A detailed analysis of the last three budget requests reveals that President Obama has requested on average a nominal increase of 5.2% each year for children’s programs.  2011 saw by far the biggest proposed increase of more than 7%.  This stands in stark contrast to the last requested budget by President Bush, which proposed a 3% decrease.  For ease of comparison, these numbers only include programs on the discretionary side of the budget.  Discretionary programs include things Congress decides to fund each year, like Head Start, while mandatory spending represents long term commitments where Congress has little control over yearly funding levels, like Social Security.

Though this analysis excludes mandatory spending, the President has been a strong advocate for increased funding to many mandatory areas that benefit children.  This includes positive changes during the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 2009 and the Child Nutrition Act of 2010. 

In addition to the commitments made in each budget, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), proposed by President Obama, made a tremendous investment in kids.  Almost one out of every five dollars provided in direct spending, or roughly $120 billion, from ARRA went to benefit children.[i]  ARRA provided much need boosts to education, children’s health, and children’s nutrition, as well as support to vital state run programs that impacted kids.  In 2010 alone, the ARRA support resulted in a 19% increase in the amount of federal money spent on children.

NOTE: Budgets are proposed in the current calendar year for the next fiscal year beginning in October.  For example, President Bush’s FY 2009 budget was proposed in February 2008.

Will the President Continue to Choose Kids?

Next week, President Obama will release his Fiscal Year 2013 Budget.  Analysts and commentators will pour over the numbers looking for signs of the President’s priorities for the year to come.  Over the past three years, it is clear that President Obama has chosen to make investments in kids a top priority.

Even with the President’s positive requests, Congress has authorized far less than what the President has asked for.  As a result of Congress’s decisions in conjunction with the expiration of ARRA, funding for children as a share of federal spending is still far below what is needed.  In 2011, only 8.4% of the federal budget went to children, including what’s left from ARRA.  As more and more of our children face unprecedented challenges, every dollar we invest can make the difference between a child having a balanced meal or going hungry.  As we anxiously await his budget, we call on President Obama to continue to make children a top priority.

Today, there are 7 million elders in our nation who need long- term services and supports and that number is expected to grow.

Often, the family caregivers who make it possible for their loved ones to remain independent – either at a distance, nearby, or living with their children – depend on home care workers to supplement their caregiving. It takes a team to help someone who is frail or struggling with one or more chronic diseases to remain in the home.

Women who are caregivers turn to home care workers to provide their loved ones long-term services and supports so that they can go to work, care for their children, and/or prevent the burnout that afflicts many family caregivers over time. It is a very tough job.

Home care workers — 90 percent are female – provide an array of critical services such as bathing, dressing, food shopping, meal preparation, medication management, and transportation to medical appointments. Yet these hardworking home care aides are undervalued. Half of them earn wages at or below200 percent of the federal poverty level and rely on public assistance like food stamps and Medicaid to take care of their own families.

Worse yet— home care workers are exempt from basic federal minimum wage and overtime protections that most workers in our nation enjoy under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In 1974 when other domestic employees (housekeepers, nannies, chauffeurs, gardeners) were granted minimum wage and overtime guarantees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Congress enacted what is known as the  “companionship exemption” —a rule that excludes workers who provide casual “companionship services” to the aged and infirm from these basic protections.

For the last three decades, the rule has been interpreted so broadly that almost all home care aides—nearly 2 million, according to the Department of Labor– regardless of the level of services they provide, have been subject to the exemption.  The result has been the growth of a vibrant $84 billion industry that relies on millions of workers living on the edge of poverty.

Comment on New Proposal to Extend Home Care Workers Basic Federal Labor Guarantees

Fortunately, the Obama administration has proposed new regulations to ensure that home care workers receive fair pay.  Between now and February 27, the U.S. Department of Labor is soliciting public comments on the new rule.

Now it is our turn to support home care workers.

Please tell the Department of Labor that home care workers deserve fair pay – as well as the dignity and respect that extending basic labor rights to this workforce will help to imply. Tell the Administration that home care workers should be treated like the professionals that they are. Explain how without the essential services that they provide, our parents, grandparents, and other loved ones would have to move to a nursing home at greater cost rather than stay at home as they prefer. Ironically, the workers who would provide the services they need in a nursing home have the minimum wage and overtime protections that their home care workers do not.
Your comments in support of these workers are critical and will make a difference.
We need to build a quality home care workforce to meet our nation’s need for quality long term services and supports. We must ensure that home care employers can attract and retain experienced home care workers instead of paying for costly recruitment and training for a revolving door of aides. That requires quality jobs—extending basic labor protections to these workers is a great place to start.
Visit the PHI Campaign for Fair Pay to learn more about the companionship exemption and why the home care industry can afford fair wages; see sample comments; and access the official public comment site.
PHI is a national, not-for profit organization that works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential care—and the lives of the workers who provide that care.

After reading Gloria Pan’s blog post about Dragon Mothers, I find myself having the same argument – with different themes.  I very much saw my family described in Pan’s description of the dragon mother.  Not so much with the tiger mom.

When I first read Amy Chua’s now-famous tiger mother article in the Wall Street Journal last year, I was sitting at my kitchen table amidst the usual post-Christmas neutron bomb wreckage of our house, my feral children were off the hook, and I was only reading the newspaper because I was dawdling over an already-blown work deadline.

Suffice to say, the article was yet another thing that made me feel guilty – as though the balancing act of my life just wasn’t holding up and the people suffering most were my children. They weren’t playing Carnegie Hall. I couldn’t even get organized enough to get them interested in team sports.

But then I found myself helping my older son with his science homework and urging him on with “Matthew, the world NEEDS you. You’re smart, you’re talented and the world is in trouble. You don’t have the choice not to engage. The world needs all your talents to help face its many challenges.”

“WTF?” You might ask. “Why would an elementary school student even UNDERSTAND, much less be motivated by such a question?”

Well, meet the Dragon Mother, whose goal for her children is to raise WORLD CITIZENS and GAME CHANGERS.

We may not be earning varsity letters (or even doing super great with some of our grades at school), my children are active and engaged citizens.  And they have been since they were in Baby Bjorns.

Matthew helped me staff a non-profit booth at the Feminist Expo when he was just learning to walk. Andrew attended his first Rally for Women’s Lives in the stroller, while his older brother excitedly proclaimed: “if you don’t agree with the President in OUR country you can walk past his house and SHOUT at him.” That was about as good a summary of the first amendment right to free speech as I’ve heard – especially articulated by a toddler.

The boys help me organize moonbounce fundraisers – required entrance fee old books and a twenty dollar donation to a non-profit group with a literacy program for children with imprisoned fathers. I never realized they understood anything but the “moonbounce and cake” part until Matthew made these parties and fundraising for this non-profit  a centerpiece of his 5th grade candidacy for student government.  Not to mention, he put together world-class campaign materials.

And Election Day has always been a HUGE holiday in our house.  The boys pull the levers in the voting booths, then emerge from the precinct covered with “I voted” stickers.

Well, of course Election Day is as big as Christmas — we’ve typically built up to it by canvassing voters on various issues and anxiously scanning Google for articles about our issues and candidates.

In fact, in the last Presidential election cycle the children cheered Obama through every debate.  They threatened that if I voted for Hilary in the primary, I couldn’t come back home. In the general election, we knocked on so many doors for Obama in Virginia that we took photographs of our blistered feet.

Speaking of Christmas, one year Matt asked Santa for an end to global warming.

Because of all this engagement, they aren’t afraid to ask tough political questions at the dinner table. Sometimes it’s like a mini-focus group, as when number one son queried “what’s going on with those hippies raping people on Wall Street”. That lead to an interesting discussion on “spin”.

More than civic engagement, however, my new identifications as a “Dragon” mother (vs Amy Chua’s “Tiger”) is that I’m not interested in my children’s achievement just for the sake of achievement.

Their development is for something – to give their gifts back to a world which has already so gifted them. Not everyone gets economic security and access to education and a loving home and a king’s ransom worth of toys on holidays. I strive to teach them how privileged they are – and that to whom much is given, much is expected.

This isn’t all, though. A parent learns that a child’s talents and views may not be the same as their own. So my boys are gifted at mathematics and chess and science and computers, whereas I never met a book I didn’t like or an algebraic equation that didn’t make me want to break out in hives. And one of my sons perhaps voted Republican once too often for my taste in the voting booth with his father as he is more than willing to argue back at times.

But this is what parenting is all about. Not about creating mini-me’s, but about nurturing their strengths and passions so they can be the best they can be. So computer camps and science camps and after school chess club, bring it on.

And when Matt programmed his own video game and started getting his vast network of fellow gamers to play it online he set up a pay wall to raise money for the aforementioned charity.

To me, that’s better than Carnegie Hall.

The 18 months since the robosigning scandal first broke have not been kind to Hispanic homeowners or the housing market in general. Latinos have lost 66% of their wealth thanks to the foreclosure crisis; this will leave lasting effects on their retirement and ability to finance their children’s education. Home values have dropped by as much as a third since 2006 and more than ten million families owe more than their home is worth. Most of the federal efforts to stave off foreclosures have come up short, largely because participation was voluntary for banks and servicers. A strong AG settlement is critical for those homeowners who sought relief, played by the rules, but still fell through the cracks of servicer bureaucracy.

Details of a $25 billion robosigning settlement have begun to emerge and if the reported details are accurate, there is much to celebrate. One of the most important aspects of the settlement is the approximately $17 billion for principal reductions. Writing down principal has long been recognized as being one of the most effective tools for keeping families in their homes. When compared with the costs of foreclosure, property maintenance, and a sheriff’s sale for pennies on the dollar, it’s a win for banks, neighborhoods, and families alike. Yet servicers have not made it a priority. Not only could the settlement compel them to embrace principal reduction, but when coupled with Friday’s announcement of major incentives to servicers—including loans owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—it may be just what we need to break the logjam on write downs.

Reportedly the settlement also allots $2–$3 billion to the states for housing counseling, legal aid, and victim’s assistance. Housing counseling has been one of the most successful foreclosure prevention programs to date, but inexplicably Congress eliminated its funding for 2011. Approximately $45 million was reinstated for fiscal year 2012, but the demand for service far exceeds this amount. Housing counseling is available free of charge to any family facing foreclosure. This invaluable service gives families a real alternative to scam artists peddling false promises to the tune of $5,000 or more.

Clearly, $25 billion is not enough to repair all of the damage done to our homes and the economy, but that is why the robosigning settlement is only part of the solution. One of the most important deals struck in the negotiation is on the releasing of future legal claims. This means that the AGs and the Department of Justice can continue to pursue civil rights, origination, and securitization claims. In fact, the financial crimes task force, investigations underway by AGs in California, Nevada, and Massachusetts, and the Department of Justice’s landmark settlement with Countrywide give us every reason to believe that the march toward accountability is off to a good start. The robosigning settlement should be the next step. It is time to deliver the first installment of relief for homeowners that have not a moment to lose.

Sadly, thousands of Asian Americans and other immigrant families know all too well the pain of being apart from their close family members not only on holidays but birthdays, graduations, funerals and weddings. Even the simple ritual of a weekend family dinner is impossible. Nearly two-thirds of Asian Americans are foreign-born.  Some green card holders wait years for a visa for their spouse and young children.  Those who have become citizens will often wait up to nearly two decades for an adult child or a sibling that was left behind.  Close family members from certain Asian countries — especially the Philippines, China, India and Vietnam – face an even longer wait because of per country quotas that are the same limit regardless of a country’s size or demands for visas.  For example, the married daughter of an American citizen from the Philippines can expect to wait up to 19 years before she can join her family in the United States. These family members are generally not allowed to visit in America while they are waiting for a visa to become available.

Something is terribly, tragically wrong with an immigration system that keeps close family members apart for years on end.  While our elected officials frequently speak of family values, many of them have done little to help Americans reunite quickly with family members waiting to immigrate.  Congress has been slow to update the laws which have limited quotas set several decades ago.  Why is that?

One reason could be the common misperception that immigrants who come to the U.S. via a family member are not contributing to American progress.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Immigrant-owned family businesses are a driving force behind inner-city revitalization and job growth in nearly every major American metropolis.  Family-based immigrants are more likely than other Americans to start small and medium-sized businesses, which create much-needed jobs for native-born and immigrant workers alike.  Many family-based immigrants arrive in the U.S. during their prime working years and American businesses benefit from their skills and talents.

Our immigration system needs to recognize that our communities are strongest when family members can be safety nets for each other; can pool their resources to open businesses, buy homes or send their children to college.  Families are meant to be together to meaningfully share their lives.  So while you are enjoying the New Year’s festive decorations, fire crackers, lion dancers and ethnic dishes this holiday, please think of those whose celebrations will be incomplete this year.  Please write to your members of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor the Reuniting American Families Act and also to support comprehensive immigration reform that reunites our families.

I’m proud of my heritage and all the accomplishments Chinese people have contributed to society. I’m often repeating things my mom told me as a child to my own kids ala Gus Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, such as, “Did you know fireworks, gun powder, and noodles were invented by Chinese people?

While I’m proud to be Chinese, I’ve also had to endure a lot of stereotypes for being a Chinese-American. Discrimination my childhood friends’ parents for not wanting their kids to play with an “Oriental” kid. Racist remarks from strangers about my “interracial” relationship with my boyfriend. And sexual harassment from men who believe Asian women are somehow more sexual than our Western counterparts. We’re not, just ask my husband.

Photo by Flickr user MKibble

And now as a mother I’m dealing with parenting stereotypes thanks to Amy Chua’s contentious book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. People automatically assume I’m a Tiger mom who forces my kids to play piano and stay up all night doing math problems. Or that I must cook the most amazing Chinese food – but actually my cooking repertoire is limited to pasta and salads. I couldn’t make a dumpling to save my life.

Even my 4-year-old son has dealt with fair share of discrimination. He’s a quarter Chinese but doesn’t look anything like me. He’s got blond hair and blue eyes. He told one of his friends at preschool that he was Chinese, and the other kid said, “No, you’re not. You’re lying.” My son protested yelling, “Yes, I am! I’m Chinese!”

Yet with each new chapter in my life I’m learning to let go of what others think about me and my Chinese-American status. For me, it’s about honoring traditions like Chinese New Year with my kids and celebrating all the wonderful contributions Chinese people have made to America, including bringing over their tasty dumplings. And teaching my sons how to deal with discrimination for being Chinese – or in my 4-year-olds’s case not being Chinese.

Recent reports estimate that approximately 60 percent of employers use credit checks and approximately 92 percent use criminal histories to screen job applicants – often illegally.

True “fairness for all” will require strategic and targeted short- and long-term strategies.  It calls for vigorous systemic change and accountability at state and federal levels.  It requires safeguards for equitable opportunity and protection under the law as promised in the 14^th Amendment of our Constitution.  Equality and justice is a right of every American and the Lawyers’ Committee remains committed to working with the President, his Administration and Congress to achieve these critical goals.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law, particularly in the areas of fair housing and fair lending, community development, employment discrimination, voting, education and environmental justice. For more information about the LCCRUL, visit www.lawyerscommittee.org.

HUD guidance on the investigation of Fair Housing Act and in its lead
regulations makes clear that while property owners may tell families about housing
units that have not been remediated for lead paint, the presence of
lead-based paint cannot be used as a reason to refuse to rent.

“Laws to make apartment buildings lead free should not be used
as an excuse to make them child-free,” said John Trasviña, HUD Assistant
Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD will continue to
enforce the law to ensure that landlords uphold fair housing principles.”
According to HUD’s charge, Fichera posted an ad on Craigslist for a
three-bedroom apartment. In response to the ad, the Housing Discrimination
Project, a non-profit organization located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, that
promotes fair housing, arranged for testers to call the number listed in the
ad. In a phone conversation with one tester who said she had a five-year-old
and a six-year-old, Fichera allegedly said, “This apartment does not have a
lead certificate and the law says I can’t rent to anyone with children under
five.”

HUD’s charge further claims that Fichera refused to show a unit
to another tester with a two-year-old son, because the unit did not have a
lead certificate.

HUD’s charge will be heard by a United States Administrative Law
Judge unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in
federal district court. If an administrative law judge finds after a hearing
that discrimination has occurred, she may award damages to aggrieved persons
for the damages caused them by the discrimination.

The judge may also order injunctive relief and other equitable
relief to deter further discrimination, as well as payment of attorney fees.
In addition, the judge may impose fines in order to vindicate the public
interest. If the matter is decided in federal court, the judge may also
award punitive damages to aggrieved persons.

FHEO and its partners in the Fair Housing Assistance Program
investigate approximately 10,000 housing discrimination complaints annually.
People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should
contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777 (voice), (800) 927-9275 (TTY).

***

HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and
quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing
market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for
quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving
quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from
discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information
about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at
www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov. You can also
follow HUD on twitter @HUDnews, on Facebook
at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news
alerts on HUD’s News
Listserv.

President Barack Obama greets Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., as he arrives on the floor of the House Chamber to deliver the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 24, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

It was beautiful to see Representative Gabrielle Giffords–the Congresswoman who’s been making a remarkable recovery after being shot in the head last year in Arizona–standing to receive an embrace from the President at his State of the Union address last night. While Representative Giffords has come such a long way from where she was a year ago, today to tears and good wishes from her colleagues, she formally resigned her office in order to focus on her continued recovery.

We are grateful for Representative Giffords’ service in Congress and for her example of courage and grace for us all.

*Sign our thank you card to Representative Giffords!  Send your thanks and heart-felt good wishes to her now: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ThankYouRepGiffords/

When the President embraced Representative Gabriel Giffords last night, it was a poignant moment at the State of the Union address. Representative Giffords’ recovery has been inspirational to people across the country.  She’s a true leader and we look forward to her continued contributions to our nation into the future.

*Please take a moment now to sign our thank you card to Representative Giffords–and also please post this action link on your Facebook page so others can thank her too: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ThankYouRepGiffords/

Together we’re a strong voice for women and families.

I attended a health policy conference last week where the buzz was women.  The question on everyone’s mind was: Why aren’t American women angrier that every last one of the Republican candidates for president has threatened to repeal a law that has brought the greatest advance for women in a generation?   The experts had an answer: because most women don’t know about their new rights and protections.  Many have no idea what’s in this health care law for us.  I’m here to tell you that it’s a LOT, an astounding, tell-your-granddaughters-you-were-there LOT.

The President may have buried the lead on Tuesday night, but we don’t have to.  Women know how to share good news.

Here’s the thing: family health care is one area where men readily cede decision-making and control to women—and most will even admit it.  As CEOs of a family’s health care management, women are responsible for their own health care, their children’s care, their spouse’s care, and in ever growing numbers, the care of their aging parents.  This means that in addition to the economic burdens and job insecurity facing American women today, there is also the terrible weight of anxiety surrounding access to reliable, affordable health care.   Not to mention the overwhelming emotional burden and immediate practical demands that a family member’s illness presents to women in particular.  Women are still the country’s front-line caretakers and now the law is on our side.

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama promised the country that he, “will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny you coverage or charge women differently from men.”

Repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would do just that.  Take us backwards.  The ACA has moved the nation toward fairness: fairness for women, fairness for those with pre-existing medical conditions, and fairness between the health insurance choices available to members of congress and those available to millions of Americans.

Beyond the list of new benefits—such as annual wellness visits, cancer screenings, and birth control all at no additional cost—the ACA changes the very horizon for women in this country.  We are no longer on our own against the insurance companies, struggling to manage family health in a system that ignores the desperate need for care coordination, preventive services, affordability, access, and security.   The law now guarantees protection in each of these realms.  It begins to measure the quality of our health care by the actual health and well being of our people.   These are gains that we as women must actively defend.

Pass the word on to your friends, so that we may pass the power on to our granddaughters.