House Appropriations Hearing
March 24th
Dr. Wade F. Horn, attended by Bill Beldon, Acting Deputy ASBTF

Members in attendance:

Hearing started late due to an overrun of Dr. Duke’s hearing and ended with only one round of questions so the members could leave to vote.  Questions and answers follow:

Regula questioned how programs are evaluated and how we know to fund what is working.  Dr. Horn responded that we have a President very focused on results so we are very aware of the need to base our funding decisions on results.  For example, we are funding nurse home visiting for high risk infants to reduce the incidence of child abuse.

Lowey raised a series of questions on why the budget adds money to abstinence only education when all studies (she cited Institute of Medicine, National Institute of Health and others) indicate that abstinence alone is not effective.  She stated she is very supportive of abstinence for youth, but it is unrealistic to assume all youth will so practice, and they need information.  Dr. Horn agreed we need to look at effective strategies and mentioned the CDC report that notes that HPV cannot be prevented through condom use.

Sherwood noted that while he normally is supportive of cuts and taking out programs that are ineffective, he is concerned that CSBG is very effective in his district and he does not understand why the budget wants to cut it and what ACF has done to strengthen program accountability.  Dr. Horn responded that we do not have the ability to mandate state reporting in this area.  He elaborated on what steps are being taken to increase reporting through ROMA, but noted it would still be a voluntary program and felt that we had to focus on areas where we can get proven results until reporting in this program becomes mandatory.  Sherwood asked for specific information on Pennsylvania and noted it was not fair to cut a program that might be working well, just because we do not have the right information on it.  Dr. Horn noted again the importance of using tax dollars effectively in these difficult budget times.

Weldon raised questions on effectiveness of the Infant Adoption Awareness program and whether it has had any effect on abortion rates, and asked whether even without final study information if Dr. Horn continued to support the program.  Dr. Horn said the evaluation was being done by HRSA, but that he heard that preliminary survey results on whether the information was helpful were positive and that he definitely recommended continued funding.  Weldon noted he wanted to follow up further in the future.  Also asked about whether there was any reduction in traditional sex education funding and why we wanted to move it from HRSA to ACF.  Dr. Horn noted that the President recommended moving the program to fit with the youth development focus, seeing youth as positive assets vs. problems to be solved.  He assured Weldon there are no bureaucratic problems with the transfer, and that we can transfer the State program without further legislative authority, but that the authority for the rest of the money was needed, hence the inclusion in the budget request.

DeLauro raised the CDC study Dr. Horn had referenced and noted funds for STDs had been flat funded.  She raised concern over child care funding cuts and she and Dr. Horn discussed timing of welfare reauthorization and how that effects child care money, with DeLauro indicating that it is under-funded.  Dr. Horn noted the money in early childhood education and DeLauro made clear that was not child care and wanted more discussion in writing on this.  She also noted the need for traditional sex education.

Weldon asked if the stop violence stamp was raising money and Dr. Horn said it has not sold enough yet to create profit.

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