ACTE Legislative Alert: Action Needed NOW to Build Support for the DeLauro Amendment

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March 27, 2006

THE ISSUE: The House Budget Committee plans to consider its version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 budget resolution this Wednesday, March 29. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) is expected to offer an amendment (identical to the successful Specter-Harkin amendment to the Senate-passed budget resolution) that would increase the overall spending cap for education, employment and training, and social services by $7 billion over what the President recommended – enough to restore overall funding levels for these government functions (including Perkins) to FY 2005 levels.

Passing the DeLauro Amendment is critical because, if passed, it would ensure that the House budget resolution would allow appropriators to have additional funds to support education, employment and training, and social services programs. If the amendment does not pass, appropriators will be left with no choice but to make deep cuts to many key programs – which could include Perkins.

ACTION NEEDED: If you live or work in a state or Congressional district of a Member of Congress on the House Budget Committee, please urge him or her to:

Support the DeLauro Amendment to the FY 2007 budget resolution that would increase overall funding for education, training, employment and social services by $7 billion.
Oppose any budget resolution that will force harmful cuts to education.

Republican Budget Committee members especially need to hear a loud voice of support for the DeLauro Amendment.

Please view the following link to see if your Representative is on the House Budget Committee, http://www.budget.house.gov. Please visit ACTE’s LegislativeActionCenter and connect with your Representative today! http://capwiz.com/acte/home/.

BACKGROUND: Funding for Perkins has been threatened this year by the Bush Administration’s proposal to cut overall funding for education, employment and training, and social services by nearly $5 billion, and to completely eliminate funding to the Perkins program. The first step in the Congressional consideration of this proposal is passage of a budget resolution. The budget resolution sets the total dollars to be available for all the services funded by the federal government. While the budget resolution does not make decisions about individual programs, if the total is set too low, the budget resolution will force appropriators to cut programs in order to meet the amount budgeted under the budget resolution.

On March 16, the Senate passed its budget resolution, which included an amendment from Senators Specter & Harkin that provided an additional $7 billion over the President’s budget request for education, employment and training, and social services programs.