WOMEN, BUDGET and the ECONOMY- Jill Butler, AFSCME Federal Government Affairs 10/10/2015
So.who are you? Raise your hand if you are a: State employee County employee Municipal employee Federal employee Private sector/healthcare employee Have you experienced budget cuts in your departments?
AGENDA Today we will learn: Current status of the budget What the federal budget funds Basic budget process and timeline Where women stand in today s economy How to prepare for a meeting with a Congressional member re: funding for a program dear to your heart.
No SHUTDOWN for now. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AVERTED FOR NOW. The CR is a clean bill. There are a few adjustments and anomalies. Notably, it includes $75 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, which is not subject to the BCA caps. It also includes an across theboard 2/10th of a percent (0.2108%) rescission in domestic spending to reflect certain increased cost for VA and other programs. But it doesn t lift the tight spending caps. That s a battle still to come.
So, what s next?? Like most things in Congress it s not entirely clear what's next. The first thing is a lot is expected to happen in a short time period, basically between now and December 11th and perhaps even earlier. A longer term budget deal is still possible.
Planned parenthood controversy As I m sure you ve heard, some of the more conservative Congressional members staged an attack on Planned Parenthood. Spending bills were introduced which would prohibited federal funding of the program. At one point Congressional members stated they were willing to shut down the government over the program.
Examples of what the Federal budget Health Services: funds Education: Safe Communities: Infrastructure: Social Security:
Total State Expenditures by Funding Source, Fiscal 2013 Other State Funds 27.3 Federal Funds 29.8 General Funds 40.9% Bonds 2.1% Source: National Association of State Budget Officers, State Expenditure Report, Dec. 2013
Budget Process/Regular Order Federal Fiscal Year Starts: Oct 1 Ends: Sept 30 SOTU/President s Budget Jan/Feb President submits budget request to Congress. Administration and agency officials testify in support of the budget request. Appropriations subcommittees (House and Senate) hold hearings with agency heads and outside public witnesses. Budget Resolution finalized by mid April House and Senate adopt budget resolutions prepared by Budget Committees. Continuing Resolutions/Omnibus
SEQUESTER What is sequester Harmful automatic budget cuts Why did it start? The whole design of these arbitrary cuts was to make them so unattractive and unappealing that Democrats and Republicans would actually get together and find a good compromise of sensible cuts as well as closing tax loopholes and so forth. And so this was all designed to say we can't do these bad cuts; let s do something smarter. That was the whole point of this so called sequestration." President Obama
Education Sequester s Impact Head Start slots cut by 7% 34 States are providing less funding per student than prior to recession. 324,000 fewer education jobs. Public Safety Violence against women programs cut by 10%. Job Training $1.1 billion cut Funding for job training cut by approximately 20 percent.
THE ECONOMY Although the economy has improved, not all Americans are sharing in the recovery 5.1% unemployment, 8 million unemployed 143,000 jobs added in September 2015 Among major worker groups: 4.7 percent of women are unemployed 4.4 percent of Caucasians are unemployed 9.2 percent of African Americans are unemployed 6.6 percent of Hispanics are unemployed 3.5 percent of Asians are unemployed
Ways to improve the economy for EVERYONE.. THOUGHTS??
Ways to improve the economy Restore the rights of workers to negotiate (increase enforcement against violations of labor laws and workplace standards, update laws for modern workplace structures, use government contracts and tax incentives to raise standards); Support working families (child care, early childhood education, higher education, paid leave, ending employment and pay discrimination); Expand retirement security (protect public pensions, eliminate Social Security payroll cap, expand Social Security with a public option annuity and protect savers from high 401(k) fees); Reinvest in public services and infrastructure; and Fair taxes.
Women and Poverty 13.6% of women and 16.3% of women living in poverty The poverty rate for single mothers was over 30%. 22% of children are living in poverty Poverty disproportionately affects minority women and children
The Economy for Women Pay Disparity Women working full time, year round paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men Black women 64 cents Hispanic women 54 cents Annual loss of $11,084 on average More women in low/minimum wage jobs 2/3 of women in minimum wage jobs
Women s Agendawww.democraticleader.gov/women succeed Pay Equity Paycheck Fairness, Increase Minimum Wage (Including Tipped). Work and Family Balance Paid Sick Leave, Paid FMLA, Expanded Family and Medical Leave. Child Care/Early Education Increases in CCDBG/Head Start, Preschool and Early Head Start/Child Care Initiative.
Our Position Oppose cuts to domestic programs in any shortterm budget package; Find more revenue for deficit reduction by closing tax loopholes that only benefit big corporations and the wealthy.
Preparing for an Effective Meeting Coordinate with your union/we can helpjbutler@afscme.org Include leadership Target the correct staff Request early Get organized and do your homework Intros/thank you Have a clear ask Be on time Be respectful Connect Provide resources/materials Thank them again FOLLOW UP
*Group Exercise * Identify a spokesperson Agree on a program or agency you care about and formulate an argument about why that program or agency needs increased funding. You may draw on you or your family/friends past experiences with the program or how budget cuts have adversely effected the program.
Taking it Home Talk to friends, family, colleagues Forward AFSCME s ad Read the newspaper keep tabs on the latest Subscribe to the Legislative Updatehttp://action.afscme.org/join us Letters to the Editor Opinion Editorials Facebook friend/like AFSCME Twitter Rallies Attend townhall meetings/participate in telephone town halls Participate in AFSCME actions/call ins