Budget Falls Short for Domestic Violence Programs

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http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022006WA.shtml

 

 

 

Budget Falls Short for Domestic Violence Programs

By Allison Stevens

Women's eNews

 

Friday 17 February 2006

 

The president's spending plan for next year omits programs

approved last year in the Violence Against Women Act. Anti-violence

advocates challenge the cuts as political, saying the savings are too

small to make a dent in the overall budget picture.

 

Washington, DC - President Bush is not putting his money where his

mouth is on domestic violence policy, advocates argue.

 

One month after he held a ceremony in the Oval Office to sign

legislation that would authorize a considerable increase in funding to

aid victims of domestic violence, Bush proposed an overall cut to

domestic violence programs and services and included no funding for

the law's new programs, effectively placing them on indefinite hold.

 

The news, delivered last week in the president's fiscal 2007

budget resolution, a non-binding document that serves as a blueprint

for government spending, dampened the spirits of domestic violence

activists.

 

John Nowacki, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, which

oversees some of the country's domestic violence programs, said the

plans did not reflect a wavering commitment to combating domestic

violence. " The department will continue to support federal, state and

local efforts to end violence against women, " he said.

 

But domestic violence activists are taking nothing for granted.

They're working to build a national campaign to persuade members of

Congress to reject the president's budget plans and fund at least some

of the new domestic violence law's new programs.

 

" Congress definitely supports these programs and they'll put them

in the appropriations bills " later this year, said Jill Morris, public

policy director at the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence,

an advocacy organization based in Denver.

 

Funding Falls Short of Promise

 

Bush signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act

into law on Jan. 6.

 

That law, along with the Family Violence Prevention and Services

Act, a separate law that provides funding for shelters and other

services for victims of abuse, approves federal spending on related

programs of up to $1 billion in the coming fiscal year, according to

statistics provided by the National Network to End Domestic Violence,

an advocacy group in Washington, DC.

 

But actual spending would fall short of that amount under the

president's budget.

 

The administration requested $546 million for domestic violence

programs in fiscal 2007, a decrease of $20 million - or 3.5 percent -

from the amount appropriated in 2006, the anti-violence network's

figures indicate. The amount does not include any funding for 21 newly

enacted programs, the largest of which is a $50 million program that

provides services for survivors of sexual assault.

 

If the administration gets its way, few of the existing programs

would come close to receiving the full amount authorized by the new

law. Services Training Officers Providers grants - money for victim

services and law enforcement programs that is divvied up by federal

formula and sent to states - are one of several examples. They were

authorized at $225 million but were funded at $156 million in the

president's spending plan.

 

Observers attributed the administration's reluctance to fully fund

domestic violence programs to the overriding atmosphere of fiscal

restraint on Capitol Hill.

 

Domestic violence services are but a small fraction of the many

programs outside defense and homeland security that would not receive

full funding if the president's $2.8 trillion budget wins

congressional approval later this year and is followed by similar

appropriations.

 

Social Programs Bear the Brunt

 

Many of the programs that face cuts aid the poor, a majority of

whom are women.

 

One of the most significant proposals would curb the growth of

Medicare and Medicaid for a savings of $48 billion over the next five

years. Other targeted areas include education, housing assistance for

the elderly, food stamp programs and child care.

 

But of the many government programs that would be cut, Joan

Entmacher, a budget analyst at the National Women's Law Center in

Washington, DC, found reduced spending on domestic violence programs

among the most troubling. " They're not by any means the deepest cuts

in the budget, " she said. " But a lot of people fought very hard " to

reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.

 

Bush defended the proposed cuts when he introduced his budget

resolution last week, saying fiscal restraint is needed to control

soaring deficits and the " unsustainable growth " of entitlement

programs such as Medicare and Social Security. " As more Baby Boomers

retire and collect their benefits, our deficits are projected to

grow, " he said. " These unfunded liabilities will put a burden on our

children and our grandchildren. "

 

Fiscal conservatives have also complained that spending has gotten

out of control thanks to the war in Iraq, the new prescription drug

benefit and emergency relief from natural disasters such as Hurricane

Katrina. In the long run, conservatives say, Americans at every

economic level will benefit from smaller government. Otherwise, the

public will bear the burden in higher payroll taxes, which they

predict will cut into family budgets and slow job growth.

 

Women's rights advocates countered that the budget cuts would not

be necessary if the president didn't also call for billions of dollars

in new tax cuts, which they said are geared primarily toward wealthy

corporations and individuals.

 

" This budget just really highlights the insanity " of the

administration, Entmacher said.

 

No Funding for New Programs

 

Apart from overall funding, domestic violence activists were also

disappointed that none of the new programs would receive any money if

the president's budget is followed.

 

But they blamed poor timing more than administration intent.

 

Budget writers, who began drafting the resolution last summer, may

not have had enough time to include funding for the new programs,

which were enacted only weeks ago, they said. They hope that will be

corrected this summer and fall when congressional appropriators gather

to dole out money for government programs.

 

Among the programs not slated to receive money include the new

sexual assault services program; grants for law enforcement training;

youth outreach and justice programs; prevention of abuse campaigns

aimed at men and children; grants to combat violence in public

housing; outreach services to Native American victims of abuse; grants

to develop long-term housing for victims; and money to pay for studies

of and research on the issue.

 

But the new programs, most of which are relatively small, would

make sound fiscal as well as social policy, proponents argued.

 

New programs, as well as existing ones, ultimately translate into

government savings because they increase worker productivity, reduce

hospital and court costs, and curb gang violence and homelessness,

said Allison Randall, public policy director at the National Network

to End Domestic Violence.

 

" It's a small amount of money, but it does a lot of good, " she said.

 

Allison Stevens is the Washington bureau chief at Women's eNews.

 

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