[Our public policy director Carol Wood takes a look at Congress' mixed bag for social services].

The Good News:  On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted in support of the federal bill to fund FMAP (Federal Medical Assistance Percentage) after they were called back from their August recess by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  This House action mirrored that taken by the Senate on August 5.

The bill extends the increased FMAP for a 6 month period beyond the current December 31, 2010 termination date (to June 30, 2011) as well as creates a $10 billion education jobs fund in an effort to save 140,000 educator jobs, keep class sizes down and ensure students have access to librarians, nurses and afterschool programs.

As part of last year’s Recovery Act, states received federal assistance through an increase in federal matching dollars on state Medicaid spending.  This aid has helped our state weather the impacts of the national recession by preventing damaging cuts to health care services and saving jobs in the public sector.

The bill would mean $338 million additional federal dollars for Washington Medicaid.

Passage of the bill comes at a critical time.  Washington along with many other states had built in receipt of this enhanced Medicaid in their current year budget.  Given declines in the state’s revenue forecast and in recent revenue collections reports, this amount would likely be enough to barely balance the current state budget — obviating an immediate need for a special session or Governor-ordered across-the-board cuts.

The state has already cut over $4 billion in response to the effects of the recession and faces an additional shortfall in maintaining essential services in the coming biennium.  Without the funding, the state would have faced an even bigger budget challenge in preserving priorities like education, health care and environmental protection.

The bill would also include an additional $200 million to prevent teacher layoffs at a critical time.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates released Tuesday night show the revised bill would pay for itself, even reducing future deficits by $1.37 billion over the next decade.

The not so good news: In seeking ways to support priority legislation like FMAP and Children’s Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) and make them “pay as you go” programs, Congress and the Administration have cut future monthly enhanced benefit amounts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), beginning in 2013.

More than 40 million vulnerable Americans depend on SNAP. They have very low-incomes and nearly half of all SNAP recipients are children. Nearly one in ten is age 60 or over.

Traditionally, SNAP benefit levels have not been adequate to provide a minimum healthy diet throughout the month, but the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) boosted benefit levels for these vulnerable people. Even with the ARRA boosts, SNAP benefits average less than $4.50 per person per day. While the cost of food may not have risen at the rate anticipated (one of the reasons given for making the cuts), reverting to previous benefits levels could return millions of families to the situation where their SNAP/ benefits typically run out well before the end of the month.