Announcement for 03/01/11

President's FY 2012 Budget Released

On February 14, 2011, President Obama unveiled his fiscal year 2012 budget proposal. The $3.73 trillion measure calls for $3.0 billion for the Department of Justice.

The 2012 Department of Justice budget provides the resources to strengthen national security, preserve the Department's traditional missions, maintain prisons and detention, and assist state, local and tribal law enforcement partners. The President's budget proposes that drug and mental health courts programs be combined into a $57 million drug, mental health, and problem-solving courts initiative. This policy change would eliminate many of the non-judicial programs funded under the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act. This is the third year that the Administration has proposed this policy change, which Congress has rejected.

The President’s budget also provides $187 million in prisoner reentry and jail diversion programs, including $100 million for the Second Chance Act programs.

For mental health funding, the budget includes a $67 million increase for SAMHSA FY 2012. Within these totals are proposals to freeze a number of programs at their current FY 2010 level, including the PATH program (outreach and engagement for homeless individuals with mental illness) at $64 million and the Children’s Mental Health program at $121 million. The budget also requests a $14 million increase for the Mental Health Block Grant—boosting funding to $435 million for FY 2012. The budget also proposes an increase for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant—a $40 million increase to $1.494 billion.

Below is a breakdown of key criminal justice programs in the President's proposal. Funding levels for 2012 will not be finalized until Congress passes appropriations bills for each of the agencies.

Justice Funding Highlights (in millions)

Budget Process

The President's budget proposal is just the first step in a long process to pass a final budget. The House and Senate will pass a concurrent Budget Resolution. The Budget Resolution will include the total amount available for discretionary spending and a nonbinding statement of Congress's spending priorities. The Budget Resolution will not include funding levels for specific programs.

After the Budget Resolution is passed, each appropriations subcommittee will receive a specific allocation. In each chamber, the subcommittee's responsibility is to allocate its funds among the various programs within its jurisdiction. Finally, after all the subcommittee bills are passed, a final appropriations bill will be considered. The federal fiscal year ends on September 30, although for the past several years, Congress has not passed an appropriations bill by that date.

Update: FY11 Continuing Resolution (CR)

House Republicans unveiled the text of the new Continuing Resolution (CR) last month, which reduced spending by $100 billion from the Administration’s request. The bill (HR 1) would cut total discretionary spending by about $58 billion compared with the government’s current funding levels.

Bureau of Justice Assistance Programs were cut by $581.3 million. This could affect funding for the Second Chance Act and the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act.

The package also includes a $200 million cut to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, over a $1 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health and similar, significant cuts to juvenile justice and housing programs.

Although the CR (HR 1) was passed by the House on Feb. 19, the Democratic Senate already has signaled that it considers the level of cuts that House Republicans are planning unacceptable. The House and Senate will need to pass a spending bill or another short-term CR before the March 4 deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

All Announcements for March 2011