.Mjg0Mw.Mjg0Mw

THE URBAN COALITION ACTION COUNCIL JOHN W . GAR DNER CHAIR M AN 1819 H STREET, N . W . September 13, 1968 WASHINGTO N , D . C . 2000 6 WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE REPORT Public Service Emp loyment (The Emergency Emp loyment and Training Act o f 196 8 ). The Public Se rvice Emp loyment will be offere d in the Se n ate a s an amen drnen t to Manpower De v e lop me nt and Tra ining Act ext e ns ion. The move will b e made b y Senator Jos e ph Clark (D-P a .), with the supp ort of Senators Jacob Javits (R- N.Y.) and Winston Prouty (R-Vt.). It is possible that the MOTA will be schedule d for Senate action late nex t week. The Clark-Javits-Prouty amendment would provide for at leas t 600,000 public s e rvice jobs in the n ext two y e ars. The MDTA passed the House on Septe mber 4, 1968 by a vote of 315 to 0. Appropri a tions. Fina l d e cisions on appropriations for k e y hou s ing , e duc at ion a nd anti p overty prog rams will b e made soon by Cong r ess . HUD appropriations will be decide d on when House and Senate Appropriations Committee me mber s begin their confe rence s on the Independe nt Of fic e s Appr o p riations bill Septemb e r 18. At s t a k e are the amount s f o r u r b a n re n e wa l, mode l c i t i es , rent s upplements , fa i r hou s ing admini s tra tion and urb a n planning and r e s ea rch (se e Appe ndi x A for d e tails). App ropriations fo r th e n e w programs in the rec e ntly ena cted Housin g Act wi ll b e sough t in a supp l ement a l appropri at ions bill tha t h as no t y e t b e e n se nt to Co ngres s. The Se n a t e p a ss e d t h e edu cati on, a nt ipove r t y a nd ma n power traini n g a ppro p r i ation bill (for th e Departments o f Lab or and HEW and the Off ice o f Economi c Opportun ity) Sept emb er 6. On t he Se n a te f l oor ma j or incre as es we r e vote d o v e r th e Hou s e amount s f or e d u c a t ion o f c hildre n from p oor famil i es (known as th e Ti tle I pro gram), for OEO , the Teach e r Corps and the n ew dr o p out preven t ion p rogram. TELEPHONE: 202 293·1530 ® �- 2 - Most of the Senators named to the conference committee that will decide the final appropriations -- possibly next week -- opposed the increases the Senate voted (see Appendix B for details). HUD Personnel Cutback. The tax surcharge - budget cut law (the Revenue and Expenditure Control Act of 1968) requires the Executive Branch to cut back its total number of employees to the number on June 30, 1966. This is to be accomplished by filling three out of every four vacancies. HUD employment increased by only 900 after the 1965 and 1966 housing la,.,rn for rent supplements and model cities we re enacted. This 900-person increase will be wiped out and no provis ion made for administering the new programs in the giant 1968 Housing Act. The cutback ~s a harsh restriction on agencies such as HUD which have been assigned major new programs in the last two years. Congres s has already taken steps to e xempt the FBI, post office and air traffic controllers from the cutback. �APPENDIX A Housing Funds. In the conferences on the HUD - Independent Offices bill, th ese a re th e ma jor p r ograms on which the House and Se nate confe rees must s ettle thei r dif ference s. (The t wo programs for which the Hous e did not grant any appropriations were not ye t authorized by law when the House passed the funds bill, so money could not be v oted at the time.) Budget House Senate Committee Senate Passage (in millions o f dollars) Urban Renewal Urban Planning Model Cities $1, 4 00. 55. $1,300. 38.8 38.8 $1,250. 47.5 1,000. 500. 1,000. 1,000. Urb an Res earch 20. 10. 15. 15. Rent Supplement Contract Authority 65. 25. 65. 65. Fair Housing 11.1 9. 9• �APPENDI X B Education, Labor and Antipove rty Funds. The Senate de bate d t he Labor-HEW Approp riations bill Se pte mbe r 4- 6 and adopte d four k ey amendme nts prov iding more funds for educa tion and anti poverty programs tha n the Se nat e Ap propri a tions Committe e and t h e House h a d r e comme nded (see t a ble b e low ). No cha nge wa s ma d e in th e House fi gur e f o r ma npower t r aining programs , which i s $4 0 0 million , s ome $13 mil l ion below the Bu dget . These were the k e y amendme n ts : Ti t le I education funds . wer e raised to the Budget figu re of $1 . 2 billion afte r Sena tor Hill (D-Al a . ) , the bill ' s manager , agreed th a t e a ch sta t e s hould r e c e ive as muc h mone y fo r this pro g r am in fisca l 1 96 9 a s it did for this year. The amendment was o ffered by Senator . Hart (D -Mich. ) a nd met no opposition . Senator Pas t ore (D-R.I.) s p onso re d the a mendme nt rai s i n g antipove rty funds $215 million ove r the Hous e and Senate Committee figur e . Hill o p po sed the ame ndme nt and it wa s a do pted on a narrow 37-26 vote . Alt hough the Se n a t e f igure was $92 mi l lion under the Budget , Pastore said i t was acc e ptab l e to OEO. Sena to r Ne lson (D-Wis.), o r i g ina l s p onsor o f t h e Teache r Corp s , presen t e d the ame ndment increasin g app ropri a tion s to the Bu d get l e v e l. Hill pro p o sed th at Ne l son s e t tl e f o r $24 , 667 , 000 , a comp romise sum me ntione d by HEW o f ficials , but Nelson stuck by his higher figur e and th e Senate went along with it. The drop out p r eve ntion prog r am , wh i ch was wr itte n int o the 1967 ant ipove rty b ill by Se n a tor Ge orge Mu rph y (R- Ca l i f . ) , wi ll get its f irst appropriation s i f the House g o e s a l ong with the Se n a t e . Murp hy's ame ndment rais i n g th e fund s to $20 mill1on wa s adopte d on a 4 2-21 vote. Approp r i at ions f or th e f o~r pro grams , fr om Budge t r eques t to Se nate passage : Budge t Hous e Se n a t e Committee Se n a t e Pas sag e (i n millions o f d o l lars ) Title I Education $1, 200 . $ 1 ,07 3. $1, 123. $1 , 2 00 . Tea che r Cor p s 31 .2 1 5. 0 17 . 3 31. 2 Dropout Pr e v e ntio n 3 0. 00 . 10 . 20 . 2, 1 8 0 . 1, 8 73 . 1,87 3 . 2, 088. OEO Antipoverty �