Greetings,
I want to tell you what's happening in DC right now, and it's not good news for us.
Yesterday, the House appropriations subcommittee on Labor/HHS/Education met to mark up the fiscal year 2006 bill; the subcommittee allocated $0 for the Javits program. There were no winners in the bill due to very, very low overall spending numbers that the subcommittee was working with. Indeed, NCLB was cut by $800 million compared to current funding. The subcommittee spent $1 billion in long-overdue funds to take care of the shortfall in the Pell program, but that's the only "winner."
So, what do we do? The full committee is expected to mark up the bill next wednesday (6/15). It seems the only chance we have is to find a republican willing to offer an amendment to restore the funding. I'm working with several of you (and others) to find said republican. The tough part won't be to find someone who supports g/t, but rather, find someone who is willing to cut something else to pay for the Javits program.
I've also contacted Pam Clinkenbeard in WI, asking her to contact the ranking democrat on the committee (David Obey). If Mr. Obey were to put the javits program into any amendment that he is planning to offer, we can at least show the committee that this small program has supporters -- no matter what happens with the amendment.
If none of this pans out, we'll be forced to put all our eggs in the Senate basket. You should know that the $$ allocated to the Senate Labor/HHS/Education subcommittee is as low as the House numbers (the $$ levels are called "302(b) allocations"). So there isn't much money to work with there, either. I know that we have 27 Senators on the record as supporting the Javits program (via the Grassley letter), but we'll have an enormous job ahead. The Senate subcommittee isn't expected to mark up their version of the 2006 bill until after the 4th of July.
I'll keep you posted, of course. If some brave republican comes forward, we'll have to generate calls to committee offices on Tuesday (6/14). Coincidentally, CEF's legislative coordinators will be walking the Halls of Congress on Tuesday, so we'll get some added support there.
Have a good weekend, and send positive thoughts to DC!
Jane
Jane Clarenbach
Director, Public Education & Affiliate Relations
National Association for Gifted Children
1707 L St., NW, Suite 550
Washington, DC 20036
202-785-4268
202-784-4248 (f)
www.nagc.org
NAGC 2005 Louisville "Setting the Pace"
November 9-13, 2005
