Washington, DC – The United States Commission on Civil Rights released, Funding Federal Civil Rights Enforcement: The President’s 2006 Request, the latest in a series of analyses positing funding and staffing against workload levels and stated strategic objectives of federal civil rights offices.
In releasing the report, Ken Marcus, staff director said: “The Departments of Education, Justice, Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and Equal Employment Opportunity are the subjects of this report because of the seminal enforcement powers each carries for civil rights laws.” Offering data for fiscal years 1994 to 2006, the report reveals that President Bush requested increased funding for five civil rights enforcement agencies for 2005, and that Congress appropriated increases for four agencies. Health and Human Services received the largest increase, 3.3 percent; Congress reduced funding for civil rights enforcement at the HUD Fair Housing Initiatives Program by 2 percent. If Congress grants the President’s FY 2006 request, all agencies except DOJ and the Commission on Civil Rights will receive reduced funding; the DOJ budget will rise one percent, and Commission funding will remain level.
The report also highlights variations agencies’ use of factors that measure program success. Some agencies express as many as 24 goals, while others state one overall goal supported ith numerous objectives. Most agencies met their goals for 2005; when they did not, competing priorities were the most frequently cited reason. “Although it is necessary for agencies to have adequate funding to carry out their civil rights responsibilities, they must be evaluated on results and held accountable for achieving results that can justify continued or increased funding.”
Copies of Funding Federal Civil Rights Enforcement: The President’s 2006 Request can be ordered by contacting the Commission’s publications office at 202-376-8128 or by accessing http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/pubsndx.htm.
10/18/05