CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
July 18, 2012 – 10:54 p.m.
Conservatives, Liberals Sidetrack Bullying Bill
By John Gramlich, CQ Staff
A bipartisan anti-bullying bill that previously was on the fast track to House passage has been derailed amid new criticisms from conservatives and liberals alike.
The Judiciary Committee approved the bill (
But House leaders have suspended the vote, with Jackson Lee’s office noting she was out of town for a funeral and that the House’s tradition is to hold floor votes only when a bill’s sponsor is present. Jackson Lee is slated to return to Washington next week and remains hopeful the House will vote on her bill then, a spokesman said.
But there are signs the legislation has run into resistance that could keep House leaders from bringing up the bill for a vote.
“It sounds like it’s not going to make it to the floor,” said Lindsey Burke, a policy analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, which has recently criticized the measure. “It sounds like it just wasn’t getting the support it needed.”
Burke criticized the legislation in a July 10 blog post, saying it was “illogical” for Congress to think that it “could stop playground taunting, middle-school teasing or insults leveled through social media.” She said the proposal amounted to “congressional micromanagement of schools.”
Those criticisms are being echoed by other conservative groups. The Eagle Forum, a conservative “pro-family” organization, announced that it also opposes the bill and would score House members’ votes on it.
Meanwhile, the Republican Study Committee, a group of House conservatives, said an analysis of the bill shows it would “expand the size and scope of the federal government.”
“With nearly all states having laws on their books to address bullying and school safety, some conservatives may disagree with the creation of a new purpose area of bullying intervention,” the analysis said. “Additionally, some conservatives may question the appropriateness and constitutionality of the federal government dealing at all with matters so obviously local.”
Liberal Concerns
Some liberals also are criticizing the legislation as a Trojan horse, saying that while its language expands the Juvenile Accountability Block Grants program to include efforts to prevent bullying in schools, it slashes overall authorized funding for that program to $40 million annually, a cut of nearly 90 percent from $350 million a year.
The new authorization level, if granted by appropriators, would still represent an increase of $10 million over current funding, but some Democrats and advocates for juvenile justice programs are fearful that the proposed authorization level guarantees the program will never again have more generous funding levels of previous years. Before the current fiscal year, the program was consistently funded at more than $40 million, including at $250 million a decade ago.
Virginia Rep.
Conservatives, Liberals Sidetrack Bullying Bill
“A case could be made that no authorization is better than a 90-percent cut,” Scott said, noting that other programs, including for legal aid, continue to receive appropriations even though their authorizations have expired.
“The kinds of cuts that are being suggested here would be devastating to core programs that support community safety,” said Nancy Gannon Hornberger, executive director of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice.
But Democrats are split on the legislation, with 10 others cosponsoring Jackson Lee’s bill.
Bipartisan History
Jackson Lee has focused on the anti-bullying provisions of her legislation, saying in a statement they “will provide peace of mind for families of bullying victims and persecuted individuals everywhere.
“It is time for us to stand together and stop bullying,” she said in a June 28 statement. “Everyone deserves to feel safe and free from persecution. I urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to vote in favor of my bill in order to keep U.S. citizens safe from harassment and to work toward making America bully-free.”
Still, the reduced funding for the juvenile justice grant program likely played a role in winning Republican support in the Judiciary Committee.
Jackson Lee introduced a similar version (
In May, she introduced a new version (
Judiciary Chairman
Gannon Hornberger noted that the Obama administration has proposed zeroing out the grants and that some Democrats consider they are doing what they can to prevent the program from being eliminated.
“When they look at zero [as an alternative], they sign on to preserve the program and keep it from being on the chopping block altogether,” she said.