Flirting with Disaster: Shutdown Effects on Youth-Focused Programs

As governmental tensions escalated, millions tuned in to news specials, listened to political radio broadcasts, and read newspapers in an attempt to grasp an understanding of the uncertain future of the federal government. The House and the Senate could not agree on and pass a spending bill that would fund the government; the debate heavily related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The disagreement resulted in the government closing its doors at midnight on October 1.

With the shutdown coming to an end, looking back, much of the early publicized concern resulting from the government shutdown revolved around federal workers. However, many government programs that assist youth and their families were faced with issues that could have, and did, prevent them from providing a number of services. In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) speculated that, without the help of the federal government, most state-operated programs that provide assistance, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), would only be able to operate for about a week before they began to run out of resources.

SNAP distributes food stamps to eligible families and individuals. This program is especially important to youth because there are young people present in more than 50% of the households that receive these food stamps. Also, food stamps are often provided to young people towards the beginning of their careers, which is often the most financially unstable stage of their lives. Though SNAP benefits are managed by the state, they are awarded by the federal government. In the midst of this government shutdown, SNAP continued to operate, but the program would have suffered if the impasse lasted any longer, thus threatening its November funding.

TANF is a cash assistance program that aims to benefit families with dependent children and pregnant women by assisting them in obtaining the fundamental necessities for their children; additionally, roughly one-third of TANF beneficiaries are under the age of 24. The program’s funding expired on Tuesday, October 1, the same day as the government shutdown. October checks had already been allocated to qualified families prior to the shutdown. However, the distribution of November checks was not guaranteed if the government shutdown lasted past the end of this month.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC, is in a predicament similar to that of TANF and SNAP. WIC is a federal assistance program that provides nutritional foods, health education, and recommendations to other essential services for women, from teenagers to adults, who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or postpartum, as well as their children under the age of five.

As a result of the government shutdown, many youth-centered programs established by the Workforce Investment Act, or WIA, were forced to limit their services and send employees home. Fortunately, WIA youth-focused programs were better equipped for the shutdown financially, as opposed to others. This is largely due to the fact that the WIA Youth funds for the Program Year (June 2013 – June 2014) were distributed back in April 2013. Furthermore, job training and education programs for youth and young adults often have diversified funding portfolios, thus enabling some continuance of services even when one source is terminated.

With the government shutdown officially over, it is both possible and plausible that the temporary closed doors of the government, coupled with the tensions of the legislative branch, reveal that the political road ahead is not going to be a smooth one. One day into the government shutdown, programs were already facing financial quandaries. The two-week shutdown of the government definitely proved to have an adverse effect on programs and efforts that aid youth and their families. An extended government shutdown would have definitely led to the temporary shutdown of these programs and many more.

This government shutdown serves as an indication of the nature of political debates to come. This is problematic due to the fact that the current political tensions could harm the progress of congressional discussions and decisions relating to aspects that directly impact younger populations, such as the Higher Education Act, WIA, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind Act). With many of these laws long overdue for updates, the well-being of the American youth and young adults should not have to wait any longer. To emphasize this point, NYEC helped craft and also signed on to a letter advocating for the Senate to discuss reauthorizing WIA on the floor. To sign on your organization, please click here.

Federal Funding: A Delicate Balance between Flexibility and Effectiveness

During the 2012 campaign season, there was renewed focus on a topic that has arisen in recent legislation that would affect workforce development, youth development, and education systems. The idea of sending more federal money straight to states has been mentioned in presidential debates, campaign speeches, bills to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, etc. Often this strategy takes the form of distributing block grants with little to no stipulations to state authorities, who then decide how best to spend those dollars.

The obvious benefit to this type of funding model is that it provides states with maximum flexibility, so they can focus on the most relevant issues in their regions. However, there is also an inherent detriment in that many of the guidelines, concerning how such funding should be used, are stripped. Many of these rules were created as the result of a specific need. For example, populations that are most in need, such as low-income youth and young adults, are generally (1) more difficult to serve or (2) they require different types of services or a different structure of service provision. When funding decisions are made only at the state level without any targeted provisions, such groups often receive ineffective/insufficient services or not at all, even though they need the services just as much as other individuals.

It difficult to try to choose between flexibility and ensuring that everyone has access to services, as there are clear benefits to both outcomes. Therefore the question becomes what is an effective combination of these two concepts.

Back to Work Special: 2012 Elections and Lame-Duck Congress

After many months of campaigning, the elections are finally over, and Congress is set to return to work on Tuesday, November 13^th. While the elections did result in many positional changes, the Congressional committees that directly impact job training and education programming for youth and young adults remained mostly unchanged. In addition, party control of the House and Senate will continue as it was prior to the election.

Before the elections, many thought numerous issues, which would normally be addressed in the lame-duck session, would be tabled until the new Congress members take their positions in January. However, despite some party changes in individual offices, the overall balance of power will essentially be the same in January 2013 as it is now. Therefore, there is a good chance that the lame duck session in November and December this year will be utilized to its fullest extent. Immediate concern revolves around the FY 2013 budget, federal deficit reduction and sequestration (NYEC will be releasing informational materials on this issue shortly), and taxes.

Even though much will not change in 2013 with the new Congress in terms of composition, there is cautious optimism that more can and will be achieved without the specter of campaigning and the elections.