National Association of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Directors, Inc.

Legislative Update May 2005

by Alan Lopatin, Washington Representative, NARSVPD

Congress returned from its Easter District Work Period after finishing work on the Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Resolution, setting out broad outlines for spending and revenue decisions for the fiscal year beginning on October 1, 2005 (FY 2006). With the House and Senate Appropriations Committees now in receipt of the guidance they need to move forward, spending bills will be considered daily in the House and eventually in the Senate. That may not be good news for supporters of education, labor, and human services programs, including the National Senior Service Corps and funding for other national service programs under the authority of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Also on Congress’ agenda are an array of items, ranging from reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act and Head Start to the Community Services Block Grant, LIHEAP, and Medicaid savings, and, of course, Social Security reform and President Bush’s campaign for Personal Savings Accounts within the system.

Fiscal Year 2006 Support for the Senior Corps
Congress enters the Fiscal Year 2006 budget cycle with prospects for tightened reins on government spending (annual domestic discretionary appropriations) and deficit reduction on the agenda. Despite this fact, President Bush proposed increases in each of the three Senior Corps programs for FY 2006. This comes at a time when the President’s Budget also proposed the elimination of more than 150 domestic programs, including more than 50 in the Department of Education and the lion’s share coming under the jurisdiction of the same Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Senior Corps (and, starting this year, all activity of the Corporation for National and Community Service).

APPROPRIATIONS ACTIVITY

NATIONAL SENIOR SERVICE CORPS FUNDING (FY 2002-2006)

Retired and Senior Volunteer Program

Senior Companion Program

Foster Grandparent Program

NSSC Fiscal Year Budgets	2002 Enacted	2003 Enacted	2004 Enacted	FY2005 President	2005 Enacted	Change +/- FY 2005	FY2006 President	Proposed Change +/- FY 2006
RSVP	54.884	58.501	58.156	69.884	58.528	+0.372	60.288	+1.760
SCP	44.395	46.260	45.987	46.563	45.904	-0.083	47.438	+1.534
FGP	106.700	110.775	110.121	106.700	111.424	+1.303	112.058	+0.634

Prior to completing its action on the Senate version of the Budget Resolution, the Senate adopted (51-49) an amendment by Senator Ted Kennedy (MA) to increase funding for a variety of education and training programs by $5.4 billion in FY 2006, when compared to the plan laid out in the Senate Budget Committee’s reported version of the budget blueprint. Unfortunately, the Kennedy Amendment did not survive the Budget Conference and the Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and related agencies which funds education programs as well as national service initiatives, has been allocated $924 million more than the President proposed but $163 million LESS than was available to the Subcommittee last year (for FY 2005).

As a practical matter, what does this mean? It means that some programs will inevitably have to be cut to fit under the new budget ceilings. And if there are to be increases in any programs, including those proposed by the President’s budget, there will have to be offsets in other programs.

According to the nonpartisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the proposed caps could cuts in domestic discretionary programs totaling $214 billion over five years (as compared with the amounts appropriated for these programs for 2005, adjusted only for inflation). The cuts would grow deeper with each passing year. In 2010, the cuts would reach $66 billion, representing a 16 percent reduction in funding for these programs in the aggregate.

This year’s appropriations process will be different in one major respect. Rather than the 13 traditional Appropriations Subcommittees on both the House and Senate sides, the House has moved to create only 10 Subcommittees, merging jurisdiction over a variety of government agencies and functions within Subcommittees. Funding for the Senior Corps has always fallen within the purview of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, while funding for AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and the “non-ACTION” side of the Corporation for National and Community Service has fallen under the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies.

This year, for the first time, all CNCS funding will be handled by the Labor/HHS Subcommittee on both the House and Senate sides.

The Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee is chaired by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter and Iowa Senator Tom Harkin serves as the Subcommittee Ranking Democratic Member. Each has a significant impact over spending decisions covered by the bill. In the House, Ohio Republican Ralph Regula (having failed in his bid to be full committee Chairman) chairs the Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee and Democrat David Obey of Wisconsin is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee.

Senate Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Senator Arlen Specter (Chairman) (PA)
Senator Thad Cochran (MS)
Senator Judd Gregg (NH)
Senator Larry Craig (ID)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
Senator Ted Stevens (AK)
Senator Mike DeWine (OH)
Senator Richard Shelby (AL)
Senator Tom Harkin (Ranking Member) (IA)
Senator Daniel Inouye (HI)
Senator Harry Reid (NV)
Senator Herb Kohl (WI)
Senator Patty Murray (WA)
Senator Mary Landrieu (LA)
Senator Richard Durbin (IL)

House Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations

Rep. Ralph Regula (Chairman) (OH)

Rep. Ernest Istook (OK)

Rep. Roger Wicker (MS)

Rep. Anne Meagher Northup (KY), Vice Chair

Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (CA)

Rep. Kay Granger (TX)

Rep. John Peterson (PA)

Rep. Don Sherwood (PA)

Rep. Dave Weldon (FL)

Rep. James Walsh (NY)

Rep. C.W. Bill Young (FL), Ex-oficio

Rep. Dave Obey (WI)

Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD)

Rep. Nita Lowey (NY)

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (CT)

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL)

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (RI)

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA)

All NARSVPD Members are urged to contact their Senators and Congressman and urge support for RSVP funding in Fiscal Year 2006. Ideally, RSVP funding should be included in each elected official’s WISH LIST, due to be submitted to the Appropriations Committees, traditionally in mid-late March or early April (House Deadline for Members is April 8, 2005).

It is critical that NARSVPD members find Senators and Congressmen willing to go to bat for RSVP and the Senior Corps in the annual appropriations process.

National Service Reauthorization

Prospects in the 109^th Congress remain very uncertain. While President Bush has proclaimed his support for national service, AmeriCorps, and the Senior Corps in various events over the course of his presidency, the White House has not made national service reauthorization a priority. Nor has a new national service reauthorization bill been introduced in the House or Senate.

Senior Corps advocates have supported changes in legislation to make age requirements consistent across the three Senior Corps programs (reducing the eligibility age for SCP and FGP to age 55) and maintaining the administrative structure currently in place for Senior Corps management and reporting (Corporation State Offices). Vigilance on the part of Senior Corps directors is the only way to ensure that changes best for the Senior Corps are enacted as part of national service reauthorization.

In the House of Representatives, jurisdiction over national service legislation lies with the Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Ohio Republican Congressman John Boehner. California Democrat George Miller is the Ranking Member of the Committee. In the Senate, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is responsible for national service reauthorization. A new chairman has been named for the Committee: Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi. Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy is the Ranking Member on the Committee.

Other Issues

Congress is likely to be faced with the daunting task of reforming Social Security as the major initiative on President Bush’s domestic agenda in the 109^th Congress. At the same time, the House and Senate national service committees are also responsible for moving legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act and the Head Start Act, as well as the Community Services Block Grant (which funds community action agencies), Low Income Home Energy Assistance, and other education, labor, and human services programs. Senior Corps directors should look to lend their expertise to the public debate and to local congressional offices in delivering much needed services to the community.

Revised