Yesterday,
two House Committees passed measures that would devastate programs
serving vulnerable children and families. Under the House
approved H.Con.Res. 112, six House committees including Agriculture,
Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Judiciary, Oversight and
Government Reform, and Ways and Means were required to find additional
savings that produce a total of $261 billion in deficit reduction over
ten years.
The
Agriculture Committee, tasked with finding $33.2 billion in savings
over ten years, approved a draft budget reconciliation bill that would
cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly
known as food stamps, by $33 billion. Many children being served by the
child welfare system rely on SNAP to meet their nutritional needs. These
children already face many challenges, including the trauma of abuse
and neglect, poor health status and developmental delays. Reducing food
and nutritional support will only exacerbate these issues, making it
more difficult for vulnerable children to recover and make progress.
The
Ways and Means Committee, required to find $53 billion in spending cuts
over 10 years, approved a repeal of the Social Services Block Grant by a
vote of 22-14. SSBG is a flexible source of funds that allows states
to provide an array of services to children, youth, and families. Since
2000, funding for SSBG has been maintained at $1.7 billion, and
represents roughly 12% of all federal funding states receive to provide
child abuse prevention, adoption, foster care, child protection,
independent and transitional living, and residential services for
children and youth.
CWLA
is concerned that the recent actions of these House Committees will
negatively impact the vulnerable children and families who rely on these
safety net programs and therefore opposes the proposed cuts to SNAP as
well as the elimination of the SSBG. Following yesterday’s markup, CWLA
sent a
letter to House Leadership opposing the elimination of SSBG.
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