Witness
Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., Assistant
Secretary
Administration for Children and Families
Accompanied by
Kerry Weems, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Budget
Statement
of
Wade F. Horn, Ph.D.
Administration for Children and
Families
Department of Health and Human
Services
before the
Subcommittee on the Department
of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
U.S. House of Representatives
March 20, 2002Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I am honored to appear before you today to discuss the President's budget request for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) for FY 2003. Kerry Weems, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, accompanies me for the Department.
The FY 2003 budget for the Administration for Children and Families is $47.0 billion. This budget request is 5.3 percent above the FY 2002 enacted level reflecting the President's commitment to support the well being of America's families. Within this context, I would like to share some highlights.
In FY 2003, the budget for the Administration for Children and Families includes $33.9 billion in entitlement funds, a $2.39 billion increase over the FY 2002 enacted level, and $13.1 billion in discretionary spending, the same as the FY 2002 level. In addition to seeking continued funding for a wide range of programs serving some of this nation's most vulnerable populations--including persons with developmental disabilities, Native Americans, refugees, foster care and adopted children, and victims of domestic violence--the ACF budget targets resources to strengthen our nation's families, address youth issues, expand the participation of faith-based and community-based organizations, and focus on the President's management reform agenda. I would like to turn to some of the key programmatic initiatives in our FY 2003 request to demonstrate how these goals will be met.
Strengthening Families
Cornerstone to our budget is reauthorization of the tremendously successful Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. We would maintain funding for the program by providing $16.5 billion annually for block grants to States and Tribes; $319 million a year for supplemental grants; $2 billion over five years for a more accessible contingency fund; and $100 million a year (funded by the elimination of the Illegitimacy Reduction Bonus) for a research, evaluation, demonstration, and technical assistance initiative primarily focusing on family formation and healthy marriage activities. In addition, our proposal would redirect $100 million from the current High Performance Bonus to establish a competitive matching grant program for States and tribes to develop innovative approaches to promoting healthy marriages and reducing out-of-wedlock birth. Further, we would replace the remaining bonus with a $100 million a year Bonus to Reward Employment Achievement for meeting the employment goals of TANF. As we move to the next critical phase of welfare reform, we must promote work, strong families, and child well-being, while granting States greater flexibility to design successful programs.
Many other programs in our budget support TANF goals at the State and community level. To name just a few: $5.5 million for the Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals program to provide grants to non-profit organizations to create new employment opportunities for TANF recipients and other low-income individuals; $25 million for the Individual Development Account demonstration program to promote self-sufficiency through savings; $1.7 billion for the Social Services Block Grant to provide flexible funding to States for services to vulnerable families; $1.7 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to provide energy assistance to low-income families; and, $570 million for the Community Services Block Grant to provide funds to States and tribes for services aimed at reducing poverty.
Child care also plays an important role in the success of welfare reform by providing parents the support they need to work. Our budget recognizes this link by maintaining the historically high level of child care funding currently provided to States. Child Care Entitlement funding would be continued at $2.7 billion and discretionary funding under the Child Care and Development Block Grant would be continued at $2.1 billion. And, States would continue to have flexibility under both TANF and SSBG to address the child care needs of low-income working families. In recent years, States have used significant amounts of TANF funds for child care, including $2.3 billion for transfers to the Child Care and Development Fund and $1.4 billion in direct spending in FY 2000. Funding available through the child care programs and TANF transfers alone will provide child care assistance to an estimated 2.2 million children in FY 2003.
Also, our budget request for Head Start is $6.7 billion, an increase of $130 million over FY 2002. This request will support all Head Start programs in maintaining the current level of enrollment and services while continuing to strengthen the program's focus on improving early literacy.
Child support provides another vital link to a family's ability to achieve self-sufficiency. Our budget would increase child support collections and direct more of the support collected to families. The Federal government would share in the cost of expanded State efforts to pass through child support collections to TANF families and simplify distribution rules to give States the option of providing families that have left welfare the full amount of child support collected. Both options would become available in FY 2005. Not only would these policies provide more financial support to families, but fathers would know that when they pay child support, their families will benefit and their children will know that they are being supported by both of their parents. To support these efforts, families that have never received assistance would be required to pay a $25 annual user fee when child support collections are made on their behalf.
The importance of the role of a father in a child's life also is reflected in our request for $20 million for a new initiative to promote responsible fatherhood as well. This program would provide funds for competitive grants and projects of national significance that focus on public education and awareness, the use of mass media campaigns to promote responsible fatherhood, and the development of best practices, research, and technical assistance.
To further our efforts to strengthen families, ACF's budget would increase the funding level for Promoting Safe and Stable Families to $505 million, fully supporting the recently reauthorized program levels. These funds will help children stay with, or return to, their biological families, if safe and appropriate, or place children with adoptive families.
Targeting Youth
Our budget also supports the new authority for funding the mentoring children of prisoners program at $25 million, along with $60 million to support the new voucher program for youth aging out of foster care to pursue education and training.
Expanding on the critical services provided by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program, our budget requests $10 million to fund approximately 80 new Maternity Group Homes. These funds would provide young pregnant and parenting women with access to community-based maternity group homes through the use of targeted grants to local communities or faith-based organizations, where a range of services such as child care, education, job training, counseling, and parenting education can be provided.
Expanding Participation of Faith-Based and Community-Based Organizations
The President has been a leader in recognizing the important role that charitable organizations play in delivering services to the public, and we are proposing steps to increase Federal support for these groups. In addition to programs such as maternity group homes, mentoring children of prisoners, and responsible fatherhood discussed above, our budget seeks $70 million in additional funds for the Compassion Capital Fund, for a total of $100 million. These new funds will be used to expand the number of public and private partnerships engaged in this critical effort and strengthen our ability to identify those successful models for providing social services by charitable organizations. Our budget also includes $1.6 million to continue the Department's Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives established under the President's Executive Order.
Focusing on the President's Management Reform Agenda
The FY 2003 request for Federal Administration is $184 million, including the $1.6 million for the Center for Faith-Based and Community initiatives. This funding level will support a workforce reduced by 45 FTE, along with a transfer of 10 FTE to the Secretary's office of Legislation and Public Affairs. These staffing reductions reflect the focus on management reform through workforce restructuring and consolidation and will result in significant savings in FY 2003. In addition, funds requested within our Federal Administration budget will be dedicated to support the Secretary's Five-Year IT Strategic Plan and Financial Systems Consolidation.
Finally, ACF is committed to working with our partners to focus on results by measuring performance and holding ourselves accountable for achieving results. Under the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and within the framework of Department goals, ACF strategic goals, objectives and performance measures have been developed and reflected in the FY 2003 budget request.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the proposed ACF budget provides a careful response to our goals of targeting resources to strengthen our nation's families, address youth issues, expand the participation of faith-based and community-based organizations, and focus on the President's management reform agenda. We look forward to working with the Congress on achieving these goals.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be happy to answer any questions you and the Committee may have at this time.
WADE F. HORN, PH.D.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. was named the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on July 30, 2001. The Administration for Children and Families is responsible for programs that promote the social and economic well-being of families. ACF's program's include Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, foster care, adoption assistance, family preservation and support, Head Start, child care, child support enforcement, runaway and homeless youth, low income home energy assistance, community services, refugee resettlement, mental retardation and developmental disabilities, and community services.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Horn was President of the National Fatherhood Initiative, whose mission is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the number of children growing up with involved, committed and responsible fathers in their lives.
From 1989-1993, Dr. Horn was the Commissioner for Children, Youth and Families and Chief of the Children's Bureau in the Administration on Children, Youth and Families. He also served as a Presidential appointee to the National Commission on Children from 1990-1993, was a member of the National Commission on Childhood Disability from 1994-1995, and the U.S. Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators from 1996-1997. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Horn was the Director of Outpatient Psychological Services at the Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University. From 1993 to 2001, Dr. Horn was also an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute, and an affiliate scholar with the Hudson Institute.
Dr. Horn is the author of numerous articles on children and family issues, including a weekly newspaper column entitled Fatherly Advice, and is the co-author of several books including The Better Homes and Gardens New Father Book (Meredith Books, 1998) and The Better Homes and Gardens New Teen Book (Meredith Books, 1999.) He is also the lead editor of The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action (Lexington Books, 1998.)
Dr. Horn is frequently featured on television and radio as a child development expert and commentator. He has appeared on NBC's Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, 20/20, 48 Hours, ABC World News Tonight, CNN, NBC Nightly News, CNBC, Fox News Channel, CNN and MS-NBC.
Dr. Horn received his Ph.D. in clinical child psychology from Southern Illinois University in 1981. He lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, with his wife and two daughters.
