News From The Hill

Congress came back from its spring recess with two major spending measures to complete. The Emergency Supplemental to provide funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is controversial because both the House and Senate versions include measures related to withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The President has declared his intention to veto the final version of the bill if it includes any form of these provisions, setting up a showdown with Congress that will mean considerable attention to this issue in the coming weeks.

The other funding measure, the Congressional Budget Resolution, is less controversial and does not require the President's signature. The Budget Resolution does not set funding levels for individual programs, but rather establishes the broad blueprint for federal spending, including the overall level for domestic spending. Both the House and Senate versions provide some room for increases in domestic programs. The Senate version provides for $6 billion more than the amount needed to maintain the current level of program services in 2007 and $16 billion more than the President's budget request (which would cut domestic spending by $10 billion). The House bill provides $12 billion over the 2007 level and $22 billion more than the President's request. A conference committee will iron out these differences.

Once the Budget Resolution is settled, attention will turn to appropriations, where funding levels for programs such as 21st Century Community Learning Centers and the Child Care and Development Block Grant are set. While the budget numbers do not represent a dramatic increase, they do allow for the real possibility of some increase in program funding for the first time in several years and at least the restoration of the small across-the-board cuts that have nibbled away at funding levels over the past several years. Afterschool advocates, especially those in states represented on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, should act now to encourage their Congressional delegations to support increased funding for afterschool programs.

On the policy side, work has begun on crafting the reauthorization of the Elementary-Secondary Education Act, more commonly known by the title of its last reauthorization, No Child Left Behind. Staff on the Senate HELP Committee and House Education and Labor Committee are collecting recommendations for revising various provisions of the Act and are beginning to assemble their bills. It is safe to say that, with so many issues about school accountability and testing, afterschool will not be a major issue. The Afterschool Alliance, with input from a broad range of youth groups including NAA, has put forth a unified set of recommendations on programs related to afterschool, including 21st CCLC and Supplemental Educational Services. It is important for advocates to continue to let the members of the authorizing committees know how critical these programs are to expanding the availability of afterschool to students who could most benefit from it.