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BUSH’S BUDGET DISASTER Bush’s 2006 Budget Cuts Programs for Illinois Families While Exploding the Deficit Bush’s 2006 budget eliminates or cuts funding to Illinois for homeland security, education, health care, and business development. At the same time, Bush’s budget does nothing to reduce the record $412 billion deficit. In fact, the Enron-style accounting in Bush’s budget plan makes the long-term deficit worse because Bush fails to include $2 trillion in costs for his plan to privatize Social Security and leaves out billions for spending in Iraq. BUSH’S BUDGET IS A DISASTER FOR ILLINOIS Ø Bush’s Budget Slashes $35.3 Million in Homeland Security Funding for Illinois. Bush’s budget slashes $35.3 million from homeland security formula grants to Illinois. These grants provide police, firefighters, and emergency management teams with the training and equipment they need to keep communities safe from terrorism. [Federal Funds Information for States, 2/05]Ø Despite the Fact That 147,800 Manufacturing Jobs Have Been Lost in Illinois, Bush Cuts Illinois’s Job Training Programs by $22.9 Million. Illinois has lost 147,800 manufacturing jobs under Bush. Despite this, Bush proposes to cut the Manufacturing Extension Partnership by 60 percent, and cuts $22.9 million in job training and services funding for Illinois. Bush also cuts $44.7 million in vocational education for Illinois residents. [BLS, 1/05; Federal Funds Information for States, 2/05]Ø Bush’s Budget Cuts $1.2 Billion in Medicaid Funding for Illinois. Over the next decade, Bush’s budget would cut Medicaid funding for Illinois by $1.2 billion. The enormity of Bush’s proposed cutback is evident from the number of seniors and children who could be covered with the money eliminated by the Bush proposal: the cuts in 2010 alone would be the equivalent of providing health coverage for over 9,000 Illinois seniors or 49,300 Illinois children. [Families USA, 2/7/05]Ø Bush Shortchanges 120,726 Illinois Children by Underfunding No Child Left Behind by $494.8 Million. Bush breaks his promise to provide needed funding for Illinois students. His 2006 budget underfunds the No Child Left Behind program in Illinois by $494.8 million. Under the Bush budget, 120,726 children in Illinois will go without promised help in reading and math. [National Priorities Project, 2/14/05; Office of House Democratic Leader, 2/10/05; CRS, 2/05]Ø Bush’s Budget Cuts Illinois’s Community and Economic Development Grants by $45.3 Million. As part of Bush’s plan to cut Illinois ’s overall federal grants by $354.7 million, Bush would cut community and economic development funding to Illinois by $45.3 million. [National Priorities Project, 2/14/05]Ø Over 120,000 Illinois Farmers Will Face Reduced Price Support Payments Under Bush’s New Budget. "President Bush's proposal to reduce farmer payments by 5 percent next year got mixed reviews Monday. The proposal worries Illinois farmers, said Chuck Spencer, Illinois Farm Bureau national legislative director. A 5 percent reduction in price support payments alone would mean the loss of $35 million in payments to 124,000 Illinois farmers, he added. Spencer also is concerned this will set a bad tone for federal agricultural policy as the government prepares for the 2007 farm bill." [The Pantagraph, 2/8/05] Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.HOMELAND SECURITY: Bush Cuts Key Homeland Security and Law Enforcement Programs in Illinois Bush’s Budget Would Slash State and Local Homeland Security Funding by $420 Million. Bush’s budget would cut state and local coordination efforts by $420 million, or 11 percent. Bush’s budget also fails to provide for an additional 2,000 border patrol agents on the job in 2006—as was promised in landmark intelligence reforms passed late last year and endorsed by the 9/11 Commission. Bush provides funding for only 210 agents. [Washington Post, 2/7/05; Associated Press, 2/7/05; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05]Ø Illinois Fact: Bush’s Budget Slashes $35.3 Million in Homeland Security Funding for Illinois. Bush’s budget slashes $35.3 million from homeland security formula grants to Illinois. These grants provide police, firefighters, and emergency management teams with the training andequipment they need to keep communities safe from terrorism. [Federal Funds Information for States,2/05] Bush’s Budget Cuts COPS Program by Nearly 96 Percent. Bush’s 2006 budget would slice overall law enforcement grants to states from $2.8 billion to $1.5 billion. Bush’s budget cuts funding for Community Oriented Policing Services—the COPS program, which provides grants for state and local agencies to hire police officers—by $477 million, a cut of 95.6 percent. [Washington Post, 2/7/05; Associated Press, 2/7/05; House Budget Committee, Democratic Staff; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05] Ø Illinois Fact: Bush’s Budget Cuts Funding for Illinois’s COPS Program. Bush’s 2006 budget cuts funding for the Community Oriented Police program, which has put 5,854 police on the streets in Illinois. [DOJ, 10/19/04; Budget of the US Government, 2/05]Bush Slashes Funding for Firefighters by 30 Percent. Bush’s budget also cuts funding for local firefighters by $215 million—a cut of 30 percent. [Washington Post, 2/7/05; Associated Press, 2/7/05; House Budget Committee, Democratic Staff; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05] ECONOMY: Bush’s Fiscally Irresponsible Budget Slashes Programs to Help Workers and Small Businesses in IllinoisBush’s Budget Is Fiscally Irresponsible: It Would Add to the Deficit While Hardly Reducing Overall Spending. Although very damaging, Bush’s budget cuts will reduce the record $427 billion deficit by only about $15 billion. Bush’s plan also does not include future expenses of the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—expected to cost $81.9 billion this year—nor does it include upfront transition costs of restructuring Social Security as Bush has proposed—which would total more than $2 trillion. [New York Times, 2/7/05; CBO, The Budget And Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2006 to 2015, 1/05; Washington Post, 2/7/05, 2/15/05; Associated Press, 2/6/05]Ø Illinois Fact: Bush Has Increased Every Illinois Family’s Share of the National Debt by $37,405. During Bush’s first term, each family in the state of Illinois saw their share of theNational Debt increase by $37,405. [Citizens for Tax Justice, 9/04] Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.Bush’s Budget Slashes Job Training Programs . Bush’s budget cuts federal job training services designed to help our workforce by more than $500 million. The plan also cuts the four Workforce Investment Act state grant programs by $61.5 million. In addition, Bush is proposing a 60 percent cut in the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program, which provides services including plant modernization and employee training. [House Budget Committee, Democratic Staff; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05; Washington Post, 2/8/05] Ø Illinois Fact: Despite the Fact That 147,800 Manufacturing Jobs Have Been Lost in Illinois, Bush Cuts Illinois’s Job Training Programs by $22.9 Million. Illinois has lost 147,800 manufacturing jobs under Bush. Despite this, Bush proposes to cut the Manufacturing Extension Partnership by 60 percent, and cuts $22.9 million in job training and services funding for Illinois. Bush also cuts $44.7 million in vocational education for Illinois residents. [BLS, 1/05; Federal Funds Information for States, 2/05]Bush Plans to Eliminate the Highly Effective Advanced Technology Program for Second Consecutive Year. For the second consecutive year, Bush is trying to eliminate the Advanced Technology Program—designed to fund high-risk technology research that the private sector will not tackle. A high-profile National Academy of Sciences study demonstrated the effectiveness of the program in 2001, and, according to David Peyton, director of technology policy for the National Association of Manufacturers, "After the academy report, nobody could say with a straight face that the program does not work as intended." [Washington Post, 2/7/05, 2/6/05; Associated Press, 2/7/05; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05]Bush Plans to Cut the Small Business Administration by 25 Percent. Bush’s proposed 2006 budget cuts funding for the Small Business Administration by more than $1 billion—a cut of more than 25 percent. [Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05] Illinois Fact: Bush Budget Cuts Illinois Amtrak Funding. Bush’s new budget provides no funding for Amtrak operations. "I have never understood the concept that we can walk away from passenger rail service and not be worse off as a nation in terms of congested roads and pollution," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Cutting Amtrak would cost Illinois’s economy 2,000 jobs and millions of dollars in business. David L. Gunn, president of Amtrak, recently told an aud ience at University of Illinois-Urbana, "The whole transportation system is in serious, serious trouble. And as a capstone to all this, the administration has just announced zero funding for Amtrak. If that took place it would mean no intercity trains in the United States – no trains nowhere." There are 50 daily trains run between Chicago, St. Louis and other points in Illinois. [Chicago Tribune, 2/14/05; The Pantagraph, 2/8/05; Champaign News-Gazette, 2/11/05] MILITARY VETERANS: Bush Turns His Back on Veterans; Budget Imposes Fees and Cuts Hospital Services Businesses in Illinois Illinois Fact: Bush Plans To Impose New $250 User Fees and Double Prescription Drug Co- Payments For Veterans—Increasing Costs by $2 Billion. Bush’s proposed 2006 budget wo uld more than double the co-payment charged to 1,003,572 Illinois veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new user fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using government health care. Bush would also increase the co-payment for a month’s supply of a prescription drug to $15, from the current $7. Veterans’ groups said that at least 200,000 veterans would be driven out of the system entirely, and would cost veterans remaining in the system more than $2 billion over five years. [New York Times, 2/7/05; Office of Democratic Leader Pelosi; www.va.gov/vetdata; Budget of the US Government, 2/05] Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.Bush Underfunds the Veterans Health Care Budget. Veterans groups have said that Veterans Affairs health budget requires an increase of a $3.5 billion—four times more than Bush actually requested. Bush’s budget would force veterans hospitals and clinics to limit services. [New York Times, 2/7/05; www.va.gov/vetdata; Budget of the US Government, 2/05; Committee on Government Reform, 11/03] Bush’s Budget Ignores Promised Increase in Death Benefits for Family of Soldiers Killed in Action. Bush breaks his promise to include funding for an increase in death benefits for the families of the servicemen and women who are killed in action. Bush’s budget also fails to provide targeted pay raises for senior enlisted personnel, junior officers, and warrant officers—the troops that the military most needs to retain. [House Budget Committee Democratic Staff]EDUCATION: Bush Cuts 48 Education Programs andUnderfunds No Child Left Behind for Illinois Bush Underfunds his Own No Child Left Behind Program by $13.1 Billion. Bush’s budget provides $13.1 billion less in funding for No Child Left Behind than the 2002 law authorized. This is the fourth year in a row that Bush has underfunded his own program. [National Priorities Project, 2/14/05]Ø Illinois Fact: Bush Shortchanges 120,726 Illinois Children by Underfunding No Child Left Behind by $494.8 Million. Bush breaks his promise to provide needed funding for Illinoisstudents. His 2006 budget underfunds the No Child Left Behind program in Illinois by $494.8 million. Under the Bush budget, 120,726 children in Illinois will go without promised help in reading and math. [National Priorities Project, 2/14/05; Office of House Democratic Leader, 2/10/05; CRS, 2/05]Bush Plans Cuts for 48 Different Education Programs, Totaling $4.3 Billion. One out of every three programs slated for budget cuts by Bush concerns education. Bush’s budget would cut 48 education programs—totaling $4.3 billion. Bush’s education budget includes: $2.2 billion less for high school programs and state grants for vocational education, $440 million less in Safe and Drug-Free School grants, $500 million less in education technology state grants, $280 million less for Upward Bound programs for inner-city youths, and $150 million less for the talent research program. [Washington Post, 2/7/05; Associated Press, 2/6/05]Ø Illinois Fact: Bush’s Budget Will Cut Off After-School Programs for 71,863 IllinoisChildren. Because of Bush’s proposed 2006 budget, 71,863 Illinois children will no longer be able to enroll in the after-school programs that boost academic achievement and keep children safe. [National Priorities Project, 2/14/05; Office of House Democratic Leader, 2/10/05; CRS, 2/05]Illinois Fact: Bush Budget Cuts Education Programs Vital to Opening College Opportunities to Illinois Students. "When Nameka Bates was in high school, she didn't think much about going to college, and she was advised not even to consider the University of Illinois because she probably wouldn't be accepted. But after she became involved with the Upward Bound program at the UI, which helps prepare students for college, she learned what the UI had to offer and what she needed to do to attend. Bates earned her undergraduate and master's degrees from the UI, and she is now working on a doctorate in cultural studies of sport. ‘I wouldn't be where I'm at right now if it weren't for Upward Bound,’ said Bates, who has worked for the program for the last 10 years while a UI student. … But future students may not get the same opportunity. Upward Bound is one of several higher education aid programs that President Bush proposes eliminating. His budget plan also would eliminate Ta lent Search, a program Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. providing information to middle and high school students on getting ready for college, and the Perkins Loan program, which provides low- interest loans of up to $4,000 per year for undergraduate students based on financial need." [Champaign News-Gazette, 2/13/05]Bush Plans to Eliminate Even Start. Bush’s budget completely eliminates the $225 million Even Start initiative, a literacy program designed to increase academic achievement of young children and their parents by helping them learn together. Bush tried to eliminate Even Start last year. [Washington Post, 2/7/05, 2/6/05; Associated Press, 2/6/05] Despite Bush’s State of the Union Promise, His Budget Underfunds Pell Grants by $6.6 Billion. In his 2005 State of the Union Address Bush promised to increase the maximum value of Pell Grants, but he continues to fall well short of his 2000 promise to increase value to $5,100. And Bush continues to provide $6.6 billion less than is authorized under the Higher Education Act. [Bush, State of the Union Address, 2/2/05; Bush Speech in Hampton, New Hampshire, 8/30/00; Federal Pell Grant End of Year Report 2003-2004; National Education Association, 2/05; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05]Ø Illinois Fact: The Bush Budget Shortchanges 189,475 Illinois Students By Underfunding Pell Grants by $251.8 Million. Pell Grants serve 189,475 students in Illinois. But Bush’s budget underfunds the Pell Grant program by $251.8 million and fails to provide the needed $1,000 perstudent increase in funding levels. [Federal Pell Grant End of Year Report 2003-2004; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05]Illinois Fact: 20,000 Illinois Students Will Be Affected By Bush’s Proposed Cuts to Perkins Loans. "UI students also benefit from the Perkins Loan program. Last year, the UI awarded $2.47 million under the program to more than 1,500 students. Dan Mann, director of the UI's Office of Stud ent Financial Aid, said the loan program especially helps freshmen and sophomores, who aren't eligible to borrow as much through other student loan programs. ‘It's important to us to have as many sources of funding for students who are financially needy as possible, so reducing a program of this size is critical,’ Mann said. At stake in Illinois is about $18 million in federal funding, serving nearly 20,000 students at 59 sites, according to the nonprofit Council for Educational Opportunity in Washington, D.C." [Champaign News-Gazette, 2/13/05]Illinois Fact: Heartland Community College Students Will Face Higher Tuition Due to Bush’s Budget. "Heartland Community College students likely will face higher tuition this fall or possibly as early as this summer, the college's board learned Tuesday. ‘(The proposed increase) is a direct consequence of the trend of state aid declining and the threat of the federal budget eliminating the Perkins Act," said Rob Widmer, vice president of business services. … If Congress approves President Bush's plan to eliminate the Perkins program -- which includes a class of student loans and some institutional grants -- Heartland stands to lose about $285,000 from its operating budget." [The Pantagraph, 2/9/05]HEALTH CARE: Bush Cuts Health Care Funding for Senior Citizens and Children in Illinois Bush Cuts $45 Billion From Medicaid While Shifting Costs to States. In Bush’s proposed 2006 budget, Medicaid funding for states would be reduced by $45 billion over the next decade, shifting the costs to the states. Within five years, the amount that Bush cuts from Medicaid would have been enough to provide health coverage for 1.8 million children or 345,000 seniors. [Washington Post, 2/7/05; Associated Press, 2/6/05; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/7/05; Families USA, 2/7/05] Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.Ø Illinois Fact: Bush’s Budget Cuts $1.2 Billion in Medicaid Funding for Illinois. Over the next decade, Bush’s budget would cut Medicaid funding for Illinois by $1.2 billion. The enormity of Bush’s proposed cutback is evident from the number of seniors and children who could be covered with the money eliminated by the Bush proposal: the cuts in 2010 alone would be the equivalent of providing health coverage for over 9,000 Illinois seniors or 49,300 Illinois children. [Families USA, 2/7/05]Ø Illinois Fact: One in Six Winnebago County Residents Will Be Affected By Bush’s Medicaid Budget Cuts. "About one in six [Winnebago] county residents benefits from Medicaid, the joint state-federal program that Bush wants to cut by $60 billion over 10 years. ‘It's going in the opposite direction of where we in Illinois have gone, which has been to expand eligibility toworking families,’ said Barnaby Dinges, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Public Aid." [Rockford Register Mail, 2/14/05] Bush Cuts Health and Human Services (HHS) Funding, Including Community and Rural Health Programs That He Touted During Campaign. A number of health programs under the HHS Department would be cut by 1.2 percent under Bush’s 2006 budget. The budget proposal would cut $94 million in grants for the Healthy Communities Access Program and phase out rural health grants. Bush touted his commitment to such programs during his reelection campaign. Bush’s also proposes cutting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Administration for Children and Families, and the Administration on Aging. [Washington Post, 2/7/05; Associated Press, 2/7/05; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05]Ø Illinois Fact: Bush’s Budget Cuts Health Programs, Despite Fact That 114,000 Residents in Illinois Have Lost Their Health Insurance. More than 114,000 Illinois residents, and 5 million Americans nationally, have lost their health coverage during Bush’s presidency. Yet, the Bush budget eliminates the $94 million Healthy Community Access Program, and includes a proposal to expand high deductible insurance plans that would actually increase the number of people without health insurance nationally by 350,000. [CPS, 9/04; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/10/04]Bush’s Budget Cuts Child Care Assistance for 300,000 Low-Income Children. Bush’s budget would end child care assistance for 300,000 low- income children nationally by 2009. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/7/05] Bush’s Budget Slashes Food Stamp Aid for At Least 200,000 Poor People. Bush’s cuts would terminate food stamp aid for 200,000 to 300,000 low income people nationally, most of whom are members of low-income working families with children. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/7/05]ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY: Bush’s Budget Undermines Environmental Protections Like Clean Water and Hazardous Waste Cleanups in Illinois Bush’s Budget Cuts Water Quality and Land Preservation Programs by $285 Million, And Wastewater Treatment by $500 Million. Under Bush’s budget, water-quality protection programs would be cut by $170 million, and land preservation and restoration programs would lose about $115 million—a total cut of $285 million. In addition, under Bush’s budget, the EPA would cut its program to help poor communities build wastewater treatment plants and other water projects by $500 million. [Washington Post, 2/7/05, 2/8/05; Associated Press, 2/6/05; New York Times, 2/8/05] Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.Ø Illinois Fact: Bush Cuts Illinois’s Clean Water Programs by $17.5 Million. Bush’s budget cuts funding for Illinois’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund by $17.5 million. [National Priorities Project, 2/14/05] Bush Plans to Cut Funding for Cleanup of Hazardous Waste and Radioactive Cleanups by Nearly $800 Million. Bush’s 2006 budget would cut spending for Department of Energy programs to clean up large amounts of radioactive contamination and hazardous waste at 114 sites in 31 states and one U.S. territory by $779 million, to $6.5 billion. [Washington Post, 2/7/05; Associated Press, 2/7/05; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05]CITIES AND HOUSING: Bush’s Budget Cuts Key Housing and Urban Development Programs in Illinois Bush’s Budget Slashes LIHEAP by $234.4 Million. During the 2000 presidential debates, Bush said, "First and foremost, we got to make sure we fully fund LIHEAP, which is a way to help low-income folks, particularly here in the East, to pay for their high fuel bills." Yet, Bush’s proposed 2006 budgetwould cut funding for low- income home energy assistance by $234.4 million nationally. [Presidential Debate in Boston, MA, 10/3/00; National Priorities Project, 2/14/05]Ø Illinois Fact: Bush Slashes Illinois’s LIHEAP Funding by $13.4 Million. Bush’s proposed 2006 budget cuts the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program by $13.4 million for Illinois residents. [National Priorities Project, 2/14/05]Ø Illinois Fact: LIHEAP Benefits 6,500 People in Rockford Area. "Rockford already has spent the $3.1 million in federal money it received this year to help the poor, particularly the elderly and disabled, pay their heating bills. About 6,500 people got help. Energy Director Mark Bixbyestimates that the city could use $1 million more. He said next year's situation would be even tougher under the president's proposed cuts in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. ‘It's not a very pretty outlook,’ he said. [Rockford Register Mail, 2/ 14/05]Bush Would Cut Community Development Block Grants by $1.8 Billion. Bush’s budget would consolidate 18 community development block grant programs—which pay for everything from day care to neighborhood business development—into one Commerce Department program for a cut of $1.8 billion. Programs with combined budgets totaling nearly $5.7 billion would be forced into a $3.7 billion package. The largest component, the $4.1 billion Community Development Block Grant, could be cut as much as 40 percent. [Washington Post, 2/7/05, 2/6/05]Ø Illinois Fact: Bush’s Budget Cuts Illinois’s Community and Economic Development Grants by $45.3 Million. As part of Bush’s plan to cut Illinois’s overall federal grants by $354.7 million, Bush would cut community and economic development funding to Illinois by $45.3 million.[National Priorities Project, 2/14/05] Ø Illinois Fact: Bush’s Proposed Budget Cuts to Community Development Would Be A Disaster for Rockford’s Local Economy. "Rockford has used federal community-development money to help renovate the Montague Branch Library, build accessibility ramps on homes of the elderly and disabled, help 27 businesses get started in the past four years, and buy and tear down boarded-up homes. Bush wants to consolidate 18 community-development programs into one that would get about 35 percent less money than what the programs get now. ‘The cuts as proposed would be a disaster for local economic development programs,’ city spokesman John Strandin said. Pending projects -- such as improvements to the Main and Auburn business district and renovation of the Barber-Colman Village property -- would have to find other sources of revenue, Strandin said. Mayor Doug Scott, who estimates that the city would lose half the employees in its community-development department, plans to lobby Manzullo and the state's senators to oppose Bush's cuts." [Rockford Register Mail, 2/14/05] Bush Proposes to Eliminate the HOPE VI Program, Which Improves Public Housing. Bush’s 2005 budget proposes to eliminate the HOPE VI program, and requests that Congress rescind the $143 million it had already approved in the 2005 budget. Congress has rebuffed similar requests in the past to eliminate HOPE VI, which helps housing agencies replace dilapidated public housing units with mostly larger townhouses and detached homes to create mixed-income communities. [Washington Post, 2/7/05; Associated Press, 2/7/05; Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2006, 2/7/05]Daily Southtown: Bush’s New Budget Hurts Those Who Are Most In Need of Assistance. We're struck by some of the inconsistencies between what Bush has been promising and what this budget would actually do. Of the 150 programs to get whacked, 48 are education-related. This is at a time when school districts are under pressure from the federal government to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, and Bush wants Congress to enact even more federal requirements. And while Bush asks Americans to dig deep to support his war effort, veterans will feel the heat if the budget is approved. … Many of the programs that are facing the ax are victims of Bush's desire to cut the massive federal deficit while making permanent the tax cuts he pushed through Congress during his first term. The end result could spell disaster for millions of people who rely on federal money for their well-being. … Illinois and its communities, under Bush's proposal, would see cuts in farm subsidies, child-care programs and community development grants, among other projects. With projections that the state budget deficit may approach $2 billion this year, those federal cuts will make Illinois' fiscal situation even worse. [DailySouthtown Editorial, 2/13/05] AGRICULTURE: Bush’s Budget Hurts America’s Farmers by Cutting Aid in Illinois Bush’s Budget Cuts USDA by 9.6 Percent. Bush’s 2006 budget proposal calls for cuts in the U.S. Department of Agriculture by 9.6 percent. [Washington Post, 2/8/05]Bush Plans to Cut Aid to Farmers by $5.7 Billion. The Bush Administration planned to cut agricultural subsidies and payments to American farmers by $5.7 billion over the next 10 years. U.S. farm spending would be reduced by 5 percent—$587 million—in 2006 alone. The plan would limit government payments to farmers to $250,000 a year. And Bush probably won’t stop there: According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "A new industry report [by Informa Economics Inc.] suggests the White House will try to wring $15 billion in annual savings out of programs designed to protect farmers from falling commodity prices." [Washington Post, 2/6/05; Associated Press, 2/6/05; Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2/7/05] Ø Illinois Fact: Over 120,000 Illinois Farmers Will Face Reduced Price Support Payments Under Bush’s New Budget. "President Bush's proposal to reduce farmer payments by 5 percent next year got mixed reviews Monday. The proposal worries Illinois farmers, said Chuck Spencer, Illinois Farm Bureau national legislative director. A 5 percent reduction in price support payments alone would mean the loss of $35 million in payments to 124,000 Illinois farmers, he added. Spencer also is concerned this will set a bad tone for federal agricultural policy as the government prepares for the 2007 farm bill." [The Pantagraph, 2/8/05]
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