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Education Department, Head Start,
others brace for federal budget cuts
The U.S. Labor and Education De-
partments and Head Start are going to
get their budgets cut again — if and
when the Republican-led Congress
moves ahead with an appropriations bill
that has been dormant since July.
In anticipation of the cuts, the Ore-
gon Employment Department closed
the downtown Portland employment of-
fice and planned to cut 82 positions (6
percent of its workforce) over the next
year. About 70 percent of its budget
comes from federal funds.
The looming cuts prompted a last-
minute appeal by the Emergency Cam-
paign for America's Priorities (ECAP),
a national ad hoc coalition of unions
and community groups, which is call-
ing on Congress to restore funding.
Each year, Congress approves the
federal budget through 13 separate ap-
propriations bills that cover different
parts of the federal government. The
one ECAP has been watching would al-
locate $56.2 billion to Labor, Health &
Human Services and Education. That’s
a $400 million cut from this year’s
budget, and $1 billion less than last
year’s. The impact is worse when infla-
tion is taken into account.
Within the Department of Labor, the
budget cuts include: A $10 million cut
to the Wage and Hour Division, which
enforces minimum wage, overtime and
child labor laws; a $27.8 million cut in
Trade Adjustment Assistance — the job
training and income support program
for workers who lose their jobs due to
outsourcing or foreign competition; a
50 percent ($5 million) cut in a program
that funds safety training by unions and
community-based groups; a $2.1 mil-
lion cut in coal mine enforcement, and a
$431 million in cuts to Workforce In-
vestment Act programs.
Within the Department of Educa-
tion, some programs will have their
budgets frozen, including Head Start;
programs and services for military fam-
ilies; and vocational training grants to
states.Some programs will have their
budgets cut, including No Child Left
Behind, the Bush Administration’s sig-
nature education initiative. Next year’s
budget for No Child Left Behind is $23
billion, $1.5 billion less than last year’s.
That means less money for grants to
...Volunteer bus driver
(From Page 1)
Machinist, a member of a Railway
Clerks Union, a Teamster truck driver,
and finally an ATU-represented bus
driver at TriMet. But he says he was one
of those members who didn’t want his
dues money going to anything but rep-
resenting existing members; now he
sees unionizing nonunion workplaces
as essential to protect the well-being of
all workers.
“It was like a light bulb went on,”
Fain said.
“A lot of people in unionized jobs
are complacent,” Fain said. “If everyone
could get involved and do something, I
think the unions and the country would
be better off.”
In four years of volunteering at the
Bus Project, Fain says he’s gotten to
meet Oregon Governor Ted Kulon-
goski, former governors John Kitzhaber
and Barbara Roberts, many local politi-
cians and an immense network of vol-
unteers.
He’s become a regular caller on the
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PAGE 8
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
help schools recruit, hire and train
highly-qualified teachers to meet
teacher quality requirements and reduce
class sizes.
Congress is supposed to pass the
federal budget before the Oct. 1 begin-
ning of the federal government’s fiscal
year, but sometimes it fails to meet that
deadline and passes a “continuing reso-
lution” — basically it’s an agreement to
continue spending at current levels until
the final budget is worked out. Some of
the current round of cuts could have bad
political consequences for members of
Congress up for re-election, so it’s ex-
pected that the leadership will wait un-
til after the November election to vote
on the budget bill.
Thom Hartmann Show, a progressive
talk radio program that airs 6 to 9 a.m.
weekdays on 620 AM.
A former Marine, Fain now helps
sustain a weekly peace vigil in Wash-
ington County that began a year ago
August.
And he credits the Bus Project for
his transformation.
“It’s energized me,” Fain said. “It
was a chance to meet people and do
things I would never have done.”
The inspiration is mutual, say others
at the Bus Project. Downen said Fain
was one of a few people without whom
the Bus Project would not have gotten
off the ground.
“With us, he’s a legend,” Downen
said.
The group, which works hard to give
volunteers thanks and acknowledg-
ment, will honor Fain by emblazoning
his face on a T-shirt to be worn by vol-
unteers on an Oct. 7 canvass. The bus
leaves from the east side of Grant High
School at 9 a.m.
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OCTOBER 6, 2006
