The Case Against the Confirmation of John Ashcroft As Attorney General of the United States: Part II

Ashcroft’s vetoes had a tremendous impact on children, especially those who were most vulnerable due to severe abuse and neglect. A 1992 St. Louis Post-Dispatch story reported that Missouri was ranked 33rd out of 50 states in an examination by the Center for the Study of Social Policy of indices of child well-being, including access to health care, the infant mortality rate, the high school dropout rate and the generosity of state welfare benefits. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 1, 1992. Likewise, in 1992, the Children’s Defense Fund issued a report on the state of children nationwide. The report found that the number of children living in poverty in Missouri had increased almost twice as fast during the 1980s as the national average. In Missouri, the rate of increase was 19.2% while it was 11.9% for the country as a whole. The study also found that both black and white children in Missouri were more likely to be poor than children in the same racial groups in the nation as a whole. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 8, 1992.

Despite the increasingly dire situation for Missouri’s children, Ashcroft repeatedly vetoed badly needed support for Missouri’s most vulnerable children and families. Abused and troubled children were repeated victims of Ashcroft vetoes. In the FY 1987 appropriations process, Ashcroft vetoed $750,000 in funds approved by the legislature for severely abused and neglected children. Veto Letter on HB1011 6/27/86). At that time, the Missouri legislature had only twice in the state’s history mustered the two-thirds majority necessary in both house to overturn a gubernatorial veto. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 4, 1986. However, this budget cut was so draconian that the Missouri House overrode Ashcroft’s veto and the Senate almost did, falling only 3 votes short. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 10, 1986. Ashcroft’s significant lobbying on behalf of his cut earned him criticism from both sides of the aisle in the Missouri Senate and seemed especially unnecessary in light of the state’s projected surplus of 2 to 5 million dollars. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 1, 1986.

In an editorial supporting the override effort, the St. Louis-Post Dispatch wrote:

A veto override would mark a political setback for Gov. Ashcroft. But it also would represent the right step by the state to offer protection to children who can’t protect themselves and, hence, prevent these youngsters from falling through the cracks. The bill that the governor vetoed eliminated quality residential treatment for these children. Unfortunately, that level of service is available nowhere else in Missouri...

If the state doesn’t spend the money to give these children proper care now, there is a real possibility that many of them will end up in mental hospitals and prisons. And that will mean spending millions later on problems that could have been brought under control with a lot less money. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 8, 1986.

Nonetheless, Governor Ashcroft again vetoed money for abused children in the FY 1991 funding process. This time, he cut $1.5 million in rate increases for the programs that serve abused children. (Veto Letter on HB1011, 6/21/90.) An editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called this veto "regrettable." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 25, 1990.

During the FY 1992 budget cycle, Ashcroft actually recommended some increases in spending for abused and troubled children. Nevertheless, when the time came to make the hard choices about what to fund and what to leave underfunded due to reduced revenues during a national recession, children lost out. Ashcroft ultimately vetoed some of the very funds he had recommended and the legislature had appropriated, including $250,000 for children’s treatment services, $500,000 for residential treatment for children and $12,292 for residential group home placements. In addition, Ashcroft vetoed $720, 472 in funding for the foster care program. (Veto Letter on HB11, 6/27/91.)

In the FY1993 appropriations process, Ashcroft’s last as governor, he vetoed $2.1 million intended to expand residential treatment facilities for abused and neglected children. (Veto Letter on HB1011, 6/26/92.) One children’s advocate, Paul Dow, noted that this single cut represented more than 25% of Ashcroft’s total of $8.1 million in vetoes. He also said "This veto ensures that 345 of the current 400 children on the waiting list will not receive services they so desperately need." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 27, 1992.

Children suffered real harm as a result of all of these budget cuts. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, when Ashcroft became governor in 1985 there were 200 children on the waiting list for residential treatment statewide, children with an immediate need for services. By 1992, that number had doubled. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March, 1 1992.