National Council on Independent Living
Weekly Advocacy Monitor
Volume 9, Issue 6; February 9, 2011
1) What's Happening in the Nation's Capital?
-Chairman Rogers Announces Spending Cut Levels for FY 2011
2) National News
-Continuing Resolution Spending Cuts to Go Deep
-Federal Judicial Vacancies Reaching Crisis Point
3) State News
-Chicago Mayoral Election to Impact City's Disability Community
-Judge Rules Pennsylvania is Violating ADA for Failure to Provide Equal Access to Transition Services
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
-2011 AoA, CMS, and VA National Grantee Meeting
-Fall 2011 White House Internship
-SHIFT: An International Juried Exhibition for Artists with Disabilities
-New CLASS Resources from AARP
1) What's Happening in the Nation's Capital?
Chairman Rogers Announces Spending Cut Levels for FY 2011
After the Budget Committee released the details for the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution (which expires March 4, 2011), House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers announced the level of spending cuts the 12 Appropriations Subcommittees will try to achieve. By cuts in virtually every area of the federal government and reducing spending from the President's fiscal year 2011, a total of $74 billion will be saved.
Chairman Rogers said, "To accomplish this goal, I am instructing each of the twelve Appropriations subcommittees to produce specific, substantive and comprehensive spending cuts. We are going go line by line to weed out and eliminate unnecessary, wasteful, or excess spending – and produce legislation that will represent the largest series of spending reductions in the history of Congress. These cuts will not be easy, they will be broad and deep, they will affect every Congressional district, but they are necessary and long overdue. "
The following chart identifies the spending levels and cuts (Word document) ( http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov/_files/2311SubcommitteeAllocationsforFY11ContinuingResolution302bs.doc ), but is not specific as to which important services to people with disabilities are being cut. Get more details on this breaking story below!
2) National News
Continuing Resolution Spending Cuts to Go Deep
Source: House Committee on Appropriations ( http://appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=259 )
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers today announced a partial list of 70 spending cuts that will be included in an upcoming Continuing Resolution (CR) bill. The CR legislation will fund the federal government for the seven months remaining in the fiscal year and prevent a government wide shut-down, while significantly reducing the massive increases in discretionary spending enacted in the last several years by a Democrat majority. A full list of program cuts will be released when the bill is formally introduced.
The total spending cuts in the CR will exceed $74 billion, including $58 billion in non-security discretionary spending reductions. The statement by Chairman Rogers on these cuts follows:
"Never before has Congress undertaken a task of this magnitude. The cuts in this CR will represent the largest reduction in discretionary spending in the history of our nation.
"While making these cuts is hard, we have a unique opportunity to right our fiscal ship and begin to reduce our massive deficits and debt. We have taken a wire brush to the discretionary budget and scoured every program to find real savings that are responsible and justifiable to the American people.
"Make no mistake, these cuts are not low-hanging fruit. These cuts are real and will impact every District across the country - including my own. As I have often said, every dollar we cut has a constituency, an industry, an association, and individual citizens who will disagree with us. But with this CR, we will respond to the millions of Americans who have called on this Congress to rein in spending to help our economy grow and our businesses create jobs."
The List of 70 Spending Cuts to be Included in the CR follows:
-Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies -$30M
-Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy -$899M
-Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability -$49M
-Nuclear Energy -$169M
-Fossil Energy Research -$31M
-Clean Coal Technology -$18M
-Strategic Petroleum Reserve -$15M
-Energy Information Administration -$34M
-Office of Science -$1.1B
-Power Marketing Administrations -$52M
-Department of Treasury -$268M
-Internal Revenue Service -$593M
-Treasury Forfeiture Fund -$338M
-GSA Federal Buildings Fund -$1.7B
-ONDCP -$69M
-International Trade Administration -$93M
-Economic Development Assistance -$16M
-Minority Business Development Agency -$2M
-National Institute of Standards and Technology -$186M
-NOAA -$336M
-National Drug Intelligence Center -$11M
-Law Enforcement Wireless Communications -$52M
-US Marshals Service -$10M
-FBI -$74M
-State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance -$256M
-Juvenile Justice -$2.3M
-COPS -$600M
-NASA -$379M
-NSF -$139M
-Legal Services Corporation -$75M
-EPA -$1.6B
-Food Safety and Inspection Services -$53M
-Farm Service Agency -$201M
-Agriculture Research -$246M
-Natural Resource Conservation Service -$46M
-Rural Development Programs -$237M
-WIC -$758M
-International Food Aid grants -$544M
-FDA -$220M
-Land and Water Conservation Fund -$348M
-National Archives and Record Service -$20M
-DOE Loan Guarantee Authority -$1.4B
-EPA ENERGY STAR -$7.4M
-EPA GHG Reporting Registry -$9M
-USGS -$27M
-EPA Cap and Trade Technical Assistance -$5M
-EPA State and Local Air Quality Management -$25M
-Fish and Wildlife Service -$72M
-Smithsonian -$7.3M
-National Park Service -$51M
-Clean Water State Revolving Fund -$700M
-Drinking Water State Revolving Fund -$250M
-EPA Brownfields -$48M
-Forest Service -$38M
-National Endowment for the Arts -$6M
-National Endowment for the Humanities -$6M
-Job Training Programs -$2B
-Community Health Centers -$1.3B
-Maternal and Child Health Block Grants -$210M
-Family Planning -$327M
-Poison Control Centers -$27M
-CDC -$755M
-NIH -$1B
-Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services -$96M
-LIHEAP Contingency fund -$400M
-Community Services Block Grant -$405M
-High Speed Rail -$1B
-FAA Next Gen -$234M
-Amtrak -$224M
-HUD Community Development Fund -$530M
(All reductions are compared to the President's fiscal year 2011 request)
Federal Judicial Vacancies Reaching Crisis Point
Source: Washington Post, by Jerry Markon and Shailagh Murray
Federal judges have been retiring at a rate of one per week this year, driving up vacancies that have nearly doubled since President Obama took office. The departures are increasing workloads dramatically and delaying trials in some of the nation's federal courts.
The crisis is most acute along the southwestern border, where immigration and drug cases have overwhelmed court officials. Arizona recently declared a judicial emergency, extending the deadline to put defendants on trial. The three judges in Tucson, the site of last month's shooting rampage, are handling about 1,200 criminal cases apiece. "It's a dire situation," said Roslyn O. Silver, the state's chief judge.
In central Illinois, three of the four judgeships remain vacant after two of Obama's nominees did not get a vote on the Senate floor. Chief Judge Michael McCuskey said he is commuting 90 miles between Urbana and Springfield and relying on two 81-year-old "senior" judges to fill the gap. "I had a heart attack six years ago, and my cardiologist told me recently, 'You need to reduce your stress,' '' he said. "I told him only the U.S. Senate can reduce my stress.''
Since Obama took office, federal judicial vacancies have risen steadily as dozens of judges have left without being replaced by the president's nominees. Experts blame Republican delaying tactics, slow White House nominations and a dysfunctional Senate confirmation system. Six judges have retired in the past six weeks alone.
Senate Republicans and the White House are vowing to work together to set aside the divisions that have slowed confirmations, and the Senate on Monday approved Obama nominees for judgeships in Arkansas, Oregon and Texas. Eight more nominees are expected to receive votes in the coming weeks. Read More ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/07/AR2011020706034.html ).
3) State News
Chicago Mayoral Election to Impact City's Disability Community
Source: ABC7 / WLS-TV
The mayoral election is just a few weeks away. While candidates are reaching out to different groups about their issues, voters with disabilities are also concerned about their future. People with disabilities make up about 20 percent of Chicago's population. Many hope the next mayor goes beyond what Mayor Daley accomplished.
"I think Mayor Daley did a great job because he came up with several programs, and so we hope that the next mayor that comes in doesn't cut out the programs of people with disabilities," said William Owens Jr.
"I think the best thing that the mayor has done in the past 23 years is provide leadership for people with disabilities in the form of saying that access is a priority," said Amber Smock.
"I think the biggest accomplishment is probably the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities because it's like a central location where you can get plenty of information on different services available," said Candace Coleman.
"When he first came into office was just at the time when the ADA was passed, and even then he recognized the importance of it," said Gary Arnold. Owens, Smock, Coleman and Arnold are Chicago residents with disabilities who will be voting in the upcoming mayoral election. Most of them work or volunteer at Chicago's Access Living.
Although Mayor Daley accomplished a lot, they know there's more to be done. "The next mayor is also going to have to take leadership enforcing disability access in the private sector," said Smock. "That means people can build homes, people who have grocery stores, people who do anything that supports the infrastructure of community living in the City of Chicago." Read More ( http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/politics&id=7939944 ).
Judge Rules Pennsylvania is Violating ADA for Failure to Provide Equal Access to Transition Services
Source: PennLive.com
A federal judge has handed the new Corbett administration a fresh problem by ruling that the state is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act in dealing with some clients [with mental disabilities].
Judge John E. Jones III found the Department of Public Welfare is breaching federal law because it has no effective means to integrate clients of its intermediate care facilities back into community-based programs. The decision has a statewide impact.
It was prompted by a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. Middle District Court in 2009 on behalf of five institutionalized clients, one of whom has been in a state-run facility at Ebensburg for 45 years.
The Disability Rights Network of PA, which represents the clients, argued that they are capable of living in the community if given proper state support services. The lives of all five would in fact be better if that happened, network officials argued.
DPW spokesman Mike Race had no comment on Jones' ruling Friday because agency lawyers are still reviewing it. Robert W. Meek, managing attorney in the nonprofit Disability Rights Network's Philadelphia office, said the challenge now is to alter the way the state deals with such clients.
Jones didn't specify how the state should change its system. He scheduled a conference call with the parties for Monday to begin to address that. Jones found that a community integration plan DPW developed in 2010, a year after the class action suit was filed, is "inadequate." Read More ( http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/02/judge_rules_pennsylvania_is_vi.html ).
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
2011 AoA, CMS, and VA National Grantee Meeting
February 14-17, 2011
The Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel - Baltimore, Maryland
The 2011 AoA, CMS, VA National Grantee Meeting will be held Monday, February 14 to Thursday, February 17 in Baltimore, Maryland. This meeting will focus on ADRC programs, the new Options Counseling, Care Transitions, and Money Follows the Person/ADRC coordination grant programs, CLP/VD-HCBS programs, and other LTSS systems change efforts and opportunities.
This year NCIL is proud to present two workshops and one training focused on Centers for Independent Living, their philosophy and partnerships.
Monday February 14th Louis Frick from CA, Eileen Healy from CT and Peggy Cosner from TX will repeat NCIL's Jan. 19th webinar Creating Successful Aging and Disability Partnerships. Kelly Buckland, Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living and Billy Altom, Executive Director of the Association on Programs for Rural Independent Living will present Putting the D in ADRC, on Tuesday February 15th Eileen Healy, Louis Frick and Jeff Hughes from OK (tentative) will present with their aging partners Best Practices in Aging and Disability Partnerships. Wednesday February 16th Henry Claypool, Director of the Dept. of Health and Human Service's Office on Disability will moderate a panel of federal disability agencies, including RSA, that will discuss strengthening ADRC partnerships.
Fall 2011 White House Internship
The application for the White House Internship Program's fall 2011 session has been posted. Please take the time to think of five future young leaders you believe would serve as great White House Interns, and personally encourage them to apply. Below is more information that might be helpful to prospective White House Interns:
-Visit the White House Internship website ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships/ )
-Apply to the White House Internship program ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships/apply/ )
-Learn more about the selection process ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships/selection/ )
Send this flyer today to interested applicants, or contacts who may know interested applicants. A White House Internship provides a unique opportunity to gain valuable professional experience and build leadership skills. This hands-on program is designed to mentor and cultivate today's young leaders, strengthen their understanding of the Executive Office of the President and prepare them for future public service opportunities.
Please encourage all eligible young leaders to take advantage of this incredible opportunity! The deadline to apply is March 13, 2011. We greatly appreciate your support in this effort.
The White House Internship Team
SHIFT: An International Juried Exhibition for Artists with Disabilities
VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, announces a call for art for artists ages 18 and older who have a physical, cognitive, or mental disability. Artists are invited to submit up to four artworks of any media that address the theme of Shift – an investigation of a moment of change in one's life that alters the direction of a person's path.
-For more info: www.vsarts.org/shift
-To submit artwork: www.callforentry.org
-Deadline for submissions: March 11, 2011
-Selected artists will be notified by April 29, 2011.
Selected artwork will be exhibited at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC in June 2011.
New CLASS Resources from AARP
AARP recently released an informative video and talking points about the CLASS Act. Check them out at: http://www.aarp.org/health/health-care-reform/info-01-2011/The_CLASS_Act.html.
Contact the Editor: Eleanor@ncil.org
To advertise in the Weekly Advocacy Monitor, contact the Editor.Please forward and post. Note especially possible federal budget cuts,;
AoA,CMS,VA National Grantee Meeting- Eileen Healy, INW CIL presenting
re: ADRCs. Cathy
--- On wrote:
From: NCIL
Subject: Weekly Advocacy Monitor: Volume 9, Issue 6; February 9, 2011
To: "NCIL"
Date: Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 4:07 PM
National Council on Independent Living
Volume 9, Issue 6 February 9, 2011
In This Issue:
1) What's Happening in the Nation's Capital?
Chairman Rogers Announces Spending Cut Levels for FY 2011
2) National News
Continuing Resolution Spending Cuts to Go Deep
Federal Judicial Vacancies Reaching Crisis Point
3) State News
Chicago Mayoral Election to Impact City 's Disability Community
Judge Rules Pennsylvania is Violating ADA for Failure to Provide Equal
Access to Transition Services
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
2011 AoA, CMS, and VA National Grantee Meeting
Fall 2011 White House Internship
SHIFT: An International Juried Exhibition for Artists with Disabilities
New CLASS Resources from AARP
If the link above is not active, please visit to access this week's
_WhAM!_ The text-only version is attached to this email.
Contact the Editor:
To advertise in the Weekly Advocacy Monitor, contact the Editor.
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