Having steered the economy back from the brink of a depression, the Administration is committed to moving the Nation from recession to recovery by sparking job creation to get millions of Americans back to work and building a new foundation for the long-term prosperity for all American families. To do this, the 2011 Budget makes critical investments in the key areas that will help to reverse the decline in economic security that American families have experienced over the past decade with investments in education, clean energy, infrastructure, and innovation.
But even as we meet the challenge of the recession and work to build an economy that works for all American families, we must also change the way Washington does business – ending programs that don’t work, streamlining those that do, cracking down on special interest access, and bringing a new responsibility to how tax dollars are spent. The President’s Budget takes the steps to help jumpstart job creation, works to strengthen the economic security of American families, and makes the tough choices to put our Nation back on the path to fiscal responsibility.
On March 11, 2009, the President signed an executive order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. The purpose of the Council is to establish a coordinated Federal response to issues that particularly impact the lives of women and their families, and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies across the federal government consider how their policies and programs take into account the particular needs and concerns of women and girls, including women of color and those with disabilities. The President’s Budget works to give women and families the tools that they need to succeed in this new century. The Budget will:
Support Expanded Resources for Family Planning Programs. The President believes that we still need to make progress on reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies. Therefore, the President’s Budget provides $327 million – a $10 million increase – for Title X Family Planning programs, which expand access to contraception, health information, and preventive services. Family Planning services are provided through a network of more than 4,500 clinics that provide services to approximately 5,000,000 persons annually. The Budget also continues to provide funding for evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention. Recent data shows that teen pregnancy rates have increased for two consecutive years, after falling for the previous decade. The Administration is committed to addressing this issue and has provided $205 million for teen pregnancy prevention and related efforts. A $129 million initiative targets funds for grants to community-based and faith-based organizations that implement the evidence-based models that have been proven to work in reducing teen pregnancy—models that provide medically accurate, age-appropriate, and complete information on contraception and sexual health. The model will also fund and rigorously evaluate programs that are promising but not yet proven. In addition, CDC will receive $22 million for teen pregnancy prevention to fund five national organizations, Title X regional training organizations, and 22 State teen pregnancy prevention coalitions to promote the use of evidence based teen pregnancy programs. This program supports the use of science-based and medically accurate material on teen pregnancy prevention.
Help States Provide Paid Family Leave to Workers. Too many families must make the difficult choice between the care of their families and a paycheck they desperately need. The Family Medical Leave Act allows workers to take job-protected time off unpaid, but millions of families can’t afford to use unpaid leave. A handful of States have enacted policies to offer paid family leave, but more States should have the chance. The Budget establishes a $50 million State Paid Leave Fund within the Department of Labor that will provide competitive grants to States, entirely within their discretion, to launch paid-leave programs. The Budget also provides resources to allow the Department of Labor to find ways to improve the collection of data related to intersection of work and family responsibilities, including collection of demographic information to better understand who is using leave and related benefits.
Strengthen Efforts to Combat Violence Against Women. Last year, over a half million non-fatal violent victimizations were committed against women by an intimate partner. In 2007, 64 percent of female homicide victims were murdered by a family member or intimate partner. Many other women were harmed by people they did not know. The numbers are unacceptable. The Budget includes $535 million, an increase of $117 million, to support women victims of violence, including domestic abuse and sexual assault victims. In addition, the budget for the Administration for Children and Families within HHS includes increases for both Family Violence Prevention and Services/Battered Women’s Shelters and for the Domestic Violence Hotline program.
Prevent Hunger and Improve Nutrition. At a time of continued need, the President’s Budget provides $8.1 billion for discretionary nutrition program supports, which is a $400 million increase over the 2010 enacted level. The Budget supports a strong Child Nutrition and WIC reauthorization package that will ensure that low-income children receive the nutrition assistance they need and help fulfill the President’s pledge to end childhood hunger. Funding supports 10 million participants in the WIC program, which is critical to the health of pregnant women, new mothers, and their infants. The Budget provides $10 billion over 10 years for program reforms aimed at improving program access, enhancing the nutrition quality of school meals and snacks, expanding nutrition research and evaluation, and improving program management.
Support Family Caregivers. Often the responsibility for providing informal care to aging or disabled relatives falls to women. In an effort to expand help to families and seniors so that caregivers can better manage their multiple responsibilities and seniors can live in the community for as long as possible, the Budget includes $103 million for the Administration on Aging’s Caregiver Initiative. Without creating new programs, this initiative provides new resources to support the network of agencies in local communities across the country that already provide critical help to seniors and caregivers.
Fund Quality Child Care. The Budget provides critical support for young children and their families by building on historic increases provided in ARRA. The Budget provides an additional $989 million for Head Start and Early Head Start to continue to serve 64,000 additional children and families funded in ARRA. The Budget also provides an additional $1.6 billion for the Child Care and Development Fund in preparation for reauthorization to expand child care opportunities, and improve health, safety, and outcomes for children. This request will allow States to provide child care subsidies to 1.6 million children, 235,000 more than could be served without the increase. In addition, the Budget includes $1.3 billion – an increase of $87 million over the 2010 enacted level – to expand availability for affordable, high-quality child care services for military families at over 800 child development centers both in the United States and overseas.
Promote the Recruitment and Retention of Women and Other Underrepresented Groups in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Fields. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is the key Federal agency responsible for supporting non-biomedical science and technology research at the Nation's universities and colleges. This basic research and the agency's high-tech workforce development programs help drive future economic growth and the creation of high-wage jobs for American workers. The 2011 Budget increases funding for a new consolidated program aimed at recruiting and retaining undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in science and technology careers. In addition, the Budget provides for increased funding to the ADVANCE program, which seeks to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers and to develop a more diverse science and engineering workforce. ADVANCE is an integral part of the NSF’s multifaceted strategy to broaden participation in the STEM workforce, and it supports the critical role of the Foundation in advancing the status of women in STEM academic careers.
Expand Financial Aid for College and Make Historic Investments in Community Colleges. The Budget will support expanded Pell Grants and a simplified student aid system, and include a new American Graduation Initiative that will make competitive grants to help community colleges improve their outcomes and graduate 5 million more students by 2020.
Focus on the Unique Needs of Women Veterans. The 2011 President’s Budget includes funding for an array of services that address the needs of the growing veteran population. Women veterans make up an increasing share of veteran population; in recognition of this shift, the President’s Budget includes a number of programs to provide tailored services to recognize and address the unique needs of this population. The Budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs will provide funding for meeting the unique health care needs of women veterans, from an appropriate environment of care to specialized medical and counseling services. The Department of Labor’s Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program launched a Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans with Families demonstration program in FY 2010 to provide outreach and employment reintegration services to homeless women veterans. The 2011 Budget provides continued funding for this demonstration program, and will generate lessons learned about how to best provide ongoing services to this population.
Support Our Nation’s Troops and Their Families. The 2011 Budget continues the Administration's commitment to caring for our Nation’s men and women in uniform and promoting the well-being of the families who support them. The Budget includes funding for a 1.4 percent basic pay raise to keep military pay increases in line with those in the private sector, an average housing increase of 4.2 percent, and a variety of monthly special skill-based payments, enlistment and reenlistment bonuses, and other benefits. The Budget provides for nearly 6 percent growth in other family support programs over the 2010 level, including an increase of $55 million to expand availability for affordable, high-quality child care services at over 800 child development centers both in the United States and overseas; an increase of $67 million to help families meet the challenges brought on by repeated deployments and family separations through expanded counseling and assistance services, from financial counseling to transition and relocation assistance; and an increase of $77 million for enhanced career and educational opportunities for military spouses through tuition assistance and Federal internship programs.
Expand Affordable High-Quality Primary and Preventive Care. The Budget includes $2.5 billion for health centers to provide affordable high quality primary and preventive care to underserved populations, including the uninsured. This will allow health centers to continue to provide care to the 2 million additional patients they served under ARRA and support approximately 25 new health center sites. In 2008, health centers provided direct health care services to more than 17 million people. The Budget also includes funding to expand the integration of behavioral health into existing primary health care systems, enhancing the availability and quality of addiction care. In addition, the Budget invests $169 million in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) to place providers in medically underserved areas to improve access to needed health care services. Under the NHSC, primary health professionals such as physicians, nurse practitioners, and dentists agree to serve in a medically underserved community in exchange to receiving a portion of their student loans paid off. In 2011, the requested increase will add 400 NHSC clinicians to the approximately 8,000 that are providing essential primary and preventative care services in health care facilities across the country.
Provide Critical Healthcare Services to Women and their Families Across the Globe. The Administration will build on its commitment to save millions of lives through increased investments in global health activities. The Budget includes increased funding to combat the HIV/AIDS crisis by focusing on prevention and increasing treatment; ramping up maternal and child health programming to reduce mortality of mothers and children under five and decrease the prevalence of malnutrition; expanding investments in family planning activities, malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases; and includes strengthening local health systems to enhance capacity and long-run sustainability of each health program. Alongside our multilateral partners, the United States will continue to provide global leadership in fulfilling our shared responsibility and our common promise to improve the health of the world's poorest populations.
Reform Elementary and Secondary School Funding by Setting High Standards, Encouraging Innovation, and Rewarding Success. The Budget supports the Administration’s new vision for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The reauthorized law would encourage states to adopt higher, clearer standards that set the expectation that every student will graduate from high school ready for college and a career. The new law would support dramatic improvements in the quality of assessments to measure complex skills and help teachers identify and respond to students’ strengths and needs. The reauthorization would also recognize and reward schools for helping students make important gains, even if they are not yet at grade-level, and offer new flexibility for successful states and districts to pursue new solutions to helping all students meet high standards. At the same time, the law would require vigorous efforts to turn around persistently low-performing schools, applying comprehensive strategies that put children first. In support of these efforts, the Budget provides a $3 billion increase in funding for K to12 education programs authorized in the ESEA, including $900 million for School Turnaround Grants, and the Administration will request up to $1 billion in additional funding if Congress successfully completes ESEA reauthorization. Together, these measures would represent the largest funding increase for K to12 ESEA programs ever requested. The Budget also provides.
Improve Retirement Security. After a lifetime of employment, American workers deserve to know that their efforts have resulted in a secure retirement. The Administration is committed to giving Americans more and better choices to save for retirement while also strengthening the existing private pension system. The Budget proposes to expand and improve employment-based retirement security by establishing automatic workplace pensions, doubling the Small Employer Pension Plan Startup Credit from $500 a year to $1,000 per year, and reforming and expanding the Saver’s Credit by modifying the existing Saver’s Credit to provide a 50-percent match on the retirement savings of families that earn less than $85,000 (up to $1000 of savings would be matched). The Budget also proposes a number of initiatives to improve the transparency and adequacy of 401(k) retirement savings plans, through a majority of American workers save for retirement. In addition, the Budget will support efforts streamline efforts to bring automatic enrollment to these plans in order to boost participation.
Promote Affordable Homeownership and Protect Families from Mortgage Fraud. The Budget requests $88 million for HUD to support homeownership and foreclosure prevention through Housing Counseling and $20 million to combat mortgage fraud. In addition, the Budget requests $250 million for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation’s (NRC) grant and training programs. Of the $250 million, $113 million is requested for foreclosure prevention activities, a $48 million increase (74 percent) over 2010. NRC alone through its Foreclosure Prevention program has delivered counseling to over 630,000 households, and the 2011 request will allow NRC to provide counseling to about 40,000 households per month. In addition, HUD’s FHA mortgage insurance and the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Mortgage Program are providing hundreds of thousands of homeowners with the opportunity to refinance distressed mortgages and significantly lower their monthly payments.
"The women of the world have true friends in Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Obama administration. After years of inadequate funding during the previous administration, yesterday’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget request for an increase in international family planning is a critical step forward in demonstrating our nation's renewed commitment to ensuring that women worldwide have access to safe and effective reproductive health care.
"The Obama administration has sent a strong signal that the status quo is unacceptable. Every year more than half a million women — nearly all of whom live in developing countries — die of pregnancy-related causes. Moreover, one in three deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth could be avoided if women who wanted effective contraception had access to it.
"To strengthen our working relationships with partners around the world, as well as our image, the United States must increase access to family planning. By ensuring that women have increased access to the family planning they need, our nation is working to make good on its commitment to promote the health of all women and their families.
"An investment in family planning is an investment that reaps significant dividends. By providing education, counseling and contraceptives to women and couples, we are working to strengthen families worldwide. We also will help achieve major reductions in infant and maternal mortality, HIV infections and global poverty. As Secretary Clinton has said, 'There’s a direct connection between a woman’s ability to plan her family, space her pregnancies, and give birth safely, and her ability to get an education, work outside the home, support her family, and participate fully in the life of her community.'
"Planned Parenthood works with partners across the globe to eliminate barriers to basic reproductive health care that is essential to the health and well-being of women, men and children everywhere. Limited access to health care, lack of political will, legal and regulatory restrictions, cultural taboos, and harsh gender inequality all put women at risk of unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion and childbirth, and HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The commitment of Secretary Clinton and the Obama administration to international family planning will further the efforts of Planned Parenthood and others to help women overcome barriers to accessing needed reproductive health care.
"As the Fiscal Year 2011 budget and appropriations process moves forward, we look forward to working with Congress to build on this request so that we may adequately address the global health challenges facing women worldwide."
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