Bush’s 2005 budget concerns locals
When President Bush recently unveiled his recommended budget for fiscal year 2005, some local government officials greeted the proposal with serious reservations. Although the budget contains increased homeland security funding, it also reinforces civic leaders’ concerns of recent years that the White House and Congress are cutting federal aid to cities and counties at a time when local governments are suffering from considerable budgetary woes.
Bush’s $2.4 trillion budget plan seeks to cut funding for domestic programs that benefit both urban and rural communities in an attempt to reduce the ballooning federal deficit. The White House projects that its 2005 budget would carry a deficit of $364 billion, a significant decrease from 2004’s $500 billion-plus shortfall.
The Department of Agriculture would face the biggest cuts if Congress accepts the Bush plan, placing rural development programs and other initiatives favored by local leaders in jeopardy. The Community Oriented Policing Services and the Community Development Block Grant are two of the 63 federal programs that also would suffer sharp cuts under the proposal. The Bush budget also denied money to 65 other federal initiatives, including the HOPE VI program that funds the revitalization of public housing units.
Charles Lyons, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National League of Cities, described the president’s proposal as “a flawed budget that fails to keep our communities strong.” “It is a drastic mistake to forget about programs that make our communities and hometown America strong,” Lyons, an Arlington, Mass., selectman, adds.
While Larry Naake, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Counties, praises the White House for increasing homeland security funding, he agrees with Lyons that domestic programs should not be forsaken. “President Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2005 provides increased and critical funding for homeland security, which will help counties better prepare for terrorist threats,” Naake says. “On the other hand, his budget also significantly reduces domestic spending in the areas of justice, health and election reform and continues to underfund certain federal mandates. These cuts, along with the fiscal crisis that still faces state and local governments, will have a drastic impact on the citizens that counties serve.”
Under Bush’s budget, the Department of Homeland Security budget would increase by 4.6 percent this year, but the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) estimates that within that request, first responder funding would be cut by $474 million. Bush also proposes increasing homeland security funds earmarked specifically for high-threat, high-density, urban areas, which would double funding for the program from $725 million to more than $1.4 billion.
Tom Cochran, executive director of USCM, describes the homeland security funding as a mixed bag. “While we recognize that the budget calls for increases for the high-threat, high-density urban areas program, mayors are greatly concerned that this additional money comes at the expense of reduced funding of … state block grants and serious cuts in the overall funding for first responders,” he says.
Congressional Democrats also have criticized Bush’s budget priorities. They have vowed to fight the budget, creating a battle that likely will be intensified by the fall elections.