[NCL_Update] Grassroots Action Needed on Federal Literacy Funding for the Coming Year

Tue Jul 29 15:27:48 EDT 2003

National Coalition for Literacy Action Alert
July 29, 2003

RE: S.1356, the FY'04 Appropriations Bill for the Departments of Labor, HHS,
and Education

ACTION REQUESTED ... Communicate to Senators while they're home between now
and Labor Day. Urge them to:
(1)	Support an increase for adult education, part of an anticipated
floor amendment (sponsor to be announced)
(2)	Oppose across-the-board cuts to all programs to pay for increases to
certain other programs

COMMUNICATION ... Contact the nearest local offices of BOTH of your U.S.
Senators (You can find their phone numbers in the blue pages of your phone
book.) Invite each of them to visit your program. If that isn't possible ask
to meet with them in their office. If that's not possible either, ask for a
fax number so you can send them a 1-page letter. Either in person or in a
letter, ask for #1 and #2 above and tell them how important adult education
funding is in your community. Urge others in your program to fax similar
letters. In a face-to-face meting, have a successful adult learner tell what
the program means to the lives of people with low literacy skills. The
voices of adult learners would be powerful in faxed letters also. It's
definitely worth taking the time to help them put a letter together.

SENATE AMENDMENT ... We are asking our friends in the Senate to offer an
adult education amendment or include an increase for adult education in a
larger education amendment or both. At this point we don't know who the
sponsor of the amendment will be. We don't know whether the ask will be for
increases to the State Grant line item, National Leadership Activities, AND
Even Start or just the State Grant. Initially, we're asking for what was
approved in the House where the House is higher - a very modest request. The
sponsor of the amendment could decide to ask for more but we don't know at
this point. We're going to do our best to get an amendment sponsor. However,
we couldn't wait to activate you all - the grassroots - until we had
something firmed up. The two must be done simultaneously.

OFFSET ... One of the rules in the Senate is that any increase must have an
offset, a decrease somewhere else. Last year, increases to certain programs
were paid for small cuts to all programs across-the-board. The result was
that those not getting an increase were actually cut. Adult education
suffered these cuts. We might suffer them again unless your Senators hear
from you -- their constituents - that this type of offset is unacceptable.
Democrats favor using FY'03 advance funding as the offset. "Advance funding"
is a budgetary gimmick in which money is moved from one year to another. In
this case, FY'04 funding was used to make increases for some programs
possible in FY'03. The Democrats' desire to bring that funding back would
increase the FY'03 deficit. Republicans will oppose this gimmick unless
sufficient pressure from constituents is brought to bear for education
increases.

TIMETABLE ... The House has already adjourned for its August recess. The
Senate may not adjourn until next week. Senators will be home until just
after Labor Day. While home, they'll be meeting with constituents and
fundraising. This is the perfect time to communicate with them. Once they
return from the August recess, they must pass S.1356 and the differences
between it and the House bill, H.R.2660, must be reconciled in a conference
committee by September 30th. If that deadline isn't met, House and Senate
will have to pass a series of continuing resolutions until the two bills are
reconciled. You may remember that last year, the Labor, HHS, and Ed
appropriations bill - along with several others - didn't get passed until
February of this year, nearly 5 months into FY'03! 

FUNDING LEVELS ... Here are the numbers:

Adult Education State Grants
FY'03 ... $575M - 0.65%* = $571.262M
President's FY'04 request ... $584.3M (included Nat. Leadership Activities)
Passed by the House ... $584.3M
Approved by Senate committee ... $571.262M
NCL Recommendation ... (then) $1B ... (now) $584.3M

National Leadership Activities
FY'03 ... $9.5M - 0.65%* = $9.438M
President's FY'04 request ... $0
Passed by the House ... $9.438M
Approved by Senate committee ... $9.223M
NCL Recommendation ... (then) $30M ... (now) $9.438M

National Institute for Literacy
FY'03 ... $6.56M - 0.65%* = $6.517M
President's FY'04 request ... $6.732M 
Passed by the House ... $6.517M
Approved by Senate committee ... $6.732M
NCL Recommendation ... (then) $10M ... (now) $6.732M

Even Start
FY'03 ... $250M - 0.65%* = $248.375M
President's FY'04 request ... $175M
Passed by the House ... $250M
Approved by Senate committee ... $175M
NCL Recommendation ... (then) $300M ... (now) $250M

* across-the-board cuts that funded increases in certain other programs

BACKGROUND ... Back in December 2002, the National Coalition for Literacy
(NCL) developed its recommendations for four key programs important to adult
education and literacy. There are other programs important to literacy but
the NCL has found that to be effective in appropriations advocacy, we must
select only the top 3-4 that all NCL members can speak to with one voice.
NCL members are free to lobby for other programs individually, but as a
coalition, the NCL will push its short list.

Earlier this Spring, the House and Senate each passed its version of the
Budget. The budget resolution determines how much money each appropriations
subcommittee will have to dole out among programs under its jurisdiction.
Although neither budget resolution provided enough money, the House
resolution allocated more money for the Labor, HHS, and Education
appropriations subcommittee than did the Senate resolution. In other words,
the House subcommittee had more money to work with.

As a result of the budget resolution, the NCL recommendations from last
December are unattainable. We intentionally set the bar high because the
adage in Washington appropriations circles is "Go high or go home." Now we
must deal with the reality imposed by the House and Senate budget
resolutions: there is very little wiggle room for increases. However, it is
not uncommon for the House and Senate "miraculously" to come up with a few
billion in additional funding by moving money from one place to another. It
doesn't happen every year - more often in Presidential election years - but
it could still happen this year. Public opinion of the adequacy or
inadequacy of the federal commitment to education is the key. That's why we
must keep making our case for an increase. If they're going to start handing
out additional money all of sudden, we must have made a place in line for
adult education and literacy.

Thanks,
Jon

Jon Randall
Public Policy Committee Chair
National Coalition for Literacy
www.natcoalitionliteracy.org

Action related to this communication is
provided pro bono by FedStrategics, LLC
www.fedstrategics.com

FedStrategics, LLC
8413 Park Crest Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel: (301) 588-5304   Fax: (301) 588-5353
jrandall at fedstrategics.com

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