Resources & Publications:
Budget and Appropriations

• Mar 29, 2013  |  Lavanya Mohan CLASP Work Supports Newsletter - March 2013 The Work Supports Newsletter is a monthly update that summarizes CLASP's work on safety net programs that include cash assistance (TANF), nutrition supports (SNAP), refundable tax credits, health insurance, child support enforcement and child care subsidies. Read Online
• Sep 07, 2012  |  Hannah Matthews At Risk: Early Care and Education Funding and Sequestration Sequestration was created in August 2011 as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which ended that year's showdown over raising the federal debt ceiling. Because Congress failed to come up with a deficit reduction plan, the Budget Control Act calls for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over the next decade, divided equally between defense and "non-defense discretionary" programs. This fact sheet explains how these cuts will impact federal early care and education funding and what can be done to prevent them. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Jul 26, 2012  |  Patrick Reimherr and Elizabeth Lower-Basch Senate Lays the Groundwork for Fair Deficit Reduction On Wednesday, the Senate approved a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for those making under $250,000 a year -- 98 percent of all Americans. The passage of the Middle Class Tax Cut Act (S.3412) marks a significant step toward the principle of a balanced approach to deficit reduction, with new revenues as well as spending cuts. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the bill would save the U.S. nearly $1 trillion over 10 years. Read Online
• Jun 18, 2012  |  Marcie Foster Senate Appropriations Committee Takes Steps to Restore Financial Aid for College-Ready Adults without a High School Diploma On June 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2013 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill that sets funding levels for key education and training programs. Importantly, the bill also includes an amendment that would restore financial aid eligibility for some students without a high school diploma or its equivalent who are able to demonstrate their ability to benefit from college-level coursework. The provision would allow this eligibility only for ATB-eligible students who are enrolled in career pathway programs, a program model which CLASP has long-supported. Read Online
• May 09, 2012  |  Helly Lee House Priorities about Protecting Defense Spending at Expense of Low-Income Families This week, the House Budget Committee debated and passed a harsh and unbalanced budget package that takes drastic measures to protect the defense budget-while making deep cuts to programs helping low-income working families and communities. The reconciliation bill is expected to make its way to the House floor for a vote this Thursday, May 10. Read Online
• Apr 24, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Helping Vulnerable Americans Put Dinner on the Table, the SNAP Program Needs Citizen Support The Senate Agriculture Committee has released draft language for the 2012 Farm Bill, which it will begin "marking-up" in a hearing this Wednesday. This bill, typically passed every five years, sets national policy and funding direction for agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and forestry programs. Read Online
• Apr 18, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch All the Sacrifice Yesterday, the Budget Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing that was titled "Strengthening the Safety Net" but was really about Chairman Ryan's proposals to cut billions of dollars from safety net programs, including converting both Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) into block grants. Read Online
• Apr 17, 2012  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson Misguided Bill Would Eliminate Critical Child Welfare Funding Tomorrow, the House Ways and Means Committee will consider a bill to eliminate the Social Service Block Grant (SSBG). This $1.7 billion flexible funding stream helps states provide a range of critical services to some of our nation’s most vulnerable individuals, and is often used by states to fill gaps left by federal programs. Read Online
• Mar 22, 2012  |  Vickie Choitz Threats to Pell in House Budget Proposal are Ungrounded, Unfair and Misguided The House FY 2013 Budget Resolution released this week by budget committee Chairman Paul Ryan makes vague but undeniable threats to the Pell Grant program, proposing to limit funding and further tighten eligibility requirements. Read Online
• Mar 20, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch In Orwellian Fashion, Ryan Budget 'Repairs' Safety Net by Slashing It Programs that provide health care and food assistance are squarely in the cross sights of the proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget released Tuesday by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. His proposal singles out Medicaid and SNAP for cuts by converting them into block grants. Other domestic programs would also have to be slashed to achieve his proposed spending levels. Read Online
• Feb 23, 2012 Post-Budget Update: What to Expect for Early Childhood in 2012 Audio Conference CLASP's Hannah Matthews along with experts from National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) discuss the President's FY 2013 budget proposal and the appropriations process for early childhood programs in 2012. Read Online   |   Download Audio   |   Download Additional
• Feb 15, 2012  |  Vickie Choitz Education and Training are Top Priorities in President Obama's 2013 Budget CLASP's summary of Education and Training in the President's FY 2013 budget proposal. Read Online
• Feb 15, 2012  |  Neil Ridley and Marcie Foster President Proposes New Investments in America's Workforce In his FY 2013 budget proposal released Monday, the president called for an $8 billion Community College to Career Fund to train 2 million workers for jobs in high-demand and high-growth fields. The president announced the initiative in late January during his State of the Union address and provided more details in his budget proposal. Read Online
• Feb 15, 2012  |  Kisha Bird President's Proposal Demonstrates Commitment to Disconnected Youth, but Doesn't Go Far Enough In his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2013, the president continues to draw attention to persistently high unemployment among the nation's youth and young adults and the grave situation facing disconnected youth. Read Online
• Feb 14, 2012  |  Hannah Matthews President's Budget Includes Promising News for Early Childhood CLASP's summary of Child Care and Early Education in the President's FY 2013 budget proposal. Read Online
• Feb 14, 2012  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch President's Budget Includes Subsidized Employment and Job Training Opportunities President Obama's budget blueprint released Monday lays out spending priorities for the nation. The proposal calls for Congress to support employment and job training opportunities for unemployed workers through the Pathways Back to Work Fund. This proposal indicates that the president recognizes that the economic recovery must be inclusive to be complete. Read Online
• Feb 13, 2012 President Proposes to Restore Civil Legal Aid Funding, But More Is Needed The Budget released by the President on Monday recommends a budget level of $402 million, a $54 million increase over FY 2012, for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). This increase would be targeted solely toward direct funds to civil legal aid programs and would fully restore the funding that was cut from those programs in 2012. Read Online
• Dec 20, 2011 Early Childhood Updates: Funding and Reauthorization Prospects Audio Conference CLASP's Hannah Matthews alongside representatives from National Women's Law Center (NWLC), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the First Five Years Fund discuss funding for early childhood programs in 2012-2013 as well as reauthorization of CCDBG and ESEA. Read Online   |   Download Audio   |   Additional PDF
• Oct 07, 2011  |  Vickie Choitz and Elizabeth Kenefick Threats to Pell Grants Materialize in the House A draft appropriations bill released by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Sept. 29 significantly harms Pell Grant students by slashing $44 billion from the program over 10 years, putting in jeopardy the maximum Pell Grant, and making drastic changes to eligibility. These proposed changes threaten low-income students' ability to access and succeed in higher education. Read Online
• Aug 04, 2011  |  CLASP Deficit Reduction: Plans to Reduce the Nation's Deficit Should Protect the Disadvantaged (August Update) From the beginning, we've known that reducing the deficit would require tough choices about how the nation invests its financial resources. But it also requires answering moral and philosophical questions about the kind of nation we want to be now and in the future. Today, one in seven of us is poor, including one in four children under age five, and nearly one-third of us are low-income. In the last three decades, the income gap between rich and poor has widened. Unemployment has hovered around 9 percent or higher for the last two and a half years and economists project it will remain high in the foreseeable future. Cutting programs that promote opportunity and alleviate poverty while leaving tax breaks for the wealthiest and corporate tax loopholes untouched is anathema to the nation's shared core values and detrimental to its future. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Jul 12, 2011  |  Abigail Newcomer and Elizabeth Kenefick Balanced Budget Amendment Sounds Good in Theory, Devastating in Practice The idea of amending the constitution to require lawmakers to balance the federal budget is not new. In recent decades, it arose a number of times as a "no nonsense" solution to curb government spending. However, each time Congress evaluated this proposal on its merits, it determined a balanced budget amendment is better in theory than in practice. And it is an especially bad idea during periods of economic decline because it would devastate public programs that support individuals at the very times when their salaries and hours decrease or their jobs disappear. Despite this knowledge, the Senate and the House are scheduled to vote on balanced budget amendment proposals in their respective chambers next week. Read Online
• Jun 28, 2011  |  CLASP Deficit Reduction: Plans to Reduce Annual Deficits Should Not Increase Poverty or Inequality Some pending deficit reduction proposals would decimate programs that alleviate poverty and provide education and training while leaving tax breaks for the wealthiest and corporate tax loopholes untouched. This fact sheet outlines why lawmakers moving forward with deficit reduction talks should commit to ensuring final legislation doesn't harm the most vulnerable among us and does not increase poverty and inequality. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Jun 14, 2011 Off Balance: Proposal to Balance the Budget Drastic, Unrealistic and Harmful to all Americans The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is considering a bill (HJRes.1 Proposing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution of the United States) that would make an annual balanced federal budget constitutional law. While it is true that the nation must work to get its deficit under control, the bill is a plan not for balance but rather for dismantling the government and weakening programs and services on which all Americans rely. This fact sheet outlines the proposal and its potential effects on the nation. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Apr 14, 2011  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Keep Your Eye on the Ball Media coverage of the federal budget focuses almost entirely on the political horse race aspects: Is the President or Congress doing better in the overnight polls? Who is winning? Does compromise make you look statesmanlike or weak? Often lost in the shuffle is the actual substance of the budget: What programs will get funded? How will they be paid for? Read Online
• Feb 23, 2011  |  Child Care and Early Education Early Childhood Funding: the President's FY2012 Budget and Wrapping Up FY2011 Appropriations This February 17th conference call provided information on early childhood funding for FY2011 and FY2012. Speakers include: Helen Blank, National Women's Law Center; Danielle Ewen, CLASP; Adele Robinson, NAEYC; and Harriet Dichter, First Five Years Fund. Download Audio
• Feb 14, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews and Danielle Ewen House, President Propose Budgets: Divergent Views on Early Childhood Funding CLASP analysis of the early childhood provisions in the House CR for FY 2011 and the President's proposed FY 2012 budget. Read Online
• Jan 25, 2011  |  Hannah Matthews Federal and State Budgets: Implications for Funding Early Childhood Programs This presentation was presented at the National Head Start Association (NHSA) Leadership Institute. It provides an overview of the federal budget process for FY 2011 and 2012 and the political and economic context that may impact funding for early childhood programs. Download PDF
• Oct 06, 2010  |  Danielle Ewen and Helen Blank Audio Conference: Congress is Wrapping Up: Get the Scoop on Early Childhood In this audio conference, Helen Blank from the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and Danielle Ewen at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) provide a summary of the 111th Congress as well as what's on the horizon for the lame duck session and the 112th Congress. They discuss the status of appropriations bills, the Early Learning Challenge Fund, Child Nutrition, TANF, CCDBG and other important pieces of legislation. Download Audio   |   Additional PDF
• Mar 31, 2010  |  Campaign for Youth, Linda Harris Co-Chair Letter to House and Senate Budget Committee Members on the FY 2011 Budget We have an opportunity deficit in our nation. An estimated 5.2 million youth ages 16-24 are out of school and out of work. Without purposeful efforts to connect unemployed youth to jobs, paid work experience, education, and training to prepare them for openings in the new economy, those youth will most likely spend the better part of a decade with few opportunities to work, gain skills, or earn family sustaining wages. The Campaign for Youth urges Congress to increase opportunities for low-income and disconnected youth and young adults with limited labor market to access training, education supports, and good jobs that will help spur economic development in local communities across the nation. Download PDF
• Mar 18, 2010  |  Evelyn Ganzglass Testimony of Evelyn Ganzglass on 2011 Budget Priorities for Education and Labor This testimony calls on Congress to sustain the level of Recovery Act investment in workforce programs. It further urges lawmakers to increase the funding for youth programming to $3 billion for expanded summer and year-round youth activities and for targeted grants to high poverty communities to build pathways for youth to opportunities in growing sectors of the economy. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Feb 05, 2010  |  Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt President's Budget Proposal: Opportunities for Disconnected Youth On February 1, President Obama presented his FY 2011 budget proposal to Congress. The document lays out the desired course for the president's spending priorities for the coming year. This budget reflects the administration's commitment to the education and employment of youth, and proposes increased funding in several areas that can impact programming for disadvantaged and disconnected youth. Read Online
• Feb 04, 2010  |  Elizabeth Lower-Basch Budget Calls for Raising Asset Limits President Obama’s proposed budget calls for two important changes to asset test requirements across federal programs. Read Online
• Feb 04, 2010  |  Rutledge Q. Hutson President's Budget Calls for Key Investments in our Most Vulnerable Children and Families Our nation's children will be safe and well cared for only when we invest in a continuum of services including: prevention and early intervention services that help prevent child abuse and neglect whenever possible; effective treatment services for children who experience maltreatment and their families; and aftercare services that support children and their families once a crisis is stabilized so that further abuse and neglect do not occur. President Obama's 2011 budget takes a number of positive steps towards supporting this continuum, but The Administration and the Congress must take additional steps to make up for years of underinvestment in critical services for our nation's most vulnerable children. Read Online
• Feb 03, 2010  |  Danielle Ewen and Helen Blank The President's Budget Proposal: Opportunities and Challenges for Early Childhood Programs In this audioconference, Danielle Ewen and Helen Blank discuss the president's FY 2011 budget proposal and implications for funding of state and local early childhood programs. Download Audio   |   Additional PDF
• Feb 01, 2010  |  Hannah Matthews and Danielle Ewen Administration Reverses a Decade of Indifference The President's FY 2011 budget proposal provides resources for expanding quality child care and early education opportunities for children and families. Read Online
• Jan 25, 2010  |  CLASP Federal Policy Recommendations for 2010 Our nation faces many domestic challenges, including improving access to affordable health care, improving access to education as well as education outcomes, and providing debt and foreclosure relief. CLASP's 2010 federal policy recommendations are equally essential to achieving healthy and thriving families and improving the nation's prosperity. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Oct 23, 2009  |  Danielle Ewen Small Steps at a Challenging Time: Federal Legislation for Infants and Toddlers Danielle Ewen, CLASP's director of Child Care and Early Education, presented during a session, Current and Proposed Federal Policies and Plans That Will Influence the Care of Infants and Toddlers, at the Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC) Graduate Conference on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2009 in San Francisco, Calif. Download PDF
• Sep 09, 2009  |  Child Care and Early Learning Coalition Letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on FY 2011 Budget Request for Child Care and Head Start CLASP signed this coalition letter urging HHS to prepare a FY 2011 budget that allows for substantial increases in funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, and Early Head Start. Download PDF
• Sep 01, 2009  |  CLASP Federal Policy Recommendations for 2009 and Beyond The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has developed an extensive federal policy agenda for President Obama and the 111th Congress directed at improving the lives of low income people. That agenda is outlined in this document. Download PDF
• Apr 06, 2009 Recommendations for a Final Budget Resolution in Support of Low-income People This is a new analysis from CLASP that examines the House and Senate budget resolutions. Both resolutions commit to deficit reduction on or before the President's timeline, and both budgets provide funding for major priorities proposed by the President. But the budgets differ in some areas on how they would achieve these priorities. Download PDF
• Mar 18, 2009  |  Danielle Ewen Testimony On Growing Federal Investments In Head Start And Early Head Start This testimony, presented on March 18, 2009 to the Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, discusses the importance of Head Start/Early Head Start programs that support our most vulnerable infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families. Download PDF
• Mar 13, 2009 The Congressional Budget Resolution: An Opportunity to Renew Support for Low-Income People The federal budget: An opportunity to renew support for low-income people. Download PDF
• Mar 04, 2008  |  CLASP The Congressional Budget Resolution: Recommendations for a Blueprint in Support of Low-Income Individuals and Families President Bush's budget proposal sends a simple and stark message: even in an economic downturn, those at the bottom of the income scale don't matter. It is now Congress' turn to prepare a budget plan. The Congressional budget resolution should inflict no harm to low-income workers, restore prior cuts, and invest in the future by supporting the workforce and ensuring safe and healthy children. Download PDF
• Feb 04, 2008  |  Hannah Matthews and Danielle Ewen President's Budget Disregards Sound Investments for Young Children Every Administration uses the budget to send a signal about its priorities for the coming year. In this period of economic downturn, when our most vulnerable children and families need access to comprehensive supports, the message of this budget is simple and stark: children in low-income working families don't matter. Download PDF
• Feb 05, 2007  |  Danielle Ewen and Hannah Matthews Families Forgotten: Administration's Priorities Put Child Care Low on List Despite evidence that child care assistance is critical to helping low-income families to work and to succeed financially, the President's FY 2008 budget proposal freezes discretionary child care funding for the sixth consecutive year. According to the Administration's own estimates, 300,000 children will lose child care assistance by 2010. This is in addition to 150,000 children who have already lost assistance since 2000. Download PDF
• Feb 10, 2006  |  Danielle Ewen and Hannah Matthews Toward a Decade of Indifference: Administration Budget Ignores Child Care Needs of Working Families Child care assistance is critical to helping low-income working families succeed and find quality child care that fosters their children's well-being and healthy development. Yet the President's 2007 budget proposal, released on February 6, 2006, freezes discretionary child care funding for the fifth consecutive year. The result will be a 25 percent drop in the number of children from low-income working families who get help paying for child care by 2011, as compared with 2000 numbers. Download PDF