Gerrymanderer2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> looks like the Republican budget kills SNAP and
> starving American children(125 billion). It kills
> the child tax credit for working families (159
> billion).
>
> Gets rid of Pell Grants and SSI, they say account
> for 300 billion. Even if they do that they say
> they won't be able to balance the budget for 10
> years.
>
> So Republicans are willing to raise taxes. Only
> on middle class peoples raising children.
>
>
http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/congre
> ssional-budget-plans-get-two-thirds-of-cuts-from-p
> rograms-for-people
>
> That's their budget. Pile of garbage.
^^^^ GerTard's typical libturd lies. Try reading what it really does:
Among the provisions within our budget, we focus on:
Education
• After multiple increases to Pell Grant award levels, the program is now facing a shortfall.
In the past, lawmakers have dealt with the problem with short-term funding patches. Our
budget rejects these temporary measures and makes the Pell Grant program permanently
sustainable so that it is able to serve students today and in the future.
• This starts by targeting Pell Grants to students who need the most assistance. In recent
years, students from higher income households have become eligible for Pell. In fact, the
Department of Education attributed 14 percent of growth in the program between 2008
and 2011 to expansions that were made to the needs-analysis formula. Increasing
eligibility to those with higher incomes drains resources from those who need the most
help.
• Our budget adopts a sustainable Pell Grant maximum-award level. The Department of
Education attributed 25 percent of recent program growth to the $619 increase in the
maximum award done under the Obama Administration’s stimulus bill that took effect in
the 2009–2010 academic year. To get program costs back to a sustainable level, this
budget freezes the maximum award for the 2015-2016 award year throughout the budget
window.
• Rather than foster a system that enables skyrocketing tuition and presents too many
students with the difficult choice between crippling debt or stopping short of their highest
educational attainment, this resolution envisions a framework that uses federal dollars
more efficiently, accounts for student loans in a way that reflects their true cost, and
invests in a sustainable higher education system that is good for students, institutions of
higher education, and taxpayers.
• Our budget places a strong emphasis on returning the power to make education policy
decisions to state and local governments, to families, and to students, rather than allowing
choices to be made by bureaucrats in Washington. It eliminates unsuccessful and
duplicative K-12 programs in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness. It promotes
innovation and choices that provide for flexibility and innovative teaching methods.
Job-Training
• Last Congress, the House Education and the Workforce Committee made laudable
progress toward consolidating federal job-training programs with enactment of the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Our budget builds on these efforts by calling
for further consolidation of duplicative federal job-training programs and improved
coordination of these programs with the recently reformed workforce development
system. It also improves accountability by tracking the types of training provided, the
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House Budget Committee | March 2015
costs per trainee, employment after training, and whether the trainee secures a job in his
or her preferred field.
• Federal job-training programs are duplicative, difficult to access and have little
accountability. In January 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified
44 of the 47 Federal employment and training programs that overlapped with at least one
other program, providing redundant services to similar populations. In total, these
numerous employment and training programs spent $18 billion in fiscal year 2009,
including stimulus dollars.
• Our budget will not only achieve savings from consolidation but also produce better
results for the millions of Americans looking to improve their skills in their search for a
job.
Housing Assistance
• Our budget makes responsible reforms to housing-assistance programs that will make
them sustainable and focused. Despite dramatic funding increases, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Worst Case Housing Needs Report to
Congress suggests the number of families who are severely rent burdened or live in
substandard conditions continues to grow. Reforms are needed to ensure assistance is
available to those most in need and is structured in a way that best enables upward
mobility. One reform could include the gradual expansion of the Moving to Work
program to high-performing public housing authorities. Moving to Work gives public
housing authorities more flexibility in how they spend funds so that they can serve
families more efficiently and effectively.
• Chronic homelessness in the U.S. has declined by 21 percent since 2010, but a lot of
work is left to be done. This budget continues support for efforts to end chronic
homelessness by urging HUD to refocus efforts to accomplish the Administration’s goal
of helping to end chronic homelessness by 2017.
Income and Nutrition Assistance
• Unemployment insurance and disability insurance are both crucial components of the
safety net. The former provides support for Americans who are facing a period of
joblessness but who are able to work. The latter provides assistance to Americans who
are unable to work. Right now, a loophole allows beneficiaries to currently draw benefits
from both funds. Our budget restores integrity to each program by putting an end to the
so-called “double dipping” of the disability insurance fund to protect taxpayers and
reduce waste and abuse in the system.
• The bipartisan welfare reform efforts of the 1990s have proven that robust work
requirements is one of the surest ways to increase participation in the work force. We can
fight poverty by ensuring public assistance is designed to help individuals eventually
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A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America
House Budget Committee | March 2015
transition away from it. Unfortunately, the current administration has taken steps to waive
work requirements in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
Our budget rescinds the Administration’s ability to issue these waivers.
• Federal spending for food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), has increased from $21 billion in 2002 to $76 billion in 2014. Spending is
forecast to be permanently higher than pre-recession levels even as the job-market
recovers. There are many reasons for this, but the core challenge is that while states have
the responsibility of administering the program, they have little flexibility to ensure it is
run well.
• This budget converts SNAP to a State Flexibility Fund so state governments have the
power to administer the program in ways that best fit the needs of their communities with
greater incentives to achieve better results. There are no changes made to the program
until 2021, so that states have enough time to
build their own program and craft innovative
solutions.
• Our budget calls for reduced funding for federal
advertising efforts to increase SNAP enrollment.
Those savings are then shifted into programs that
facilitate upward mobility, such as effective jobtraining
programs.
Community Development
• Our budget thoroughly examines community and regional programs with a specific focus
on eliminating those that perform non-core federal government functions, while also
consolidating and streamlining duplicative programs wherever possible.
• Among the programs considered for reform is the Community Development Fund (CDF).
Historically, about 80 to 90 percent of funding for the CDF is spent on the Community
Development Block Grant program (CDBG). CDBG is an annual formula grant directed
to state and local governments to address a broad array of initiatives. Currently, there is
no maximum community-poverty rate to be eligible for funds, nor is there an exclusion
for communities with high average income. In 2015, $3.1 billion was appropriated for
CDBG.