Children's Defense Fund Update
May 22,1998
In This Issue:
-- Kerry/ Bond Child Care Amendment Builds Momentum
-- Support Gun Violence Prevention
-- CDF Releases Midterm Report on the State Children's Health Insurance Program
-- GOOD NEWS ON FOOD STAMPS FOR LEGAL IMMIGRANTS
*** Child Care ***
--- KERRY/ BOND CHILD CARE AMENDMENT BUILDS MOMENTUM---
Congratulations! Thanks to the efforts of committed advocates across the country, thousands of calls to the Senate have been generated using the 1-888-38 STAND UP line. Your calls have made a huge impact as child care continues to build momentum in the Senate. Thank you for all of your hard work!
Kerry-Bond Amendment
Today the Senate will recess for Memorial Day until June 1. They have not completed the tobacco bill, but it is expected to be back on the Senate floor for continued consideration either immediately after the Senate reconvenes on June 1, or sometime during June. While tobacco politics are complicated, we must continue to focus on the bipartisan Kerry-Bond amendment to the tobacco bill. Bipartisan support for the amendment continues to grow -- Senators Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), John Chafee (R-RI), and Arlen Specter (R-PA) have agreed to join Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Kit Bond (R-MO) as cosponsors.
Keep Up the Calls
During the recess, it is important to continue calls to your Senators -- both Republicans and Democrats. Call and urge Senators to cosponsor Kerry-Bond and to vote for the amendment. If your Senator is already a cosponsor of the Kerry-Bond amendment, call to thank them for their leadership on child care, and urge them to continue to push for its passage.
Call your Senators toll-free at 1-888-38 STAND UP (1-888-387-8263) with the following message: "Please support the Kerry-Bond child care amendment which dedicates funds for child care from tobacco revenues." You will hear a short general message about child care and then be transferred to the U.S. congressional switchboard. This free service is brought to you courtesy of Working Assets Long Distance and is active until June 12.
Stand for Quality Child Care
Upcoming Stand for Quality Child Care events on or around June 1st provide the perfect opportunity to heighten awareness about the Kerry-Bond amendment in your community and to demonstrate broad-based support for additional child care investments to your Senators and Representatives. We encourage you to distribute the toll-free number to Congress as widely as possible at your Stand events, and urge those in your community to use the toll-free line to get the message to Senators. If you are not already involved in the Stand For Children event being planned in your community, please visit Stand For Children's web site at: or call 202/234-0095.
** THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED EFFORTS, AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR STAND FOR CHILDREN EVENTS!
*** Juvenile Justice ***
--- SUPPORT GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION ---
The tragedies in Springfield, Oregon; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and across the country remind us that children's access to guns is a national crisis. IN THIS COUNTRY 14 CHILDREN DIE EVERY DAY AS A RESULT OF GUNFIRE. A 1997 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, found that American children under age 15 are 12 times more likely to die from gunfire than children in 25 other industrialized nations -- including Israel and Northern Ireland. Of all the children killed by firearms in the 26 countries studied in 1997, 86 percent were American children.
It is imperative that Congress take action on a very real threat facing our children -- easy access to guns. In early June, the "Children's Gun Violence Prevention Act of 1998" will be introduced by Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA). This will be a comprehensive piece of legislation that will address all areas of concern about children's access to firearms.
This bill will:
1- Strengthen laws prohibiting children from having access to handguns;
2- Impose criminal penalties on adults who fail to keep loaded firearms out of the reach of children (as 15 states have already done with "CAP" laws);
3- Encourage manufacturers to make safer, more child resistant guns;
4- Provide federal support for development of educational materials and gun violence prevention curriculum for children; and
5- Help identify and prosecute those who are providing guns to children.
We also need to continue to urge Senators to oppose S. 10 and any other bill that destroys the core protections for children's safety (such as keeping them separate from adult inmates), fails to invest in prevention, and does not reduce children's access to guns.
** Contact your Senator now, as they go home for recess from May 22nd through May 31st.
Tell your Senator:
Support gun violence prevention to keep children safe and alive. Oppose any "youth violence" bill that doesn't reduce children's access to guns and increase investments in after-school activities and other prevention -- and that does put children into adult jails and prisons where they are at risk of harm.
*** Children's Health ***
--- CDF RELEASES MIDTERM REPORT ON STATE CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM ---
"CHIP Check-Up: A Healthy Start for Children," the first detailed, comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), is now available on CDF's website.
The report reveals that CHIP is off to a good start in spite of some states' unwillingness to cover their uninsured children in working families. CHIP is the largest funding expansion for children's health coverage since the creation of Medicaid 30 years ago. The program gives states roughly $4 billion in annual federal grants to cover uninsured children in low-wage, working families. Federal funds became available to states to create or expand child health insurance programs on October 1, 1997.
"CHIP Check-Up" compared programs for eligibility, affordability, benefits, and ease of enrollment. Connecticut, Georgia, and Maryland earned high ratings. Several states --Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Wyoming -- scored lowest because the number of children they propose to cover is extremely limited. In Wyoming's case, the state legislative session ended without legislative action on CHIP for 1998.
"CHIP Check-Up" was released nationally on May 12 and is now available on CDF's website. Visit the Children's Defense Fund at <> to read this exciting new report. In addition to the report, the website also features an easy to download, detailed chart on crucial aspects of 41 states' proposed CHIP plans.
*** Family Income ***
--- GOOD NEWS ON FOOD STAMPS FOR LEGAL IMMIGRANTS! ---
This morning the House demonstrated strong bipartisan support for restoring food stamps for legal immigrants. The House rejected by a vote of 120-289 the Rules Committee's decision to allow any member to strip the restoration of food stamps from the Agricultural Research bill. 98 Republicans and all but 2 voting Democrats voted against the rule, thereby protecting $819 million in food stamp restorations aiding children, elderly, and disabled legal immigrants. As we write, it looks as though House members will not finish work on this before leaving for the Memorial Day recess, so please call your representative and ask that they vote FOR the Agriculture Research Bill's conference report (S. 1150/H.R. 2534) with NO CHANGES! THANKS FOR YOUR CALLS ON THIS ISSUE! THEY REALLY MADE A DIFFERENCE.
--- SIGN-ON TO LETTER OPPOSING PROP 226: INITIATIVE THAT WOULD HARM CHARITIES --
The California Association of Nonprofits (CAN) is collecting signatures from charities around the state for a letter of opposition to Proposition 226, which would significantly restrict the rights of nonprofits to engage in ballot initiatives in California. As the letter states: "Support or opposition of ballot measures -- to create smoke-free restaurants, clean up our beaches, gain wheel chair access through curb cuts on city streets, increase worker safety, support the arts, improve educational programs, reduce community violence -- has been crucial to nonprofit efforts to make the lives of California citizens healthier, safer and more fulfilling."
Because the initiative is primarily aimed at unions, very little attention has been paid to the negative impact that it could have on many charities in California. In fact, the California Voter Guide does not even mention that nonprofits are covered. Therefore, it is essential that we get the word out as broadly as possible to let California citizens know that nonprofits would be harmed by this initiative.
To see and sign on to the letter, please visit the CAN Web site at http://www.canonprofits.org/226. For further information, contact Florence Green or Stephen Stein at CAN, (213) 347-2070, or Patrick Lemmon at OMB Watch, (202) 234-8494.
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-- OUR STRENGTH IS IN OUR NUMBERS --
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Kimberly Taylor
Children's Defense Fund
25 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
202/662-3540 (fax)
CDFupdate@childrensdefense.org
"What is done to children, they will do to society." --Karl Menninger