President's Budget Sent To Congress 

On the first Monday in February, as required by law, President George W. Bush sent his fiscal year 2005 budget to Congress. (Fiscal Year 2005 begins October 1, 2004.) The budget document itself is simply a request. Congress decides how much to appropriate, first by developing a Congressional Budget Resolution that sets total spending and revenue numbers, followed by the 13 annual appropriations bills that provide funding for each individual program.

Nevertheless, when one party controls the White House and both houses of Congress, the president's budget carries considerable clout, especially in an election year when parties can be expected to close ranks with their leadership.

Why should Federations and affiliated agencies be interested in the federal budget?

First, a religious/historical reason: as Jews we have always believed that the general community has an obligation to help the sick, the disabled, children and the elderly, and the less fortunate among us.

Second, a pragmatic reason: 60 percent, of the roughly $10 billion in funds that operate our extraordinary network of Jewish federations and social services, comes from the government.

Following is a summary of items in the budget of particular interest to Jewish federations and affiliated agencies:

Medicaid: We are very concerned that the President is NOT proposing to extend the emergency federal increase in Medicaid funds that expires this June. The Medicaid funds are vital to prevent state cutbacks in funds to Jewish nursing homes -- which typically receive more than 2/3 of their funding from Medicaid -- and Jewish family service agencies that receive a significant portion of their funding from Medicaid.

The temporary increase in the federal contribution to Medicaid (FMAP) is still necessary because many states continue to have serious fiscal crises.

Immigrants and SSI: The White House called to let us know, prior to release of the budget, that they had responded positively to advocacy by UJC, HIAS, the Chicago and New York federations, and other organizations and included in the president's budget a request for $80 million for fiscal year '05 for an extension of SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits for immigrants who are currently subject to a seven-year cut-off.

SSI is a federal income support program for needy aged, blind and disabled persons. Some of the immigrants subject to this cut-off of are elderly Jews from the former Soviet Union (FSU) who have been unable to attain citizenship due to age and the language barrier.

Inclusion of funds in the president's budget to extend SSI coverage for immigrants to eight years is good news; however, a caveat -- a one-year extension, while positive, would still leave many of the refugees and most of the asylees without coverage.

Senior Transportation: We are concerned that the White House has proposed a cut in Senior transportation funds for FY '05 -- in contrast to the Congress, which is considering significant increases at the urging of a coalition of seniors groups led by UJC. These transportations funds are vital to assist our elderly in accessing health and social services programs.

NORCs, Social Services Block Grants, and Housing: Looking at the budget as a whole, we are also concerned that the budget would virtually freeze non-defense, non-homeland security programs. This "non-defense discretionary" part of the budget funds programs such as NORCs (Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities), which are the innovative social service networks that federations around the country are establishing in neighborhoods with high concentrations of Jewish elderly.

Other important programs that would be adversely affected by the virtual freeze on this part of the budget include Social Services Block Grants -- that fund many of our Jewish family service programs -- and housing programs (subsidies and vouchers) that are important to many of our Jewish communities.

IRA Charitable Rollovers and Deductibility for Non-Itemizers: We are pleased that the president's budget continues to call for IRA charitable rollovers, which could contribute significantly to "planned giving" contributions to federations, as well as deductibility for charitable contributions by non-itemizers, which would add some needed equity to the tax code as well as acknowledge the importance of expanding the number of donors to charities. The proposals are slightly modified from pending legislation.

Israel Aid: While UJC Washington focuses on domestic policy, aid for Israel is of course of great concern to all of us in the Jewish community. AIPAC informs us that "the Bush administration is requesting a total of $2.58 billion in aid for Israel for fiscal year 2005. Of this amount, $2.22 billion is slated for military aid (Foreign Military Financing) and $360 million is for economic aid (Economic Support Funds). These funding levels are consistent with the 7th year of the 10-year aid restructuring plan agreed to by both governments."

FY '04 Appropriations Bill Containing Earmarks for 21 NORCs Signed Into Law

In late January, the president signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2004, which includes congressional earmarks for NORCs in 21 cities. UJC Washington coordinated appropriations requests by each of these communities to their members of Congress for FY '04. Our office is currently working with over 50 communities seeking NORC appropriations for FY '05.

Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities refer to neighborhoods/housing where large concentrations of seniors reside, aging in place. The NORCs Aging in Place Initiative is an effort initiated by UJC Washington to assist federations, through federal seed grants, to develop innovative programming to help NORC residents maintain their independence, security, dignity, and quality of life.

UJC Washington is also working with the Federal AmeriCorps program to place AmeriCorps/VISTA members at NORC projects around the country.

For further information on any of the topics covered above, contact UJC Washington by phone at 202/785-5900.