EMERGENCY ALERT

ALLARD AMENDMENT TO THE SENATE L-HHS-ED APPROPRIATIONS BILL

See the info below. Among the threatened disability programs are almost all of the IDEA programs except the state grant, Independent Living programs, and Assistive Technology Financing. A few HUD programs are also on the list. ACT NOW. Call the Senators’ offices and tell them to vote “NO” on the Allard amendment.

On Friday, Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) introduced a disturbing amendment to the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill that would automatically cut the budget of any program that was given an "ineffective" PART rating by the Office of Management and Budget. Under Allard's amendment, any program that is listed as "ineffective" under the PART would be automatically cut by 10 percent, with the amount cut used to pay down the national debt. This is a dangerous idea that would transfer appropriating power to the executive branch and could wreak havoc with program implementation as budgets are cut randomly throughout the year outside of the appropriations process.

The list of programs that would be cut immediately should Allard's amendment pass include Even Start, the Perkins loan program, vocational education grants, Upward Bound, the Workforce Investment Act programs for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers and Youth, the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, and the Healthy Community Access program, among others. In the future, any program covered under the Labor-HHS-Education bill could fall victim to this back-door cut should OMB rate it "ineffective" under the PART. (To review a full list of immediately impacted programs, see this list of "ineffective" programs on the ExpectMore.gov website: programs rated ineffective.)

The Senate is voting today and tomorrow morning on amendments to the Labor-HHS bill. It's important for members of the Senate to hear that blindly allowing administration budgeters to make program funding decisions based on the outcome of a biased tool like PART is a bad idea. Please take 5 minutes this afternoon to call your Senators and urge them to not give away their power of the purse to the White House. Please ask them to vote NO on the Allard amendment to the Labor-HHS bill.