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THE URBAN COALITION ACTION COUNCIL JOHN W. GARDN ER CHAIR MAN October 4, 1968 18 19 H STREET, N . W . WASHINGTON. D. C . 20006 WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE REPORT Education, - Labor ' and Ant i poverty Funds. Congress has cleared the fin a l approp riations for the HEW and Labor Departments and the Office of Economic Opportunity , the antipoverty agency . The antipoverty appropriation was the largest Congress has ever app roved, but funds for schools attended by educationally d eprived children were below l ast year ' s appropriation . The House narrowly def e ated a Southern- b a c ked provision th a t would have encourage d res ista nce to d esegregation of schools. Th e Urb a n Coa li tion Action Council joined othe r organizations and HEW in working f or defeat o f the segregation provision. Program Budget Hou s e Senate Fina l Be low Budget (in million s o f dollars ) Title I Education $1,200. $1,073. ts. $1,200. $1,123. $ - 77. Teach e r Corps 31.2 Dropou t Pre v e ntion 30. 0 20. 5. -25. Bilingua l Education 30. 0 10. 7.5 - 22.5 OEO Antipoverty Manpower Tra ining , Labor Department 31.2 20.9 - 10.3 2 ,180 . 1,87 3 . 2,08 8. 1,9 48 . - 232. 413. 400. 4 00. 400. -13. The Title I funds for schools t eaching educationa lly deprived chi l dr e n - ~ an important program for schools in big cities -- were $68 million l e ss than l ast year ' s appropriation and al l owed the schools on l y 92 % of the amount s they received for che past school year. Congress also gave advance authority for appropriations in fiscal 1970 but limited the f u nds to 90 % of the amount received this year. · This was intended to h e l p T E L EP H ONE: 2 0 2 2. 9 3-1530 @ �- 2 - ichools pl a n their progr a ms b e for e the op e ning of schools nex t fall. The Te a Gh e r Corp s a p p ropr iation was the larg est Congress has allowe d so f a r, and the fund s for teaching biling ual children and for preventing sch ool dropouts were the first made for these purpos e s. The antipoverty appropri a tion, which was not earmarked for any spe cific OEO progr ams , was $170 million more th a n Congre ss allowed last y e a r . Funds for OEO have risen e a ch year since the first appro p riation in fisc a l 1965. The Labor De p a rtme nt's manp o we r a pp ro p ri a tion was only $1.5 million a b ove last y ear's fiscal 196 8 figure but some manp ower training pro g r am s, ·s uch as JO BS and Concentrated Employme n t , are fin a nc ed fro m OEO app r opriations. Funds Ex emp ted from Budge t Cut. HEW1 s educ a tion funds will be e xemp t e d from th e ove r-all $6 billion s pe nding reduction r equire d u n d e r the t ax sur cha r g e-b u dge t r eductio n law if Con g r e s s h as its way . A s ec tion of the vo c a tion a l e ducation bill (HR .18366 ) th a t Con g r es s se nt to t he Pre sid ent Octob e r 3 exemp t s educ a t i o n app ro pr i a tions fro m the $6 billion red u c t ion in s pending and th e $10 billion r edu ct i on i n o b lig a tions (comrnitted mo n ey ) v oted fo r a ll Gover nme nt a ge nci e s in June. Howe ve r, the Pr e side nt st ill r e t a i n s a uthority to hold d own s pen d ing o n any educ at ion pro gram no ma tter wh a t amount Co ng r ess may h ave a ppro p ri a t ed . Seg rega tio n Amendme nt. The key part of th e Southe rn p r ovi s ion o pp6s i ng d e segrega tion o f school s p rohi b ite d HEW from "fo r c i n g " c h ild re n to att e n d any par ticul ar schoo l ag a in s t the choice of the i r pa r ents. The pro v i s i o n wa s s p o nso r ed by Mississ i pp i Rep . J amie L. Whitten (D), a hi gh r a n k i ng mernber o f t he Approp ri a t ions Comm itte e. The Se n a te amend ed thi s provision b y a dd ing langu age th a t p r o hib ite d fo rced at te n dance a t a particul ar sc h ool "in o r d er to o ve rcome raci a l i mba l ance ." Thi s p h rase was a lready a pa rt of civ il r ight s l aw . It a llowe d th e Gove r nment and th e c o u r t s to put an e n d to free d om o f choi c e" school p l ans th a t were perpe tu at i ng r ac i a l di scriminati o n. When members of t he Fouse and Senate Appropriat i ons Cammi ttees me t in conference on t he Labor ·-HEW appro priat i on bil l , Southerners had a ma jo rity of the v o tes and t hey struck f rom th e bil l t he Senate l anguage l imiting the pro hib i tion to plans to overcome raci a.l imba l an ce . In ef feet 1 Wh i tt e n' s purpose was achieved. �- 3 - Action Council Chairman John W. Gardner wrot e Hous e Speaker John W. Mc Cormack (D Mass .) and the Repub lican leader, Rep. Ge rald Ford (Mich.), October 2, asking them to help defeat the Wh itten amendment on the House floor. He said the amendment 11 raises the real threat of res eg re gation in many Southern school districts 11 and nimplicitly sanctions racially dual school systems." On a close, 167-175 vote October 3, the House rejected the Appropriations Committees ' recommendation and adopted the Senate language nullifying Whitten 1 s amendment . This will enable HEW to continue to withhold funds from school districts that are not making real progress toward desegregation. New Housi ng Funds. The President sent to Congress October 3 a request for supplemental appropriations that included funds to begin some of the programs in the new Housing Act and to administer the fair housing law . These were his housing proposals: Home Ownership Contract Authority $75 million Rental Housing Assistance 75 million Grants for Tenant Services 15 million Planned Areawide Development 5 million Low and Moderate -Income Sponsor Fund 5 million Fair Housing Program 8 million Flood Insurance Administration 1.5 million The House is e xpe cted to take u p the supplemental appropriation bill October 7 or October 8 and the Senate will act shortly there a ft e r. HUD Personnel. Another attempt is exp e cted to be made nex t week in the Senate to exempt the Departme nt of Housing and Urban Developme nt from the cutback in personnel required by the tax surcharg e-budget reduction law. For the effect the l aw now has on administration of the new housing programs, see the September 27 Legislative Re port of the Acti on Council. �