On June 17, the House adopted, 421-3, the conference report for legislation (S. 342) that would reauthorize programs aimed at preventing child abuse and family violence, and protecting and treating abused children. On March 26, the House approved, by voice vote, H.R. 14, which would reauthorize for five years the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, the Adoption Reform Act, the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, and the Abandoned Infants Act. S. 342 passed the Senate by voice vote on March 12 (see The Source, 3/28/03). The Senate agreed to the conference report by voice vote on June 19.
S. 342, the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act, would authorize $200 million in grants for FY2004 for community-based programs to treat victims of family violence and child abuse. Additionally, $40 million for adoption programs and $45 million for abandoned infant programs would be authorized by the bill.
Bill sponsor Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) said the measure “promotes partnerships between child protective services and private community-based organizations, including education and health systems, to ensure that services and linkages are more effectively provided.”
Democrats used the floor debate on the measure to raise the issue of the child tax credit, urging Republicans to take up the Senate-passed measure (H.R. 1308) that would provide $10 billion to expand the child tax credit to lower-income families. The House last week instead amended the Senate bill to provide $82 billion in tax cuts, which included the child tax credit. The House passed its version of the tax bill on June 12 (see The Source, 6/13/03), leaving conferees to hammer out the differences between the two chambers. Thus far, no move has been made by either side, and Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) likened the Republican maneuverings on the tax credit to an act of “child neglect.”
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) echoed Rep. Hastings’ remarks. “I find it ironic that this week the Republican leadership can find it in their hearts to provide much-needed funding to prevent child abuse, which is decent and necessary, but last week they could not provide critical funding for low-income children without voting for additional tax breaks for the rich. These are the very children from low-income families who are statistically likely to suffer from child abuse, perhaps because of frustration piled on families struggling to make ends meet. This week, the Republicans care about children; last week, they did not. What kind of message is this?”
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) addressed the Democrats’ comments. “I am listening to the other side and all of the discussion I hear is about a tax bill, and it just makes me wonder if the speakers from the other side plan to vote against this bill, if they are opposed to keeping children and families safe for the foreseeable future. … We can talk about the child tax credit and tax issues ad infinitum, but we have already had that debate.”
