De: "A.
L. D. S"
Fecha:: sáb feb 18, 2006
8:20 pm
Asunto:: Quejas por los
Fondos Nacionales para el VAWA en USA........
No es dificil de entender
con un poco de conocimiento. Espero que para la
mayoría sea comprensible.
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http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2641
Washington Lookout
Budget Falls Short for Domestic Violence Programs
Run Date: 02/17/06
By Allison Stevens
Washington Bureau Chief
The president's spending plan for next year omits programs
approved last
year in the Violence Against Women Act. Anti-violence advocates
challenge
the cuts as political, saying the savings are too small to make a
dent in
the overall budget picture.
Jill Morris
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WOMENSENEWS)--President Bush is not putting his
money
where his mouth is on domestic violence policy, advocates argue.
One month after he held a ceremony in the Oval Office to sign
legislation
that would authorize a considerable increase in funding to aid
victims of
domestic violence, Bush proposed an overall cut to domestic
violence
programs and services and included no funding for the law's new
programs,
effectively placing them on indefinite hold.
The news, delivered last week in the president's fiscal 2007
budget
resolution, a non-binding document that serves as a blueprint for
government
spending, dampened the spirits of domestic violence activists.
John Nowacki, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, which
oversees
some of the country's domestic violence programs, said the plans
did not
reflect a wavering commitment to combating domestic violence. "The
department will continue to support federal, state and local
efforts to end
violence against women," he said.
But domestic violence activists are taking nothing for granted.
They're
working to build a national campaign to persuade members of
Congress to
reject the president's budget plans and fund at least some of the
new
domestic violence law's new programs.
"Congress definitely supports these programs and they'll put them
in the
appropriations bills" later this year, said Jill Morris, public
policy
director at the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, an
advocacy
organization based in Denver.
Funding Falls Short of Promise
Bush signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act
into law
on Jan. 6.
That law, along with the Family Violence Prevention and Services
Act, a
separate law that provides funding for shelters and other services
for
victims of abuse, approves federal spending on related programs of
up to $1
billion in the coming fiscal year, according to statistics
provided by the
National Network to End Domestic Violence, an advocacy group in
Washington,
D.C.
But actual spending would fall short of that amount under the
president's
budget.
The administration requested $546 million for domestic violence
programs in
fiscal 2007, a decrease of $20 million--or 3.5 percent--from the
amount
appropriated in 2006, the anti-violence network's figures indicate.
The
amount does not include any funding for 21 newly enacted programs,
the
largest of which is a $50 million program that provides services
for
survivors of sexual assault.
If the administration gets its way, few of the existing programs
would come
close to receiving the full amount authorized by the new law.
Services
Training Officers Providers grants--money for victim services and
law
enforcement programs that is divvied up by federal formula and
sent to
states--are one of several examples. They were authorized at $225
million
but were funded at $156 million in the president's spending plan.
Observers attributed the administration's reluctance to fully fund
domestic
violence programs to the overriding atmosphere of fiscal restraint
on
Capitol Hill.
Domestic violence services are but a small fraction of the many
programs
outside defense and homeland security that would not receive full
funding if
the president's $2.8 trillion budget wins congressional approval
later this
year and is followed by similar appropriations.
Social Programs Bear the Brunt
Many of the programs that face cuts aid the poor, a majority of
whom are
women.
One of the most significant proposals would curb the growth of
Medicare and
Medicaid for a savings of $48 billion over the next five years.
Other
targeted areas include education, housing assistance for the
elderly, food
stamp programs and child care.
Joan Entmacher
But of the many government programs that would be cut, Joan
Entmacher, a
budget analyst at the National Women's Law Center in Washington,
D.C., found
reduced spending on domestic violence programs among the most
troubling.
"They're not by any means the deepest cuts in the budget," she
said. "But a
lot of people fought very hard" to reauthorize the Violence
Against Women
Act.
Bush defended the proposed cuts when he introduced his budget
resolution
last week, saying fiscal restraint is needed to control soaring
deficits and
the "unsustainable growth" of entitlement programs such as
Medicare and
Social Security. "As more Baby Boomers retire and collect their
benefits,
our deficits are projected to grow," he said. "These unfunded
liabilities
will put a burden on our children and our grandchildren."
Fiscal conservatives have also complained that spending has gotten
out of
control thanks to the war in Iraq, the new prescription drug
benefit and
emergency relief from natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
In the
long run, conservatives say, Americans at every economic level
will benefit
from smaller government. Otherwise, the public will bear the
burden in
higher payroll taxes, which they predict will cut into family
budgets and
slow job growth.
Women's rights advocates countered that the budget cuts would not
be
necessary if the president didn't also call for billions of
dollars in new
tax cuts, which they said are geared primarily toward wealthy
corporations
and individuals.
"This budget just really highlights the insanity" of the
administration,
Entmacher said.
No Funding for New Programs
Apart from overall funding, domestic violence activists were also
disappointed that none of the new programs would receive any money
if the
president's budget is followed.
But they blamed poor timing more than administration intent.
Budget writers, who began drafting the resolution last summer, may
not have
had enough time to include funding for the new programs, which
were enacted
only weeks ago, they said. They hope that will be corrected this
summer and
fall when congressional appropriators gather to dole out money for
government programs.
Among the programs not slated to receive money include the new
sexual
assault services program; grants for law enforcement training;
youth
outreach and justice programs; prevention of abuse campaigns aimed
at men
and children; grants to combat violence in public housing;
outreach services
to Native American victims of abuse; grants to develop long-term
housing for
victims; and money to pay for studies of and research on the issue.
But the new programs, most of which are relatively small, would
make sound
fiscal as well as social policy, proponents argued.
New programs, as well as existing ones, ultimately translate into
government
savings because they increase worker productivity, reduce hospital
and court
costs, and curb gang violence and homelessness, said Allison
Randall, public
policy director at the National Network to End Domestic Violence.
"It's a small amount of money, but it does a lot of good," she
said.
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