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Congress returned to Washington this week with few expectations that the across-the-board sequester— canceling $85 billion in funding across the Federal Government for the seven months that remain in Fiscal Year 2013--will be imminently undone. The President’s order was mandated as part of the Budget Control Act of August 2011.
This week, House Republicans approved a six-month stop-gap spending bill—a continuing resolution or CR—to keep the government funded past March 27 and shift billions of dollars to military operations to help the Army and Navy cope with cuts ordered by the sequester.
The bill now goes to the Senate where a bipartisan coalition hopes to extend the same relief to other federal agencies such as the Departments of Education, Labor, HHS, Justice and HUD.
Absent a compromise, the impact of these automatic cuts will be real. Without a balanced approach to deficit reduction that includes revenue increases, non-defense domestic discretionary funding for programs in education, employment training, housing assistance, health, and others is heading for historic lows dating back to 1962. Each federal agency is preparing a letter to grantees and stakeholders providing some specifics on the impact of the cuts. Similar letters are also going out to governors, county officials, mayors, and others.
FAR-REACHING SEQUESTER CUTS HIT URBAN LEAGUE COMMUNITIES AND PROGRAMS HARD
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Employment and Training Programs:
- Adult Job Training: $41 million cut could impact 230,000 unemployed adults
- Youth Job Training: $43 million cut could impact 12,000 young people
- The Dislocated Worker Formula Grants — $53 million cut could impact 30,000 dislocated workers
Education and Head Start Programs:
- Title I Grants for the Education of the Disadvantaged: the $773 million funding cut would impact 2,500 schools
- School Turnaround Grants would be cut by $41 million, impacting our lowest-performing schools which predominantly serve students of color/low-income families
- Cuts to 21st Century Community Learning Centers would mean 145,180 fewer students served
- Head Start would lose $424 million in funding, impacting 70,000 children
- Career and Technical Education Grants would be cut by $60 million and impact 624,000 students in high schools and community colleges
- Higher Education Programs would lose $100 million in funding, including a $44 million cut to the Federal TRIO programs
Health and Human Services Programs:
- Federal support for Community Health Centers would be reduced by about $120 million, which could mean about 900,000 fewer patients would be served
- The Child Care & Development Block Grant would receive a $121 million fund-ing cut, causing roughly 30,000 children to lose access to child care
- WIC funding would be reduced by $353 million, resulting in over 600,000 low-income
- Low-Income Housing and Homelessness:
- About 125,000 vouchers for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (Section 8) would not be renewed, affecting about 312,500 adults and children
- Cuts to Homeless Assistance Grants would mean that about 100,000 people won’t be housed next year
