimbursement rates

-$2.5 billion for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families for block grants to help States deal with the surge in families needing help during the recession and to prevent them from cutting work programs and services for abused and neglected children.

A more detailed description of the proposal can be found here: http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf.

Child Health Care in Senate Committee Today

Yesterday the House passed an expansion of SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program), which sends money to the states to cover health care for children. If you’ve been following this issue over the past two years, you know that the House and Senate twice passed SCHIP expansion in 2007, but President Bush vetoed those proposals. At issue were the source of funding (a higher cigarette tax) and the outgoing President’s objection to expanding government-funded health care. In these times, both state governments and working families will likely have no issues with the latter. Current funding for SCHIP runs out in March, so states need this to move now. While the cigarette tax isn’t ideal – it’s arguably a source of funding that hits low and middle-income individuals disproportionately – it’s not a deal-breaker. Smokers will pay a little more at the cash register so that kids can get health care. The American Cancer Society thinks that the cigarette tax increase will reduce smoking related deaths, and that almost 2 million fewer children will take up smoking as a result. That should save health care dollars down the road.
A version of this bill will be heard by the Senate Finance Committee today, and it’s on the fast track so it can be the first bill the incoming President Obama signs. For more details about the current and past proposals, including the one being considered today, take a look at this article from The Hill.
If you’re Senator is on the Finance Committee, you can contact them today and ask them to move the SCHIP expansion quickly. If you’re Senator is not on the committee, contact them anyway and ask them to share their support with Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT). If you don’t know how to reach your Senators, go to http://www.usa.gov/.

3 Steps Toward Change for Children

Change! In the next few days and weeks we'll be hearing that word a lot. It has almost become an Obama brand, but let's not forget that we - each of us - can make change too. Here are three things you can do in the next week that can change the lives of children and their families for the better:

1) Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day next Monday by participating in the National Day of Service. To find a service project near you, go to: http://www.mlkday.gov/ If you can, take your kids or a couple of neighborhood children with you. Nothing creates change over the long term like teaching children how to make it!

2) Call your members of Congress and ask them to support child care and Head Start in the Economic Recovery Bill, and to share their support with key leadership. In the short term, child care support will allow parents who are losing income to stay in their jobs or look for new ones, and will maintain jobs (especially for low- to middle-income women) in the early childhood education field. Most importantly, it can give kids stability and the many benefits of high quality early childhood education while their parents work or look for jobs. Key organizations have asked the incoming administration and Congressional leaders to include a $3 billion increase in child care funding, and a $3 billion Head Start increase in the upcoming Economic Recovery Bill. If you don't know how to reach your Representatives and Senators, go to: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml For more information about federal support for child care, and why it's critical to economic recovery, go to: http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/ChildCareEconomicStimulusNov2008.pdf

3) As you get ready to attend or watch the historic Inauguration of President Obama, begin learning about the many child and family policy issues the new Administration and Congress will be tackling over the next two years. Congress is preparing to reauthorize funding and policy related to critical issues like education and nutrition (including school lunches), while simultaneously managing the country out of an historically bad economy. You can weigh in, and ensure that Congress and the President put children and families first.

You can make change for children and families - today, next week, and in the coming months and years. Stay tuned to this blog and to http://www.childandfamilypolicy.net/ to find out how!