WUNRN
The US Congressional Research Service defines sequestration: "In general, sequestration entails the permanent cancellation of budgetary resources by a uniform percentage. This uniform percentage reduction is applied to all programs, projects, and activities within a budget account." http://uspolitics.about.com/od/thefederalbudget/a/What-Is-Sequestration.htm
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USA - GOVERNMENT SEQUESTER BUDGET CUTS REDUCE IMPORTANT SERVICES FOR VULNERABLE WOMEN WITHOUT LOBBYING POWER
Older women are losing Meals on Wheels, single mothers are losing Head Start and domestic-violence victims are going back to perpetrators out of desperation. Service providers say the cuts hit people who don't show up to lobby legislators.
(WOMENSENEWS)--This summer, 10 Head Start
teachers in
"These
cuts might not sound like much," said Wendy Patton, senior policy director
of Policy
Matters Ohio, a nonprofit research institute
with offices in Cleveland and Columbus, in a phone
interview. "But when you are a 60-year-old disabled woman who is trying to
get by on less than $1,400 a month, there is no money for transportation."
She added
that single mothers who are juggling low-paying jobs and trying to build a
better future for their kids have been blindsided by cuts in Head Start,
because many of them cannot afford child care and must cut back on work. More
cuts to Head
Start programs in
Sequester--the automatic $85 billion across-the-board spending cuts
in the federal budget for fiscal 2013 that took effect March 1--is
taking a severe toll on low-income women who are dependent upon safety net
programs to survive. It's also taking money from services such as domestic
violence shelters.
The
across-the-board federal cuts took $184 million out of
"Many
low-income people who are barely surviving today will be pushed over the
edge," said Larry J. Tomayko, chief of staff
of Meals on Wheels Association of America, which is based in
Tomayko
added: "Ninety-year-old women who live alone in five-story walkups or
homes 10 miles from the nearest grocery and whose meals are delivered by
volunteers haven't shown up in Congress to protest the loss of $51 million in
funds for senior meals in fiscal 2013."
The
nonprofit organization, which includes 5,000 local senior nutrition programs,
has been hard hit by the sequester. One-in-six programs have closed congregate
meal sites or ended home deliveries. Over 70 percent of programs have increased
waiting lists on average to 58 seniors.
"Two-thirds
of our clients are women over 75 years old who live alone and have six or more
health problems," said Tomayko. "In addition to hunger, many clients
are feeling the impact of sequester cuts in housing and other programs."
To
decrease the national debt by $1.2 trillion over 10 years, the Budget Control Act
of 2011 mandated cuts split evenly by dollar amounts between
defense and domestic programs.
Giant
safety net programs, such as Social Security and Medicaid,
were protected from the 5 percent cut for domestic programs in fiscal 2013, but
not smaller programs.
The Justice Department's Office on Women and Violence estimates that the sequester cut
more than $26 million in appropriations under the Violence Against Women Act and the Family
Violence Protection Services Act, which fund grants to state and
local agencies to prosecute domestic-violence crimes; provide shelter programs,
legal assistance, child services and training for police and victim advocates.
"The
sequester created a perfect storm that will deprive about 526,000 victims of
services in fiscal 2013," predicted Kim Gandy, president and CEO
of the Washington-based
National Network to End Domestic Violence, an advocacy group of state domestic violence coalitions,
allied organizations and individuals.
"Unfortunately,
shelters across the country are closing their doors or decreasing staff, so
fewer numbers of women and children can be accommodated," said Gandy in a
phone interview. "Intervention programs have also been decimated, leaving
many victims without assistance in obtaining support, protection orders and
navigating the court system."
Gandy said
that as victims lose services many are returning to their perpetrators out of
desperation. "This is dangerous because each day, an average of three
women is killed by current or former partners."
The Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC,
missed the axe of sequestration.
The White
House predicted in February that 600,000 low-income women and children would be
deprived of food, nutrition education and breastfeeding support in fiscal 2013.
However, President
Barack Obama signed a bill in March that
spared the nutrition program that assists half of all infants born in the United States,
along with the nuclear weapons program and other domestic and defense programs.
"There is a lot of anxiety and confusion about what
cuts in maternal and child health programs will mean at the local level because
these programs have long-term consequences," said Brent Ewig, director for public
policy and government affairs of the Association of Maternal
and Child Health Programs, an organization of
state public health leaders based in Alexandria, Va.
Many
states and cities have shifted money from one maternal and child health program
to another since March to insulate vulnerable people from the sequester, Ewig
said.
The
pressure on states and local governments to provide vital services is
increasing, however, and these stop-gap measures may be impossible in the
months ahead.
The Washington-based
Economic Policy Institute, a
nonprofit research organization, estimates that sequester cuts
decreased federal funding for state grants in fiscal 2013 by $5.1 billion. The
federal government provides roughly one-third of total state revenues.
In fiscal
2014, sequester will take $92 billion from the federal budget, reports the Office
of Management and Budget. Next year Congress will have more
leeway to decide which federal agencies receive cuts if the sequester
continues.
In
Congress, a bitter battle over sequester cuts is expected this fall.
Senate
Democrats are moving ahead with spending bills that ignore the second year of
across-the-board spending cuts imposed by the sequester. The
Republican-controlled House is assuming the sequester continues and in line
with that planning a combined 19 percent reduction from funds for the departments
of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services.