The Bush Budget for FY 2004 proposes major funding changes, including block grants, for a number of low-income programs like Medicaid and the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Section 8 Housing Vouchers, Unemployment Insurance, Head Start, Child Welfare and Job Training. The House has begun considering block granting Head Start and Job Training programs. This means that states would get a block of money, sometimes guaranteed for a fixed number of years, to administer programs with less federal oversight. Low-income families and children will lose any entitlement to a minimum federally set safety net that expands when more people are in need. While the safety net is slowing being eroded, block grants would speed up the process. Also, under TANF reauthorization, we expect the "superwaiver" to be revived again – this provision basically unties federal regulations, allowing state governors to waive federal rules in programs including food stamps, public housing, homelessness programs, childcare, job training and adult education.

Despite a delay in dividing up the overall discretionary spending amount (as determined in the Congressional budget resolution) among the thirteen spending categories (the 302[b] allocations), Congress is quickly moving forward with the FY 2004 appropriations bills. So far, the House Appropriations Committee has approved seven bills; the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved two. Congress intends to pass all the bills by the start of the August recess so they can be finalized before the new fiscal year starts in October. The bills cover appropriations for FY 2004, which runs from October 1, 2003 through September 31, 2004. Once each chamber passes all the bills, the House and Senate must work to reconcile their individual versions. Assuming that agreement can be reached, they are then sent to the President for his signature.

Top 400 are doing well… The IRS has just released two reports on the status of the wealthiest Americans. The report on the incomes of the highest 400 income tax filers shows a dramatic rise in their income levels.

Two recent economic reports show the depth of economic mismanagement by the Bush administration. First, it was reported last week that the unemployment rate has risen to 6.1 percent in yet another indication of the poor state of the labor market. Second, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that it expects the current year’s budget deficit will be around $400 billion.