Children's Defense Fund Update
November 5, 1999
In this issue:
---FY2000 Budget Update:
It's Not Too Late! Urge Congress To
Invest In Children And Working
Families
---Senate To Vote On Minimum Wage
Increase
--- Urge Your Senator To Support
The Foster Care Independence
Act!
---CDF Launches New Gun Violence
Awareness Campaign
**************************************************************
FY 2000 BUDGET UPDATE: IT'S
NOT TOO LATE! URGE CONGRES TO INVEST IN CHILDREN AND WORKING
FAMILIES
This week in Congress:
Yesterday, Congress approved another
continuing resolution to
keep the government in operation
until Wednesday, November
10th. The target date for
adjourning Congress is now Veterans
Day, November 11th.
For the past few weeks, we have
urged you to contact Senators,
Representatives, officials at the
White House, and others
about pending legislation in Congress.
With regard to the
FY2000 Labor, HHS Appropriations
bill, (which at various
points of the session made cuts
to TANF, Title XX, Child Care,
etc.), President Clinton vetoed
the legislation last week.
This veto effectively renders the
bill "dead" for the year,
since the House and Senate do not
have the required 2/3rd of
the votes in each chamber they
need to override the veto.
ACTION NEEDED: At this point,
negotiations are occurring on
several appropriation bills that
have not been enacted:
Labor, HHS Appropriations; DC Appropriations;
Commerce,
Justice, State Appropriations;
and Foreign Operations. During
these negotiations, we urge you
to contact your Senators,
Representatives, and staff at the
White House to say the
following:
---The Senate has voted FOUR TIMES
this year to increase child
care funding. Any final budget
agreement must include an
increase of $818 million for child
care, the same amount
approved on the Senate floor by
a bipartisan majority.
---Title XX is a vital source of
funding for programs that
assist families with children,
including child care, elder
care, and important family and
child welfare services. Any
final budget agreement needs to
restore Title XX funding as
approved on the Senate floor.
---Please do not make cuts to TANF,
do not reduce the Earned
Income Tax Credit, or slash other
programs that assist working
poor families. Any final
budget agreement must help poor
families move from welfare to work---not
undermine those
efforts.
TO CALL: Your Senators and
Representatives in Congress can be reached by calling the Capitol
Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Also, contact Brian Barreto in
the White House Office of
Public Liaison at (202) 456-2930.
**************************************************************
SENATE TO VOTE ON MINIMUM WAGE
INCREASE
After months of blocking efforts
to consider an increase in
the minimum wage, the Senate GOP
leadership announced it will
allow a vote on the Kennedy minimum
wage amendment as part of
a bankruptcy reform bill being
considered on Tuesday. The
Kennedy amendment proposed to raise
the minimum wage by $1.00 over 2 years (from the current
rate of $5.15 to $6.15).
Republicans continue to negotiate
an alternative to the
Kennedy amendment. Senator
Nickles (R-OK) is attempting to
get Republicans to agree to support
an amendment that would
increase the minimum wage by $1
over 4 years. Senator Collins
(R-ME) is pushing to get Republican
agreement behind a $1
increase over 3 years. The
vote on the Kennedy amendment and
a yet-to-be decided Republican
alternative will be on Tuesday.
ACTION NEEDED: It is critical
that you let your Senators know
that the minimum wage should be
increased by $1 over 2
years---not 3 or 4 years.
A 3 or 4 year time span would only
serve to erode the value of any
increase made. Call to urge
your Senator to support the Kennedy
amendment! And, to oppose any alternative amendment that
would increase the minimum wage
over 3 or 4 years!
TO CALL: Your Senators can
be reached by calling the Capitol
Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
**************************************************************
URGE YOUR SENATOR TO SUPPORT THE
FOSTER CARE INDEPENDENCE ACT!
Last June, the Foster Care Independence
Act (H.R. 1802) passed
the House by a vote of 380-6 in
a tremendous show of
bipartisan support. This
act will help teenagers who are
leaving the foster care system
at the age of 18 in many ways,
including providing Medicaid coverage
for foster care children
to the age of 21. Without
this extension of Medicaid
coverage, many 18-year-olds find
themselves out of the foster
care system without any health
care coverage. How many
18-year-olds do you know that are
in school or have a job that
offers health care?
Currently, the Senate version of
this bill (S1327) is stalled
since the original Senate sponsor,
John Chafee (R-RI), passed
away last week. With Congress
recessing soon, it is very
important for advocates to call
now and let their Senator know
that Medicaid coverage should be
expanded THIS YEAR for
teenagers aging out of foster care.
ACTION NEEDED: Call your Senator!
Senators can be reached by calling the Capitol Switchboard
at (202) 224-3121. Urge your
Senator to pass S.1327, the Foster
Care Independence Act, this
year.
---Please pass Senator Chafee's
bill to provide transitional
assistance for youth aging out
of the foster care system.
---The House passed similar legislation
380-6 earlier this
year. For all of Senator Chafee's
hard work on this
legislation, I hope you will urge
adoption of his bill before
Congress adjourns for the year.
**************************************************************
CDF LAUNCHES NEW GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS
CAMPAIGN
On October 14th, CDF launched its
gun violence awareness
campaign by releasing four public
service advertisements and a
report detailing the latest statistics
on child gun deaths.
The report, "Children and Guns---A
Children's Defense Fund
Report on Children Dying From Gunfire
in America," is
available on our web site, in addition
to a new Youth Violence
Resource Center featuring online
resources for parents,
educators, community leaders, students,
and other caring
members of the community.
Be sure to visit this informative
site at http://www.childrensdefense.org/youthviolence.
**************************************************************
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-----------------------------------
Devanie Candelaria
Children's Defense Fund
25 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
fax: (202) 662-3540
http://www.childrensdefense.org
You can see
a copy of these bills at THOMAS, here
on the Web. I would encourage you to read this legislation,
and e-mail your legislators! Below, you will find the e-mail addresses
of some of our congressmen, and a sample message.
Keep up the good fight! |
