The Federal Budget and Children's Health

Dear Partners,                                     

We know that trying to follow all of the federal budget issues currently being discussed can be confusing. With Congress now in recess until the beginning of May, we wanted to take the opportunity to outline recent developments related to the federal budget and briefly explain how they are likely to impact children's health.

There are three major issues connected with the federal budget that you may have heard about in recent weeks:

1. The FY 2011 Continuing Resolution

• Description: Legislation to keep the federal government running through the end of the current fiscal year (September 2011). It includes $38 billion in cuts to federal programs.
• Status: Signed into law by President Obama late last week.
• How if Affects Children and Families: As a part of this deal, $3.5 billion in CHIPRA performance bonus funding was cut. While we are disappointed that this funding was eliminated, it is important to spread the word that even with this cut in place, adequate funding for performance bonuses remains available to states.

2. The FY 2012 Republican Budget

• Description: Legislation to fund the federal government for federal fiscal year 2012 (October 2011 - September 2012). President Obama has laid out an alternative proposal, the Framework for Shared Prosperity and Shared Fiscal Responsibility.
• Status: Passed the House at the end of last week. However, it is highly unlikely that the bill will see a vote in the Senate; even it was to pass the Senate, the President would surely veto it.
• How it Affects Child and Families: The Republican budget proposal would have very damaging implications for children's health, primarily due to its deep cuts to Medicaid and CHIP.

3. The Debt Ceiling

• Description: A limit set by Congress above which the national debt cannot rise; the current debt ceiling is approximately $14.3 trillion. The House Republican majority has stated that any increase in the debt ceiling should be accompanied by additional cuts to the federal budget.
• Status: The federal government is on pace to reach the current debt ceiling by mid-May.
• How it Affects Children and Families: A failure to raise the debt ceiling would have very serious consequences for the nation's economy-including job losses and business failures on a large scale.

We will keep you posted on any actions to take to ensure that children will be protected as the legislative process around the 2012 federal budget and the debt ceiling moves forward.

If you have questions about any of these issues, please feel free to contact Patrick M. Tigue at (617) 275-2931 or ptigue@communitycatalyst.org. And as always, thank you for your continued health advocacy on behalf of New England's children.

Sincerely,

Amy Rosenthal
Project Director