September 25, 2013 | Read Time: 4 minutes
As Congress struggles to come to a broad budget agreement and avoid a government shutdown, many nonprofits are responding with a shrug.
“We deal with this every day,” says Tim Delaney, president of the National Council of Nonprofits.
Repeated episodes of Capitol Hill brinksmanship on the budget over the past few years have generated a sense of ambivalence surrounding the current threat, Mr. Delaney says.
And with so much of the Capitol Hill deal making going on privately among the top echelon of Congressional leaders, nonprofit lobbyists and executives say there isn’t much they can do to encourage lawmakers to reach a deal.
Organizations that depend on federal grants would see their revenue dry up if the shutdown lasted long enough, and those that provide social services, such as food and shelter, would likely see an increase in need from clients deprived of federal programs.
Despite those consequences, nonprofits aren’t actively pressuring lawmakers, who need to complete a budget deal before the federal fiscal year ends on Monday to avoid a freeze on many federal government functions.
“It’s harder for us to get people to take action because we’ve been here before,” says Candy Hill, who heads government-relations advocacy for Catholic Charities USA.
Food-Stamp Cuts
If Congress doesn’t agree to stopgap spending legislation by the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, the federal government will shut down, but not all programs will come to a halt. Agencies that deal with national security and air-traffic controllers, for instance, will stay on duty. And benefit payments for programs such as Social Security and Medicare will be sent out.
But government agencies are still working out plans for a possible shutdown, and some departments would operate on skeleton staffs. Even though Social Security checks are designed to go out in the event of a shutdown, many nonprofit leaders are unconvinced federal checks for that and many other programs would be sent out without disruption.
Nonprofits advocating on Capitol Hill are picking their shots.
Catholic Charities USA, says Ms. Hill, remains vigilant in pushing Congress on specific priorities. She cited as a major concern a House-passed measure that would enact large spending cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps.
She hopes her group’s membership can still bring pressure on legislators to restore the program’s support. But she’s less optimistic about having an effect on the broader budget deal, which is being debated largely by Congressional leaders and the Obama White House.
“We’ve worked a lot less on the budget,” she says. “The budget has become a political football.”
Back to the Brink
Steve Taylor, who heads the United Ways’ lobbying efforts, agrees. The high-level budget talks have taken away nonprofits’ ability to lobby for specific programs in the 12 spending bills Congress considers each year. Under normal circumstances, each spending bill goes through scrutiny in House and Senate committees before reaching a floor vote, a process that allows interested parties to chime in as legislation is being crafted.
But these negotiations are different. “Nonprofits that engage in advocacy can come up with the most brilliant message or the most compelling data, and it doesn’t matter,” he says. “Nobody is making deliberate, informed decisions about what programs could be funded.”
On Monday Mr. Taylor sent an update on Congressional activity to 1,200 United Ways, giving them the latest on the budget talks and urging them to contact their representatives to ask them to keep the government running.
While a prolonged shutdown would inflict pain on United Ways that rely on federal grants, he says, very few officials have contacted the United Way’s headquarters seeking advice.
“The fact that Congress has gone to the brink several times over the past few years and it always seems to work out probably does make people a little less worried about it,” Mr. Taylor says.
A ‘Wait-and-See Mentality’
About half of the $25-million budget for the nonprofit People Incorporated of Virginia is provided through federal grants. The group provides employment training, small-business counseling, and housing assistance to about 7,000 people in and around Abingdon, Va.
Bryan Phipps, the group’s development director, says a shutdown would likely prompt more people to come to the group for help. If the government shut down for a few days, he says, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Longer than that, he says, and he’d have to consider scaling back some services or cutting them entirely.
“We have a wait-and-see mentality,” he says. “We’re very hopeful better angels will prevail and funding will continue.”
Eddie Taylor, director of St. Leo Residence, in Chicago, says a government shutdown would immediately make things rough for the nearly 150 formerly homeless military veterans who live in the group’s rental units.
While veterans hospitals would remain open during a shutdown, Mr. Taylor and others fear a disruption in pension payments. In 1996, when the federal government was closed for more than three weeks, veterans’ benefit payments were reduced or delayed.
“Our veterans live check to check,” Mr. Taylor says. “If that check isn’t there, it can trigger things psychologically for them. Everything we put in place to build them up and give them a sense of self-sufficiency would be put in jeopardy.”
