SSBG Briefing on Capitol Hill

Earlier today, CWLA and other national organizations held a briefing on Capitol Hill to highlight the important work that is funded by the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) and the very real damage that would be caused if it were eliminated as called for in a plan approved by the House of Representatives earlier this year. John Sciamanna from the National Foster Care Coalition opened the briefing with a plea to Congress to support SSBG and to reject efforts to eliminate it.

Other speakers included Delegate Samuel Rosenberg, vice-chair of the Maryland House of Delegates Ways and Means Committee, Bob Suver, Director of Clark County Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Jerry Davis, Vice-President for National Advocacy and Public Policy at Boys Town, and Cecile Noel, Executive Deputy Commissioner at the New York City Human Resources Administration.  The speakers described the critical needs SSBG meets in their communities and how this resource is not available anywhere else. The flexible funding structure of SSBG was also touted as an effective feature of the block grant. It was noted that approximately 12% of SSBG funds support child welfare services. Additionally, child protective services (CPS) receives many hundreds of millions more in funding from SSBG each year than from the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act that sets CPS mandates for protecting children.

On May 10, the House passed H.R. 5652, which would eliminate SSBG and make drastic cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program among others. President Obama has threatened to veto the bill and the Senate has shown no interest in taking it up.  Still, the bill’s passage is important because as the looming 2013 sequestration deadline approaches, pressure to replace or eliminate these cuts will increase.  This bill demonstrates just how the House seeks to do so and may come into play during post-election negotiations.

Budget Committee Plan Replaces Sequester of Defense Funding with Human Service Cuts

Late last week Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chair of the House Budget Committee, introduced the Sequester Replacement Act , H.R. 4966, which replaces the cuts to defense programs through sequestration which is called for in the Budget Control Act , P.L. 112-25, with more drastic cuts to human service programs. These cuts include eliminating the Social Services Block Grant, saving $17 billion over ten years, and cuts of $33 billion in SNAP over ten years. Also included in the bill are Medicaid changes including the elimination of the maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements on states and the repeal of the bonus payments to states for increasing their Medicaid enrollment.

Eliminating SSBG would cause severe harm to child welfare. SSBG represents 12% of federal funds states spend to provide child abuse prevention, adoption, foster care, child protection, independent and transitional living and residential services for children and youth. The cuts to SNAP (formerly the food stamp program) would result in millions of low-income people being forced out of the program. As previously reported, repealing the maintenance of effort requirements in Medicaid opens the door for states to institute caps on enrollment and even decrease enrollment by creating more strenuous eligibility standards. Furthermore, repealing bonus payments to states only works as a disincentive to states that want to increase enrollment for eligible children and families.

These and other cuts were recommended by a number of House committees including Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Agriculture. The Budget Committee has scheduled a markup of the legislation for Monday, May 7th, at 2pm EST.