Iowa to Face Federal Budget Cuts
Iowa Fiscal Partnership
Analysis: Bush Budget Whacks Iowa Services
New report projects Iowa cuts of nearly $580 million in federal spending
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – A new report reveals sweeping cuts in services for Iowa in the budget proposed by [George W.] Bush.
A
Washington budget watchdog group, the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities (CBPP), reports that Iowans would see cuts in federal grants
in aid of more than $577 million from 2006 through 2010, including $178
million in 2010 alone.
“The administration is hiding the effects of its budget proposals
as no administration has done in over 15 years,” said David Osterberg,
executive director of the nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project. “It's pretty
hard for Iowans and other Americans to battle back on cuts the
administration won't detail. Fortunately, this new report gives Iowans
a better idea of what they're facing – and information they can use to
talk to their representatives in Congress.”
While
the proposed budget details the cuts only for 2006, the CBPP analysis
uses further information provided to congressional committees to make
estimates of future cuts in several areas.
This
is the first time since 1989 that an administration's budget has not
provided information about the proposed funding levels for individual
discretionary programs in years beyond the first year.
Nationally,
[Bush's] budget would cut $214 billion in domestic “discretionary”
spending in the five years. However, only the first $18 billion of
those proposed cuts – cuts that would occur in 2006 – are identified by
the administration.
“The
pain in the budget comes mostly after 2006, with the cuts growing
deeper with each passing year,” said Sharon Parrott, CBPP director of
welfare reform and income and the report’s lead author.
Among the Iowa cuts:
— $3.7
million in 2010 in the supplemental nutrition program for women,
infants and children (WIC), $5.1 million over the 2006-2010 period and
a projected loss in number of recipients of 5,600.
— $38.1
million in 2010 in elementary and secondary education, including
education for the disadvantaged, impact aid, school improvement
funding, and special education, $108.7 million in total projected cuts
for 2006-2010.
— $12.5 million in 2010 for vocational and adult education, $57.6 million in total projected cuts for 2006-2010.
— $3.1 million in 2010 for low-income energy assistance, $4.1 million in total projected cuts for 2006-2010.
— $9.1
million in 2010 for children and family services, including Head Start,
services for abused and neglected children, and other children's
programs, $26.2 million in total projected cuts for 2006-2010.
— A loss of rental assistance vouchers for 3,800 families in 2010.
— $23.2
million in 2010 in [Bush's] proposed “Strengthening America's
Communities” initiative, $100.7 million in total projected cuts for
2006-2010.
“These cuts will be a new burden on the people in Iowa who can least afford to bear them,”
said Charles Bruner, executive director of the Child & Family
Policy Center in Des Moines. “It is important for Iowans and all
Americans to understand that the proposed cuts in these services do not
provide deficit reduction. Instead, they will shift costs to state and
local governments, and will be used to help pay for tax cuts that are
primarily benefiting the wealthiest Americans.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The
new analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Large Cuts
to a Wide Range of Programs are Obscured in the Administration’s
Budget,” is available at the Center’s website: www.cbpp.org.
The
Iowa Policy Project and the Child & Family Policy Center will make
federal budget information available in the coming months through their
joint initiative, the Iowa Fiscal Partnership, which is on the web at www.iowafiscal.org.
Blog For Iowa 
Mr. Shrub said he was going to be a compassionate conservative—-what ever. He did keep his promise in regards to being a compaaionate conservative. That is if you have BIG money$$$$ and live in a mansion built for a Wall Street King. Jesus Christ said we'll be judged by how we treat the less fortunate. Well Mr Shrub tell Satan I said hello.
LikeLike