The American Counseling Association will be keeping a sharp eye on federal budget proceedings through the next few months, as several programs critical to the work of counselors and school counselors are on the chopping block.
Counselors can – and should – make their voices heard throughout the process by advocating to their congressmen and congresswomen, reminding them of the critical work that counselors do, Art Terrazas, ACA’s director of government affairs, said during a recent ACA webinar on the federal government’s fiscal year 2018 budget.
The May 25 webinar gave an overview of the cuts pertinent to professional counselors in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for FY2018. The proposed budget seeks to offset an additional $57 billion in military spending with cuts to domestic and federal programs, the majority of which are in the U.S. Departments of State, Education and Health and Human Services.
Of particular concern to the counseling profession is the proposed decimation of the Student Support Academic Enrichments (SSAE) grants program, which is the only federally funded program that directly supports school counselors. The president’s proposed budget would eliminate all funding for the program, a bipartisan-supported initiative that was previously authorized for $1.65 billion over the next four years.
As envisioned by Trump , the budget would also eliminate funding for the federal Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the public service student loan forgiveness program, as well as reduce funding for Medicaid – all of which would affect professional counselors.
While Trump’s proposed budget is “pretty grave” for professional counselors, it’s also just a wish list that outlines the president’s priorities, said Chris Andresen, a public policy strategist who spoke at the webinar with his colleague Jayne Fitzgerald. Andresen and Fitzgerald are both senior vice presidents at Grayling, a public affairs firm ACA has partnered with for a number of years.
Ultimately, Congress must draft the actual FY2018 budget, explained Fitzgerald. This process will play out over the summer, as a budget is crafted and vetted via congressional committee hearings. A budget resolution will need to be passed by September 30 to keep the federal government funded and operating.
“We’re just going to have to see how all of this plays out. Right now, we don’t know,” Andresen said during the webinar. “With the changes that are being proposed there are going to be less tools in the toolbox for [counselor] practitioners such as yourselves and your clients in access to services. That gives us a lot of concern.”
The next few months will be a compressed, fraught process as Congress not only debates the budget but healthcare as well (a possible replacement for the Affordable Care Act), said Fitzgerald. At the time of the webinar, there were 43 legislative days left on the calendar.
“We’re on a ticking clock. September 30 will come quickly,” said Andresen.
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View the full webinar here: youtu.be/hz-d9L4ogZc
Email follow-up questions on this issue to mylearning@counseling.org
Contact your legislators via: counseling.org/government-affairs/actioncenter
Sign up to receive ACA Government Affairs news updates via email here: counseling.org/news/aca-blogs/aca-government-affairs-blog
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Bethany Bray is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Contact her at bbray@counseling.org
Follow Counseling Today on Twitter @ACA_CTonline and on Facebook at facebook.com/CounselingToday.
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Opinions expressed and statements made in articles appearing on CT Online should not be assumed to represent the opinions of the editors or policies of the American Counseling Association.