On February 4th, the Bush Administration released its proposed budget for the 2009 Fiscal Year.  Once again, the Administration has made advancing economic opportunity for women and families a low priority as programs that help unemployed and underemployed women enter into jobs with family supporting wages are subject to deep cuts or even elimination.

Here is how the President's proposal would affect women in employment transition:

Education

Perkins Basic Grants to States. The President proposes to completely eliminate over $1 billion in funding for career and technical education (CTE) programs created by the Carl D. Perkins Act. This cut would represent an enormous loss to States trying to develop a skilled, educated local workforce.  It would also severely jeopardize the ability of hundreds of programs across the United States to provide supportive services to low-income women training in CTE and to encourage women to enter non-traditional careers.

Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA). Though funded at a low $1.9 million in Fiscal Year 2008, the Women's Educational Equity Act plays an important role in helping schools promote gender equity through research, training and technical assistance. The President's budget would eliminate funding for WEEA reflecting the Administration's mistaken assumption that women and girls have achieved equity in education. According to the President's proposal, "There is no longer a need for a program focused on eliminating the educational gap for girls and women, as women have made educational gains that match or exceed those of their male peers." As school administrators are all too aware, however, this is not the case: while women have indeed made gains, much work is still needed to close gender gaps in fields that result in high-paying jobs (such as science, technology, engineering, and math) and to combat sexual harassment and other barriers to female education.

Worker Training

Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Once again, President Bush proposes gutting the WIA program by eliminating existing funding streams for adults, dislocated workers and youth to create Career Advancement Accounts (CAAs), a policy Congress has already rejected. Bush's CAA plan would replace employment and training service delivery with vouchers worth $6,000 over two years, while at the same time cutting overall funding.

Even if the CAA proposal is not enacted, the Administration's budget includes massive cuts to training programs; an estimated 161,000 adults, dislocated workers and youth would lose training opportunities with the slashing of WIA funds. This would include thousands of women to whom WIA affords opportunities to become productive members of the workforce.  Indeed, past cuts to the WIA program have especially hurt low-income women, as States have responded by cutting innovative programs specifically geared to helping women enter into non-traditional occupations and meeting the needs of displaced homemakers re-entering the workforce.

Women in Apprenticeship and Non-traditional Occupations (WANTO). As in previous years, Bush proposes eliminating the $1 million WANTO program, which funds partnerships between unions, employers, and community-based organizations to increase women's participation in apprenticeships and non-traditional occupations. Because these occupations usually offer higher wages than traditionally female occupations, an expansion, rather than elimination, of WANTO is needed so that more women can transition into sustainable, family-supporting careers.

Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). The Bush budget completely eliminates the $658 million CSBG, which States use to reduce poverty in communities through a variety of services and activities including those that address education and employment issues. This move is particularly unwise in the face of a possible recession, when unemployment may rise and incomes may fall, leaving vulnerable citizens, many of them women, without basic needs.

Child Care

Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). Child care continues to receive low priority on the Bush agenda, as evidenced by the proposal to flat fund the CCDBG. This grant provides States with over $2 billion in child care assistance for low-income families. Despite rising child care costs and the strain they create for working families, the Administration has continued to freeze discretionary child care funding. According to the President's own numbers, 200,000 children and their families are expected to lose access to child care assistance between the FY2007 and FY2009 because of inadequate funding.

Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CAMPIS). The CAMPIS program (funded at a scant $15.5 million in FY2008) would also see no increase. The low level of funding for CAMPIS disproportionately hurts single and low-income mothers who find their opportunities to attend school or training programs severely restricted by the lack of adequate child care.

The one bright spot in the budget is funding for the Department of Labor's Women's Bureau-the only federal agency solely devoted to the concerns of women in the workforce.  The Bureau would see a modest increase from $9.7 million in 2008 to $10.2 million in 2009. This would bring the Bureau, which has in recent years been beleaguered by cuts, back to its 2002 funding level, not accounting for inflation.

Advocacy Toolkit: Budget and Appropriations 101

Each year, Congress determines the amount of federal money that will be spent to advance women's economic justice, as well as on many, many other programs, from space exploration to defense.  This federal budget and appropriations process -- which kicked off this year with the President's budget proposal last week -- takes about a year to complete.  The process includes several steps and many opportunities to educate Congress about the needs and priorities for unemployed and underemployed women in your communities. 

Advocacy Toolkit Section 7: Budget and Appropriations 101

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