2006 means gradschool OR unemployment!
White House Faces Opposition To Plan to Divert Victims FundSource:
The Wall Street JournalDate: 03/31/2005
Section: Politics & PolicyPage: A4By Gary Fields (Copyright (c) 2005, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
WASHINGTON -- Prosecutors and advocates for victims' rights are organizing against a bid by the Bush administration to shift more than $1 billion from a fund for victims of violent crime and apply it to cutting the budget deficit. A provision in President Bush's budget request for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 would continue the Justice Department's Crime Victims Fund state-grant program in 2006, then in 2007 take $1.27 billion and give it to the Treasury Department to treat as general revenue. Projections for fiscal 2008 weren't included in the president's budget request. It is unclear if the Crime Victims Fund would renew operations in later years or if the money would continue to be diverted to the Treasury Department.
The Crime Victims Fund state-grant program, which was set up by Congress in 1984, is funded by fines, forfeitures and fees levied against federal criminal offenders, not from general tax revenue. The money is allocated in block grants to the states, where officials make awards to eligible local agencies and nonprofit groups. More than 4,400 agencies and groups receive funds for activities such as domestic-violence shelters and programs to help crime victims and their families cover medical bills, counseling services, even funeral expenses. Until 2000, money paid out of the fund to states depended on fines and other payments collected the previous year. In 1999, three huge criminal settlements, including $500 million paid by Hoffman-LaRoche Inc., pushed the fund to $985 million for the year. That led Congress to cap annual spending by the fund at about $500 million in 2001 and to reserve money collected above the cap to supplement the fund in leaner years.
This pool of money caught the attention of administration budget writers, and they included language in the president's budget request to divert the current $600 million surplus as well as anticipated collections in 2006 to the Treasury Department the following year, leaving nothing in the account. Justice Department spokesman John Nowacki declined to comment on whether the proposal originated at the department or at the White House. "All I can say is, it's an administration decision," he said. The Office of Management and Budget referred questions to the Justice Department. Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, won Senate approval of an amendment to the fiscal 2006 budget resolution that would reject the diversion, and the fight is expected to move to the House when Congress reconvenes next week after its spring recess.
Now, some lawmakers are concerned that language to divert the crime-victims funds will be added to the Justice Department's annual appropriations bill. "We want to get the money redirected back to where it belongs, and that's to victims," said Rep. Ted Poe (R., Texas). "We're trying to gain support from other members of Congress to make the appropriators aware of this concern." "We're not asking for one dollar of taxpayer money. We're just asking them not to ex-appropriate our money," said David Beatty, executive director of Justice Solutions, a victims-advocacy group in Washington. Prosecutors also are watching what happens. Brad Fenocchio, district attorney for California's Placer County, says victim and witness programs in his jurisdiction cost about $769,000 a year, with $553,600 coming from crime-victims aid grants. If money isn't available from Washington anymore, he said, he doesn't know how he can make up the difference, because "we've pretty much gone to a bare-bones operation."
The Wall Street JournalDate: 03/31/2005
Section: Politics & PolicyPage: A4By Gary Fields (Copyright (c) 2005, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
WASHINGTON -- Prosecutors and advocates for victims' rights are organizing against a bid by the Bush administration to shift more than $1 billion from a fund for victims of violent crime and apply it to cutting the budget deficit. A provision in President Bush's budget request for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 would continue the Justice Department's Crime Victims Fund state-grant program in 2006, then in 2007 take $1.27 billion and give it to the Treasury Department to treat as general revenue. Projections for fiscal 2008 weren't included in the president's budget request. It is unclear if the Crime Victims Fund would renew operations in later years or if the money would continue to be diverted to the Treasury Department.
The Crime Victims Fund state-grant program, which was set up by Congress in 1984, is funded by fines, forfeitures and fees levied against federal criminal offenders, not from general tax revenue. The money is allocated in block grants to the states, where officials make awards to eligible local agencies and nonprofit groups. More than 4,400 agencies and groups receive funds for activities such as domestic-violence shelters and programs to help crime victims and their families cover medical bills, counseling services, even funeral expenses. Until 2000, money paid out of the fund to states depended on fines and other payments collected the previous year. In 1999, three huge criminal settlements, including $500 million paid by Hoffman-LaRoche Inc., pushed the fund to $985 million for the year. That led Congress to cap annual spending by the fund at about $500 million in 2001 and to reserve money collected above the cap to supplement the fund in leaner years.
This pool of money caught the attention of administration budget writers, and they included language in the president's budget request to divert the current $600 million surplus as well as anticipated collections in 2006 to the Treasury Department the following year, leaving nothing in the account. Justice Department spokesman John Nowacki declined to comment on whether the proposal originated at the department or at the White House. "All I can say is, it's an administration decision," he said. The Office of Management and Budget referred questions to the Justice Department. Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, won Senate approval of an amendment to the fiscal 2006 budget resolution that would reject the diversion, and the fight is expected to move to the House when Congress reconvenes next week after its spring recess.
Now, some lawmakers are concerned that language to divert the crime-victims funds will be added to the Justice Department's annual appropriations bill. "We want to get the money redirected back to where it belongs, and that's to victims," said Rep. Ted Poe (R., Texas). "We're trying to gain support from other members of Congress to make the appropriators aware of this concern." "We're not asking for one dollar of taxpayer money. We're just asking them not to ex-appropriate our money," said David Beatty, executive director of Justice Solutions, a victims-advocacy group in Washington. Prosecutors also are watching what happens. Brad Fenocchio, district attorney for California's Placer County, says victim and witness programs in his jurisdiction cost about $769,000 a year, with $553,600 coming from crime-victims aid grants. If money isn't available from Washington anymore, he said, he doesn't know how he can make up the difference, because "we've pretty much gone to a bare-bones operation."
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