Reading Is Fundamental Funding Eliminated

[TacticalPeek]

Congress and President Obama Cut Reading Is Fundamental - America’s Largest Children’s Literacy Program serving over 4 Million children

March 3, 2011—Statement by Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental

On March 2, President Obama signed a bill that eliminated funding for Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) the nation's largest organization providing free books and literacy resources to prepare and motivate children to read. RIF’s ability to provide 4.4 million children with free books and reading encouragement from RIF programs at nearly 17,000 locations throughout the United States is in jeopardy.

RIF programs are in schools, community centers, hospitals, military bases, and other locations that serve children from low-income families, children with disabilities, homeless children, and children without adequate access to libraries. For 44 years, RIF has provided millions of children the opportunity to choose free and high-quality books to read and keep for themselves. The seeds of inspiration in these books have motivated children to follow their dreams and achieve their full potential.

The facts are simple. Millions of children are living in the United States without access to books. Book distribution programs are a key factor in developing children to be readers at an early age and a gateway to greater student achievement. In 2010, RIF commissioned a comprehensive meta-analytic research synthesis by Learning Point Associates, an affiliate of the American Institutes for Research. The study found that providing children access to print through book lending and book distribution programs:

* improves their reading performance,
* is instrumental in helping them learn the basics of reading,
* causes them to read more and for longer lengths of time,
* and improves their attitude toward reading and learning.

http://www.rif.org/us/about/press/1927.htm

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/reading-is-fundamental-funding-eliminated_b24798


Stupid.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Yet still, billionaires want their tax breaks

this is beyond shameful

[ReggieVeggie]

2. This coming from a president who just yesterday talked about the importance of education

maybe he's hoping people won't notice

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[classof56]

3. I can only shake my head in dismay and mutter...

:wtf:

On the bright side, I'm sure my taxes are going to immediately decrease. :sarcasm:

The dumbing down of our nation continues unabated.

Heaven help us all!

[Autumn]

4. WTF

hell of a way to win the future.

[BlueIris]

31. Yeah, no kidding.

Literacy is essential.

[truth2power]

43. You noticed, too? ....

Win the Future...W.T.F. Don't they vet these things?

[xxqqqzme]

5. Well, it's about time!

Those greedy RIF people - its always more, more, more w/ them. Thank goodness, NOW the federal budget can be balance and that deficit reduced to zero!


When I lived deep in West Virginia Appalachia, I helped start a RIF program through our local public library. There were books going to kids who had never seen a magazine or newspaper let alone a book. RIF was so important to those kids. The thrill on their faces knowing they were getting a book to keep - it was like Christmas. I'm so sorry to see this destroyed.

Wasn't this mommy b*sh's big FL project?

[snagglepuss]

10. Yeah screw them. Once you give those types one book, they're gonna want more.

:sarcasm:

[Metta]

6. Serfs and cannon fodder is how they see us.

Happy karma to all of them who betray the good of the people.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[handmade34]

8. RIF

was incredibly instrumental in helping my family during my kids elementary school years... this is a very sad day indeed.

RIF turned us on to "The Happy Hocky Family" by Lane Smith and our lives were never the same afterwards (seriously)... :rofl:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FRPG73V7L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

[Avant Guardian]

9. The CBO says ending the Bush tax cuts would put us back in surplus by 2014

Why are we going down this road at all? The Bush tax cuts are 100% of the problem.

[andym]

11. Bush's middle class tax cuts are too popular

even on DU.
Question is whether people are willing to trade them for keeping all of the government programs.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

36. You just slide the scale up a few percentage points and the MC tax cuts are paid for, too.

:think:

[handmade34]

12. the big WHY???

maybe not 100% of the problem... but the tax cuts sorely hurt us

[vaberella]

20. Yeah, we should have cut the middle class tax cuts too--since they came with the Bush tax cuts. n/t

[Avant Guardian]

24. Well, if the CBO says merely getting rid of Bush tax cuts balances the budget

I would say that is a pretty good indication that the Bush tax cuts are most of the problem.

[vaberella]

29. That would leave millions of the poor and middle class up the creek. n/t

[Avant Guardian]

37. You have it somewhat backwards

Right now millions of the poor and middle class are up shit creek because of the Bush tax cuts.

[vaberella]

41. In actuality no.

The Bush tax cuts included tax cuts for the poor and middle class, you should do some research on it. Obama had supported legislation in the house that would deny the extension of the tax cuts for the rich, which were directly tied with the tax cuts for the poor and middle class. One too many people seem to ignore that the Bush tax cuts = tax cuts for Rich, POOR, and Middle Class---it was not an "or" situation.

The measure failed in the house now and that's why people will get tax cuts continued this coming year. Because it was extended---all people. Obama's hand was forced on this. Everyone who knows the debate knows this. Too many just choose to ignore it.

[TacticalPeek]

42. In actuality, yes. The Bush cuts did virtually nothing for the poor & very little for working class.

The second round, JGTRRA did nothing for poor people since it lowered rates only on dividends and capital gains, which are usually not major sources of income for poor people, or for working people for that matter.

And the first round, EGTRRA tossed a small bone to the working poor, but almost all the benefit went to the very rich - again, not many working poor people had much to worry about estate taxes or gift taxes or any of those other giveaways to the undeserving rich.

"If you're a millionaire, under the Bush tax cut you get a $46,000 tax cut, more than enough to pay for this Lexus," Sen. Tom Daschle said on Feb. 8, 2001. "But if you're a typical working person, you get $227."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/02/eveningnews/main7111732.shtml

The economy was doing much, much better for everybody before the Bush tax cuts than it's done with them in place. They suck.

[bornskeptic]

16. The CBO never said anything f the kind.

That's one of the most absurd claims I've ever seen on DU, ans hat's saying a lot.

[Avant Guardian]

25. Yes it did, here is the proof

11.16.10 | Bobby Scott: Ending All Bush-era Tax Cuts Will Bring Budget Near Balance in Four Years

This report is based upon CBO data from the August 2010 CBO projections





11.16.10 | Scott: Ending All Bush-era Tax Cuts Will Bring Budget Near Balance in Four Years

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, a member of the House Budget Committee, issued the following statement on the Bush-era tax cuts:

“The House Budget Committee, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, and other reputable organizations have all recently identified the budgetary goal of “primary balance.” The federal budget would be determined to be in primary balance when the revenue collected by the Federal Government would pay for all Federal Government outlays, excluding net interest payments on the national debt. In his Executive Order creating the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, President Obama tasked the Commission to propose “recommendations designed to balance the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, by 2015.” Achieving primary balance in four years would allow Congress and the President to focus their efforts on truly addressing the long-term structural imbalances in the federal budget. As the charts below show, using Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data, if we allow all of the Bush-era tax cuts to expire as scheduled, the federal budget would be close to primary balance in 2014.

“It is important to use CBO data; using Office of Management and Budget (OMB) data is not as good a standard. OMB factors in the President’s policy proposals that are not yet enacted into law. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is required by law to factor in only current law into its baseline, not policy assumptions or legislative proposals that may or may not become law, and therefore is a better basis for budgetary policy making.

“The fact remains that extending the Bush-era tax cuts will cost the U.S. Treasury about $3.7 trillion in revenue over the next decade. Extending just the popular middle- and lower-income tax cuts will cost $3 trillion. It is hard to imagine that extending all of the tax cuts at a cost of $3.7 trillion is fiscally irresponsible, but extending $3 trillion worth of tax cuts is somehow fiscally sensible.

“The co-chairs of the President’s Fiscal Commission just recently released a draft of recommendations to curtail the deficit. Their proposal includes spending cuts so draconian that they are likely to be summarily rejected by Congress. Their plan reduces the deficit by $3.8 trillion – almost exactly the cost of extending all the Bush-era tax cuts.

“Fiscal responsibility in the federal budget requires making tough choices. If you cut one person’s taxes, then you must pay for those tax cuts by either increasing someone else’s taxes or by cutting spending. The proposal of the co-chairs of the President’s Fiscal Commission demonstrates the fiscal reality of extending the Bush-era tax cuts by listing the kinds of cuts that would be needed to pay for the extension.

“Unfortunately, the Republican Party never attempts to tackle the tough choices. For the six years that the Republican Party held both chambers in Congress and the White House, they failed time and time again to make these tough choices. They enacted $1.3 trillion in tax cuts in 2001 and another $350 billion in 2003 without offsets. They created a trillion dollar prescription drug entitlement program without paying for it. We also shouldn’t forget that they financed two wars overseas with borrowed money.

“Democrats can and have made these tough choices – most recently with the enactment of Health Care Reform, which provides the largest benefit to the middle class since the enactment of Social Security and at the same time is paid for, in fact the CBO projects that it will reduce the deficit by nearly $1.2 trillion over the next two decades. In 1993, Democrats passed the 1993 Clinton Budget that led to a record number of jobs created, almost quadrupled the Dow Jones Industrial Average and was on schedule to pay off the entire debt held by the public by 2008. That budget passed without a single Republican vote in either the House or the Senate.

“We need to make tough, unpopular choices – obviously letting tax cuts expire is unpopular. But when we ever get serious about the deficit, we will find that the realistic alternatives are even more unpopular.

"And while we have to be sensitive to the fact that we are still in an economic recovery, the additional revenue from a return to the Clinton-era tax rates could be directed immediately towards job creation through investments in direct job programs, such as highway and public transit construction jobs, summer jobs programs, and the AmeriCorps program. Such targeted, temporary job creation spending will not only accelerate the recovery, but the influxes in spending in these areas can be ended a lot easier than reductions in individual income tax rates.

“If we don’t have the political will to end the Bush-era tax cuts now, we certainly won’t have the political will to do it during a presidential election if this Congress enacts a two-year extension of all the rates. Accordingly, the reasonable choice Congress should make now is to allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire as scheduled at the end of this year and try to restore fiscal sanity to our nation’s capital.”

Chart 1:

2014 Budget Deficit Projections: 4 Tax Cut Options

Chart 2:

Deficit Impact of Extending Tax Cuts: 4 Options

Note: These charts show the deficit impact, in billions of dollars (chart 1) and as a percentage of GDP (chart 2), compared to Primary Balance (outlays excluding net interest payments on the debt) of the 4 primary options with regards to the Bush-era tax cuts. They are:

1. Bush-Era: Extend all Bush-era 2001-03 tax cuts
2. Obama: President Obama’s proposal – extend Bush-era tax cuts for that portion of all taxpayers' income under $200k/ $250k
3. S-PAYGO: Statutory PAYGO’s (“S-PAYGO”) current policy tax exceptions – which accommodate President Obama’s proposals, but with only 2 years of AMT and estate tax relief
4. Tax Cuts Expire: Let all Bush-era tax cuts expire (CBO Baseline Data)


Executive Order 13524 -- National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Section 4), The White House, 18 February 2010 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-national-commission-fiscal-responsibility-and-reform).

The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update, Congressional Budget Office, August 2010 (pg 2) (http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/117xx/doc11705/08-18-Update.pdf).

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Co-Chairs’ Proposal (Slide 11) (http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/sites/fiscalcommission.gov/files/documents/CoChair_Draft.pdf).

Fully implemented 10-year cost (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/33_1.pdf)

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (Public Law 111-152).

Cost estimate of H.R. 4872, Reconciliation Act of 2010, Congressional Budget Office, 20 March 2010 (pg 12) (http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/113xx/doc11379/AmendReconProp.pdf).

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-66)

The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2002-2011, Congressional Budget Office, January 2001 (pg 2) (http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/27xx/doc2727/entire-report.pdf).

[TacticalPeek]

33. You are correct.

Thanks for the info and links, Avant Guardian. I had suspected you were right, but when I went and looked over various news reports of the amounts involved it always looked like $400 to $500 billion was still left. Now that I see the reference to "primary balance" as the President specified, which excludes net interest payments, it all adds up.

The Bush tax cuts had a rationale like Governor Walker's and others that will follow. Their purpose, besides enriching the ruling class, is to weaken and debilitate government.

And they are still there, still working, still debilitating.

[Cali_Democrat]

13. Sickening. n/t

[BlueIris]

14. Wow. I didn't think it could get any worse, but here's a lower place.

I'm in the process of deciding which nonprofits to donate to and which don't need my money and RIF has been at the top of my list. Guess it's going to have to get an even bigger check from me now.

[ProSense]

15. Several programs were eliminated as separate budget items and consolidated

according to the budget summary. The funding increased overall.

Section II. A. Elementary and Secondary Education

New Authority (Consolidated Programs)

Effective Teachers and Leaders (Ready to Teach, Teacher Quality State Grants)

Teacher and Leader Innovation Fund (Advanced Credentialing, Teacher Incentive Fund)

Teacher and Leader Pathways (School Leadership, Teach for America, Teacher Quality Partnership, Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow, Transition to Teaching)

Effective Teaching and Learning: Literacy (Striving Readers, Literacy through School Libraries, National Writing Project, Reading is Fundamental, Ready-to-Learn Television, Even Start)

Effective Teaching and Learning: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Mathematics and Science Partnerships)

Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education (Teaching American History, Academies for American History and Civics, Civic Education, Close-Up Fellowships, Excellence in Economic Education, Foreign Language Assistance, Arts in Education)

National Activities (Educational Technology State Grants {Note: Each program would include a focus on educational technology})

College Pathways and Accelerated Learning (Advanced Placement, High School Graduation Initiative, Javits Gifted and Talented Education)

Successful, Safe, and Healthy Students (Alcohol Abuse Reduction, Elementary and Secondary School Counseling, Foundations for Learning, Mental Health Integration in Schools, Physical Education Program, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities National Activities)

Expanding Educational Options (Charter Schools Grants, Credit Enhancement for Charter School, Facilities, Parental Information and Resource Centers, Smaller Learning Communities, Voluntary Public School Choice)

Funding details: Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Summary — February 14, 2011

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[great white snark]

18. You should be retracting your statement from above.

And no way....a great advocate for our party like ProSense belongs right here on the intertubes.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[boppers]

21. So, redundant bureaucratic systems are getting the axe.

I think we can expect a wave of people screaming about "our program is getting cut", when the program is actually being kept, but a bunch of administrators are cut.

[Mass]

35. Two different things. The OP is talking about the 2 week CR that was recently signed into law

you are talking about the president budget for 2012, which is not signed into law. So, for two weeks, RIF is not funded, I guess. What is important is that it is funded in the CR for the rest of the year. It matters, we all agree. But I doubt the GOP agrees.

[nolabear]

22. Remember how proud we were when RIF began?

I do. I was proud that literacy was important, that kids whose families didn't have access to books or parents that valued them would be exposed to the joy of reading that I knew. Man, I was glad that America was interested in helping kids improve their lives.

I guess reading isn't so fundamental any more.

Right?

[vaberella]

27. Do you honestly believe that Obama would defund a program that is beneficial w/o replacement.

You people are crazy. It just even hold logic. Why not ask---if he's defunding this project---why? Then maybe you'd find out there are consolidation of programs into one entity to make it more efficient. This is why change is almost unwelcome. People don't ask questions. They just react.

[Kdillard]

26. So they didn't realize that the budget had them consolidated instead of a separate line item?

Is Prosense the only person who has read the budget on DU? Why is DU so quick to believe the worst of this President? I mean come on.

[vaberella]

28. Because we have reactionists. I have to post on these things. n/t

[Kdillard]

30. It is just so disappointing. DU should know better. I hope to see an apology.

[Kaylee]

32. In researching this I saw that funding elimination to rif has happened many times before

I found articles for discontinuation of funding under Bush. Bush eliminates RIF funding

And pleas from RIF from last year's budget RIF Funding Eliminated. Hopefully, this is just a dance they do every year and they will ultimately be funded.

[vaberella]

40. Did you read post no. 15? n/t

[Mass]

34. This is the continuing resolution that will be effective for TWO weeks.

Rather than whining about that, we should make sure that RIF and other programs (that are in president Obama's budget for next year) are preserved in future continuing resolution for 2011. It is clear that the GOP could not care less, but what was the WH supposed to do? Prevent people who live from their SS checks from getting them because of that?

So, for whoever wants to make sure the program is not cut, take your phones and call.

[erodriguez]

38. Damn. This program really helped out a lot of my former students.

Each week they went to the library after-school to participate in RIF.

It is a good program that provided these kids a safe inviting place to stay and learn. Coming from a very poor urban area with lots of crime and rampant with gangs, there are not many other places for these kids to go.

[woo me with science]

39. K &R nt