Statement of Olivia Golden
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
February 9, 2000

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I am pleased to present the President’s budget request for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) for FY 2001. I am accompanied by Dennis Williams, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget for the Department.

The budget for the Administration for Children and Families invests in human services that will benefit all Americans, focusing on programs to promote healthy development of our nation’s children and economic security and independence for families and communities.

The FY 2001 budget for the Administration for Children and Families is $43 billion, of which $24 billion is being requested in new budget authority. The remaining $19 billion has been appropriated through the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

In FY 2001, the budget for the Administration for Children and Families includes $12 billion in discretionary funds and $31 billion in entitlement funds. Over 70 percent of the $12 billion discretionary budget request supports programs serving young children and their families through the Child Care and Development Block Grant and the Head Start program. For FY 2001, we are requesting an unprecedented $1 billion increase for the Head Start program, continuing to move us toward the President’s goal of providing a Head Start experience for 1 million children in FY 2002. We are also requesting an increase of $817 million over the amount advance funded in FY 2000 appropriations for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, for a total of $2 billion in FY 2001 and $2 billion in advance appropriations for FY 2002. In addition to the discretionary increases for child care, we are requesting $600 million in entitlement funds for an Early Learning Fund to focus on the quality of child care and school readiness.

Other increases in this request include those for tribal child welfare, battered women’s shelters, Native American programs, Individual Development Accounts, youth activities related to the Department’s mental health initiative, Victims of Torture, and Federal Administration. In addition, the Administration for Children and Families is seeking continued funding for a wide range of programs serving some of this nation’s most vulnerable populations, including Low Income Home Energy Assistance, the Community Services Block Grant, programs for persons with developmental disabilities, and services for refugees.

I would like to highlight a few key programmatic initiatives in our FY 2001 request.

Child Care Initiative

The Clinton Administration has been committed to making work pay through a variety of supports for working families, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, Family and Medical Leave, and child health insurance. In this year’s budget proposal, the President continues his commitment to working families. A recent report, "Access to Child Care for Low-Income Working Families", found that only 10 percent of the 14.7 million children potentially eligible under Federal standards received Federal child care subsidies in 1998. Large numbers of children remain unserved despite the fact that states drew down virtually all available 1998 Federal mandatory Child Care and Development Fund dollars. In the first three quarters of FY 1999, states transferred $1.72 billion in Federal TANF dollars to the Child Care and Development Fund, more than double the $802 million transferred in all of FY 1998.

Affordable and adequate child care, however, remains out of reach for many working families. While the average family pays about 7 percent of its income for child care, child care consumes about a quarter of the income of very low-income families who pay for care. Two recent studies suggest that increased funding for child care subsidies increases employment rates and earnings for low and moderate-income parents, while other studies have found that families on waiting lists for child care assistance cut back their work hours and are more likely to receive public assistance or go into debt. When families cannot get help in paying for child care, it is harder for them to find quality care that helps prepare their children for success in school.

In addition, research on preschoolers finds that quality child care programs make a significant difference in children’s cognitive performance, language development, social adjustment, and behavior, with differences found several years after program participation. Studies of investments in quality have found that statewide quality initiatives, such as those undertaken in Florida and North Carolina, have resulted in improved quality of child care programs and enhanced child development. Despite the known link between the quality of child care and subsequent performance in school, too many children are still in poor-quality care that threatens not only their development but, in many cases, their health and safety as well.

The FY 2001 request proposes to increase the discretionary funds available for affordable, quality child care by $817 million for a total FY 2001 level of $2 billion and also includes an advance appropriation request of $2 billion for FY 2002. These new funds, combined with child care funds provided under welfare reform, will enable the program to serve an additional 300,000 children in FY 2001. We also are requesting $600 million in entitlement funds to create the Early Learning Fund. These funds will be used to provide grants to communities to improve school readiness by fostering the cognitive, physical, social and emotional development of children under five years old through improvements in the quality of child care. Quality child care providers spend more, and more meaningful, time with the children and have more age-appropriate books, toys and equipment for the children they serve. For the proposed Early Learning Fund, ACF will work with the Department of Education and the states to establish performance goals and indicators that focus on educational outcomes and quality factors, such as provider training and low child-to-staff ratios, that are associated with enhanced school readiness.

Head Start

Head Start has been and continues to be one of the Administration’s top priorities. The Head Start program fosters the development of young children from low-income families to enable them to function at their highest potential. There is an increasing body of evidence that supports the advantages that accrue to disadvantaged children and families who participate in Head Start. Studies have demonstrated that Head Start programs produce immediate gains across a diverse range of areas such as cognitive functioning, academic readiness and achievement, self-esteem, social behavior and physical health; and that Head Start children have better high school attendance rates, are less frequently retained in grade, and have less need for special education. In addition, Head Start has been shown to help parents improve their parenting skills, increase participation in their children’s school activities, enhance their confidence in their abilities to contribute to their communities, and, in many cases, help parents on the road to self-sufficiency. In short, Head Start works.

Head Start has made dramatic progress toward developing an outcome-oriented accountability system that can be used to determine the quality and effectiveness of Head Start. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey - FACES - is a periodic longitudinal data collection that provides information about children as they enter the program, their experience in Head Start, and their status both at school entry and after a year of kindergarten. The ongoing FACES effort will continue to help Head Start chart its progress in meeting GPRA goals and improving services to children and families.

The first results, based on a nationally representative sample of 3,200 children and families in 40 Head Start programs across the country, gives reason for encouragement: the quality in most Head Start classrooms is good -- no classrooms score in the poor range – and, perhaps most importantly, program quality -- small class sizes and richer teacher-child interactions -- is related to children’s outcomes. In addition, Head Start children have achieved academic knowledge and social skills that indicate a readiness to learn effectively when children reach kindergarten and first grade.

Because Head Start makes such a difference, we are requesting a $1 billion increase for FY 2001. This level will provide approximately 950,000 infants, toddlers, children and their families with a Head Start experience, an increase of over 70,000 children, moving closer to the President’s goal of enrolling 1 million children by the year 2002.

Native American Programs

The FY 2001 request includes an additional $9 million for Native American Programs for a total of $44 million. Tribal consultations indicated the continuing need for social and economic development among Native Americans. The tribal initiative will emphasize self-sufficiency through economic development and governance projects, including projects focused on energy development and tribal codes.

Individual Development Accounts (IDA’s)

The Assets for Independence Act of 1998 authorized funds for a new program to empower low-income individuals to save for a home, post-secondary education, or a new business, at a match rate ranging from $.50 to $4.00 for every dollar saved. In FY 2000, $10 million was appropriated for this program, and an additional $15 million is requested in FY 2001. The total of $25 million requested will support grants to 100 new nonprofit organizations, in partnership with financial institutions, to administer IDA demonstrations, serving an additional 20,500 low-income individuals.

Youth Activities

The budget request includes an increase of $10 million for youth activities. Under the authority provided in the Runaway and Homeless Youth program, we will support targeted early intervention and youth at risk of running away with a focus on provision of mental health services to youth and their families. These funds also will provide an opportunity to establish and strengthen linkages with other service programs such as mental health, housing and Medicaid.

Programs to Reduce Violent Crime

The FY 2001 request includes $134 million for Battered Women’s Shelters and the Domestic Violence Hotline, an increase of $16 million. This request is part of a Departmental initiative to curtail violence against women, enhancing the services provided to women and their families, and changing the social norms that permit violence against women to occur. The total requested for ACF will provide an additional 30,000 survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault with counseling, shelter, and other services. We will encourage the funding and/or establishment of shelters in underserved urban and rural areas including Indian tribes and Alaskan Native villages. In addition, we will provide culturally appropriate services for underserved populations, such as ethnic minority populations and persons with disabilities.

Victims of Torture

The budget request for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance Program includes $9.8 million, an increase of $2.5 million over FY 2000, to fund the domestic treatment activities authorized by the Torture Victims Relief Act, expanding treatment services to the many survivors of torture now in the United States.

Child Support Enforcement

The Federal government has a strong interest in a nationwide child support system that is effective. We have taken great strides to ensure that children receive the financial support they and deserve from both parents. In 1999, child support collections reached an all time high of $15.5 billion. The budget includes several proposals that focus on increasing payments to families and making the child support system work better. The proposals, taken together, help states collect more child support, increase payments to families by nearly $2 billion over five years, and are self-financing. Providing additional income to families will help support their children’s needs and their efforts to seek work, become, and stay, self-sufficient. Proposals include optional changes in the distribution system for child support collections and passthrough and disregard provisions. Current child support distribution rules are complicated, and often result in government, not families, keeping child support monies paid by the noncustodial parent. The proposals will enable states to simplify distribution rules and encourage states to pass through more child support payments directly to families. In states that adopt the new options, families that have left welfare will keep all the child support paid by the noncustodial parent; families still working their way off welfare will be able to keep a portion of the child support they are owed. These proposals will create a clearer connection between what a noncustodial parent pays and what his family gets, giving parents more reason to cooperate with the child support system.

In addition, the budget includes new enforcement tools to get parents to pay the child support they owe. For example, when parents refuse to meet their obligations, they may have their vehicles booted, they may have a harder time obtaining or renewing a passport, and they may be prohibited from enrolling as a Medicare provider. These proposals will not only help families, they will make the program operate better while we continue our work for America’s children.

Child Welfare Tribal Initiative

In FY 2001, the President’s tribal initiative includes $5 million in entitlement funds for a two-tiered child welfare proposal:

Federal Administration

The request for Federal Administration is $165 million, an increase of $17 million. In addition to built-in increases such as raises, higher rent and health insurance costs, this level is expected to fund 1,560 full-time equivalent staff (FTE), an increase of 60 over FY 2000. The FTE increase will support such activities as: conducting the new child welfare monitoring reviews as promulgated in the recently published final regulations; meeting the demands of an increasing number of tribes for technical assistance in developing and administering tribal TANF programs; making funds directly available to tribes for child support enforcement; and managing significant increases in the number of Head Start and Early Head Start Grantees.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize our commitment to achieving results, measuring results, and jointly working with our partners in developing and refining measurable goals and objectives as required under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). Our performance measures are an integral part of the ACF budget. Notably, this includes the first GPRA performance report, which compares FY 1999 results to the goals in our FY 1999 performance plan. Although GPRA reporting must mature before its full value will be realized, our performance report for this year shows improvements. ACF and its program partners exceeded performance expectations when we moved 1.3 million welfare recipients into new employment. Information like this demonstrates that GPRA is a valuable tool that will enhance our efforts to improve programs that serve the American people.

We look forward to working with 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.