September 20, 2011

Today the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), passed their FY2012 appropriations bill.  The bill made many spending cuts but as expected, Chairman Harkin protected CSBG.  The bill funded CSBG at the FY2011 level of $678 million.  HeadStart programs are increased by $380 million from FY2011 for a total of $7.5 billion.  LIHEAP funding is $1.1 billion below FY2011 levels, bringing the FY2012 level to $3.6 billion.

Though the fight is far from over, today has been a great day for CSBG and Community Action Agencies. Hundreds of programs have turned to Chairman Harkin for assistance, and he continues to make CSBG a priority.  It is very important that you take two minutes to thank Chairman Tom Harkin for continuing to protect CSBG funding.  Your short email should say, "Thank you for protecting the Community Services Block Grant in the FY2012 appropriations bill.  Because of your efforts to preserve CSBG funding, our agency will continue to serve <insert number> people."  You can send a message to Senator Harkin at http://harkin.senate.gov/contact_opinion.cfm.  Once you have emailed Chairman Harkin, please send me an email with "Done!" in the subject line.   

We have made great progress today, and we will give you a more detailed update on the appropriations process and the political situation in Washington later this week.

David Bradley  

Executive Director  

National Community Action Foundation