During the 1999 appropriations process, U.S. Senators Bob Graham (D-FL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and a bipartisan coalition blocked massive cuts to the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) – a fund that helps states pay for vital programs like Meals on Wheels, foster care, protective services, adoption, and both child and adult day care.
As the Senate nears debate on this year's Labor/HHS Appropriations bill -- which makes even more draconian cuts in social service funding -- Graham, Grassley, and Senator James Jeffords (R-VT) today joined Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and United Way President Betty Beene to once again urge the restoration of SSBG funding.
The SSBG was created in 1981 by a Democratic Congress and a Republican President. Though Congress promised states a steady stream of SSBG funding when it passed welfare reform in 1996, the FY 2001 Labor/HHS Appropriations bill breaks that promise by more than $1 billion.
"If these cuts are passed, Congress will have broken its word to state and local social service agencies and sacrificed some of our most vulnerable citizens on the altar of hypocrisy," said Graham. "The House has held up its end of the bargain. So should the Senate."
Grassley said, "States use the program for people in true need. These are the elderly, children and people with disabilities. The funding helps states provide services that no one else will provide. The money keeps people independent. It keeps them out of nursing homes. It keeps them employed. These are not frivolous services. They are critical to the well-being of thousands of people."
This severe cut would be felt throughout the nation. For example, Florida's SSBG funding would drop from an expected $93.1 million to $32.9 million. Iowa would lose 67% of its funding, down to $6.3 million. Michigan would sustain a cut of nearly $40 million, and Illinois' reduction would be close to $50 million.