Abstinence plan expires, for now

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A federal abstinence education program and welfare-to-work medical assistance program are set to expire today as the House failed this week to renew them.

Capitol Hill sources say the lapse will be brief and House members will extend the Title V Abstinence Education and Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) programs for three months when they return from the July Fourth recess.

There is "goodwill" intent among both Democratic and Republican leaders to extend the programs to Sept. 30, said Shari Rendall, who follows legislative issues for Concerned Women for America.

"The expectation is that when we come back, we will address it," said a House aide who spoke on background.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed a three-month extension of the two programs and advocates expected the House to do the same on Thursday. However, the Senate measure contained a financial offset in a Medicare program and when House members objected to the offset, the measure was not acted on.

Buoyed by Democratic control of both chambers, comprehensive sexuality education advocates are stepping up their calls for an end to funding of abstinence programs and more funding for programs that teach abstinence and birth control.

"Abstinence-only" programs do not work, said William Smith of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. "It is time for us to stop paying for this fiasco."

Advocates for Youth, another comprehensive sex education supporter, criticized this week's Senate extension of the Title V program, which was done with "no debate" and "no amendments ... just a silent vote."

But they and other advocates know that Title V and TMA — which provides Medicaid coverage to families leaving welfare and is not viewed as a controversial program — have traditionally been renewed together. While some congressional leaders have recommended the programs be unlinked so their fates can be considered separately, other leaders reject such a move.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Montana Democrat, captured the dilemma when he said Wednesday after both programs were extended: "I know that there are people who have real questions about the effectiveness of the abstinence grants attached to this program — I'm one of those people — but TMA is too important in the lives of too many people for us to turn our backs on it."

Any extension of Title V is likely to be a temporary reprieve, said Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs for the Family Research Council. Democratic leaders "have made it clear they want to take an ax to these [abstinence] programs," he said.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell, Michigan Democrat, whose committee has jurisdiction over the programs, does not support the reauthorization of the Title V program, his spokeswoman said this week.

"We have overwhelming evidence that these programs are ineffective," she said.