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THE URBAN COALITION ACTION COUNCIL -. JOHN w: GARDNER CHAIRMAN October 4, 1968 1819 H STREET, N . W , WASHINGTON, D . C . 20006 WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE REPORT Education, - Labor ' and Antipoverty Funds. Congress has cleared the final appropriations f6r the HEW and Labor Departments and the Office of Economic Opportunity, the antipoverty agency. The antipoverty appropriation was the largest Congress has ever approved, but funds for schools attended by educationally deprived children were below last year's appropriation. The House narrowly defeated a Southern-backed provision that would have encoura g e d resistance to desegregation of schools. The Urb a n Coa lition Action Council joined other organizations and HEW in working for defe a t of the segregation provision. · Program Budget House Senate Final Below Budge t (in million s o f dollars) Title I Education $1,200. $1,073. $1,200. $1,123. $ -77. Teache r Corp s 31. 2 Dropout Preve ntion 30. 0 20. 5. -25 .. Biling u a l Education 30. 0 10 . 7.5 - 22.5 OEO Antipoverty Manpower Training , Labor De p artment 15. 31.2 20.9 -10.3 2,180. 1,87 3. 2,08 8. 1,9 48 . - 23 2 . 413. 400. 400. 400. - 13. Th~ Title I f unds for sch ools teaching edu cationa l ly deprived childre n -- an important program for schools in big cities -- were $68 mi llion l ess th a n l as t year's appropriation and a llowed the schoo l s on l y 32 % of the amounts t hey received for the past school year. Co:1gress also gave advance au t hority for appropriations in fisca l 1970 but limited the f unds to 90 % of the amo unt received this yeai. This was inte nde d to h e l p TELEPHON E: 202 293·153 0 �- 2 - schools plan their programs before the opening of schools next fall. The Teacher Corps appropriation was the largest Congress has allowed so far, and the funds for teaching bilingual children and for preventing school dropouts were the first made for these purposes. The antipoverty a ~p ropriation, which was not earmarked for any specific OEO programs, was $170 million more than Congress allowed last year. Funds for OEO have risen each year since the first appropriation in fiscal 1965. The Labor Department's manpower app ropriatipn was only $1.5 million above last year's fiscal 1968 figure but some manpower training programs, such as JOBS and Concentrated Employment, are financed from OEO appropriations. Funds Exempted from Budget Cut. HEW's education funds will be exempted from the o ver-all $6 billion spending reduction requi r e d under the tax surcharge-budget reduction law if Congress has its way. A section o f the vocational education bill (HR - 18366) that Congress sent to the President October 3 exempts education appropriations from the $6 billion reduction in s pending and th e $10 billion r eduction in obligations (.committed money ) vote d for all Government agencies in June. However , the Preside n t still retains authority to hold down spe nding on any education program no matter what amount Congress may have appropriated. Segregation Amendment. The key part of the Southern provision opposing d e s e grega tion of school s prohibited HEW from "forcing " childre n to attend any particular school ag a inst the choi c e of the i r pa rent s . The provis ion was sponsored by Mississippi Rep. J amie L. Whitten (D), a hi gh ranking member o f ' the Appropriations Cammi ttee. The Senate amended this provision by adding language th at prohibited forc e d atte ndance at a particular school "in o rde r to overcome racial imbal a nc e ." Thi s phrase v!as a l ready a p art o f c i v il rig h ts l a w . It allowed the Government and the courts to put an end to freedom of choice " school plans that we re p e rpe tuating racinl discrimina tion. Whe n me mbers of the House a nd Se n ate Appro pr i a tion s Committees me t in conf e rence on th e Labor-HEW appro pr i ation bill, Sou t h erne rs h ad a ma jo r ity o f the v otes a nd they stru ck from the bill the Se nate lang u age limiting the prohibition to pl a n s to overcome racia l i mba l a n ce . In effect, ·w hit te n' s p u rpose was achi eve d . �- 3 - Action Counc il Chairman John W. Gardner wrote Rous e Speaker John W. McCormack (D Mass .) and the Republican leade r, Rep. Gerald Ford (Mich.), October 2, asking them to help defeat the Whitten amendment on the House floor. He said the amendment "ra.ises the real threat of resegregation in many Southern school districts" and "implicitly sanctions racially dual school s ystems ." On a clos e , 167-175 vote Octobe r 3, the House rejected the Appropriations Committees ' recommendation and adop t ed the Senate language nullifying Whi tten's amendment. This wi ll enable HEW to continue to withhold funds from school d istricts that are not making re~l progress toward desegregation. New Housing Funds . The President sent to Congress Oc tober 3 a request f or supplemental · appropriations that included funds to begin some of the programs in the n ew Eousing Act and to administer the fair housing law . These were his housing proposals: Home Ownership Contract ~uthority $75 million Rental Housing As sistance 75 million Grants for Tenant Services 15 million Planned Ar e a wide De v e lopment 5 million Low and Mode rate -Income Spons or Fund 5 million Fair Housing Program 8 mi llion Flood Insurance Administration 1.5 million The Hou se is exp e cte d to t a k e u p the supp l ement a l appro priation bill Oc t o be r 7 or Oc t obe r 8 and the Se n a t e will a ct shortly thereaft e r . HUD Pe r s onne l. Another attemp t i s e xpe cte d t o b e made next week in t h e Sen a t e to exempt the De par t me nt o f Housing a n d Urban De ve lopmen t f rom th e cutback i n p erso n n e l r e qu ire d by the tax surcharge- budge t reduction law. For the e ff ect the law now has on a dministration of the new housing p rograms, see the Se ptember 27 Le gisl a t i ve Re po rt of the Ac t ion Council. �