Status-Quo Appropriations

This will be an easier week with Congress out for an Independence Day recess. Once they return, we will continue touching bases with members and staff to reassure them that all is going well with the programs and to make sure nothing unexpected happens with our programs in the 2010 appropriations process.

We don’t expect to be surprised. We have been told since March that the budget will not increase or decrease from the 2009 pre-stimulus budget. I think this is logical, as we need to make sure the money we have already received is spent properly.

There is a lot of smoke surrounding the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. More may be needed than is called for in Obama’s budget. NCAF will walk a fine line on this one. I am confident that our Community Action champions and key LIHEAP supporters, House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., and Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, will do the best they can for the program.

-- David Bradley, NCAF Executive Director, Washington