Busy Times in Not-So-Sleepy Washington

There once was a time that Washington, D.C., was considered a sleepy little town. Legislators would come and go during the year and vacate the city entirely during the hot summer months. That was a long time ago. Compared to even a year ago, the pace in Washington has become positively frenetic.

Federal Funding

On Feb. 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The $797 billion economic stimulus package contains funding for a number of programs of interest to members of the Alliance for Children and Families and United Neighborhood Centers of America (UNCA).

Less than one month later, Obama signed the end-of-year 2009 omnibus appropriations act, which funds the bulk of federal programs through Sept. 30, 2009.

Next up is the president’s own budget for fiscal year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, 2009. That proposed budget was released May 7.

The Washington office of the Alliance and UNCA has been monitoring all of this and releasing a steady stream of analyses, all of which can be found in the public policy portion of the Alliance website.

We have also hosted a number of conference calls where David Gogol, a lobbyist who specializes in nonprofit funding and regulatory issues, has gone over some of the best funding prospects from ARRA for Alliance and UNCA members. If you have specific questions about certain funding streams, please do not hesitate to contact me. (My contact information is below.)

Health Care Reform

While most of the action so far this year has been focused on the economy, health care reform is not far behind. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) released a draft white paper outlining some initial proposals last year, and the office of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has been conducting ongoing meetings with constituent groups this year.

It appears that a package is likely to move on Capitol Hill sometime in the early summer. Democrats have expressed a willingness to work with their Republican colleagues, but they have also indicated a willingness to ram through a package, if necessary, using some budgetary procedures that would prevent a Republican filibuster in the Senate.

The Alliance and UNCA have been preparing for this for most of the past year, and the public policy office has developed its own package of recommendations, including the establishment of fixed funding streams for therapeutic foster care, addressing low Medicaid payment rates, and extending assistance for health information technology for members. For more information, contact Becca Farley, the policy office’s main policy analyst for health care issues.

Child Welfare Issues

Action has also been brewing on child welfare issues. Last year, Congress passed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, probably the most significant child welfare legislation enacted in a decade. An analysis of that legislation is available on the Alliance website.

This year, Congress is expected to consider a second round of child welfare legislation. This time focus will likely be on reforming federal financing of Title IV-E foster care programs, specifically the look-back provision that ties funding to populations eligible under the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children program which was eliminated as part of welfare reform in 1996.

We hope to also include some language in that package that will nudge states in the right direction on foster care rates.

Finally, Congress is considering a major regulatory package for residential facilities, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009. We are working closely with several other national organizations to ensure language is included that would reduce duplicative and burdensome new regulations for residential programs that are already heavily state-regulated.

Nonprofit Sector Issues

But there is more. On April 21, Obama signed the Serve America Act into law. This legislation will vastly expand the federal AmeriCorps program, which will likely increase placements at member agencies.

We are also working on a number of other nonprofit sector issues of importance to members, including:

• establishing new policies to ensure prompt payment by public agencies to charitable organizations providing government-funded services;
• the establishment of a low- or no-interest bridge loan fund for agencies facing short-term cash flow problems;
• fighting off efforts to limit charity advocacy and lobbying rights; and
• supporting increased transparency in the earmarking process, but opposing efforts to eliminate earmarks for nonprofit organizations altogether.

We will also be working to support—and improve—a major new initiative expected to be proposed by the Obama administration later this year. Called Promise Neighborhoods, this place-based initiative will seek better outcomes for children and neighborhoods in individual communities by integrating previously siloed programs within individual communities. It involves early childhood and after-school programs, K-12 education, and job training, among others. The proposal is expected to be built on public-private partnerships between nonprofits, government, health care organizations, local businesses, and schools. It may have a very significant impact, especially on UNCA members.

On each of these issues, our work will not stop with the signing of legislation into law. Our office will also continue to focus on helping Alliance and UNCA member agencies understand and take advantage of the new opportunities that are created by each piece of legislation. 

Patrick Lester is senior vice president for public policy for the Alliance and UNCA. He has a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University. His past experience includes director of public policy for United Way of America, aide for President Bill Clinton’s Domestic Policy Council, senior policy analyst for the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations, and legislative director for the Coalition of Human Needs. He can be reached at 202-429-0400, ext. 15, or by e-mail.

 View the archive of Capitol Connection columns or the archive for all columnists.