Federal Budget Lowlights

Via McSweeney's:

On May 19, the White House issued a memo preliminarily outlining widespread domestic-funding cuts to be included in the 2006 budget. The memo, sent out to government agencies, said that spending levels for 2006 must not exceed the levels specified in a database included with the 2005 budget. According to that database, overall domestic spending will drop by $2.3 billion in 2006, not including inflation. The budget for the EPA will be cut by $161 million. The Department of the Interior will lose $200 million. A nutrition program for women, infants, and children will be cut by $122 million; Head Start, the early-childhood-education program, will be cut by $177 million. Other programs due for cuts include the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, the Transportation Department, and the Social Security Administration. The Defense Department, though, will receive a 5.2 percent budget increase, to $422.7 billion, and the Justice Department will receive a 4.3 percent increase, to $19.5 billion.

The Bush administration has publicized its plans to increase spending in many areas in 2005, without mentioning that funding would be reversed a year later. The 2005 budget gives the Education Department a $1.7 billion increase; the 2006 budget memo reduces that by $1.5 billion. The Veterans Affairs budget will get a $519 million increase in 2005, and then, according to the memo, a $910 million cut in 2006. A homeownership program will be increased by $78 million in 2005, as President Bush has repeatedly noted; it stands to be cut by $53 million in 2006. The National Institutes of Health would lose $600 million in 2006 after gaining $764 million in 2005. And homeland-security spending, described by the Washington Post as "a centerpiece of the Bush reelection campaign," would be reduced by $1 billion.

(Sources: "White House Budget Memo Riles Democrats," CNN.com, May 28, 2004. See article at: cnn.com. "Bush Plan Eyes Cuts for Schools, Veterans," The Associated Press, May 27, 2004. See article at: usatoday.com. Jonathan Weisman, "2006 Cuts in Domestic Spending on Table," Washington Post, May 27, 2004. See article at: washingtonpost.com.)

Comments

[Susan W.]

As a commissioner on the local housing authority, I also cringe when I see the assault on providing housing for low-income people. Funny how balancing the budget doesn't matter when "defense" is involved, but the basic needs of people are so easily sacrificed.