castledoom.com

[Eddy]

It will come as no surprise I don't approve, however I will let the list speak for itself.

The list is horribly formatted there...

(Feb. 12) - Here are the 154 programs that President Bush wants to eliminate or cut in his 2006 budget proposal. Bush would terminate 99 programs and make major spending reductions in 55. Separately, the administration listed eight major reforms Bush proposed that also would produce spending cuts.

Of the terminations, Bush has recommended 59 of them before. Twenty-seven of the 55 programs targeted for spending reductions have been previously submitted to Congress.

TERMINATED:

Agriculture Department

AMS Biotechnology Program
Forest Service Economic Action Program
High Cost Energy Grants
NRCS Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations
Research and Extension Grant Earmarks and Low Priority Programs

Commerce Department

Advanced Technology Program
Emergency Steel Guarantee Loan Program
Public Telecommunications Facilities, Planning and Construction Program

Education Department

Comprehensive School Reform
Educational Technology State Grants
Even Start

(High School Program Terminations:)

Vocational Education State Grants
Vocational Education National Activities
Tech Prep State Grants
Upward Bound
Talent Search
GEAR UP
Smaller Learning Communities
Perkins Loans: Capital Contributions and Loan Cancellations
Regional Education Laboratories
Safe and Drug Free Schools State Grants

(Small Elementary and Secondary Education Programs:)

Javits Gifted and Talented Education
National Writing Project
School Leadership
Dropout Prevention Program
Close Up Fellowships
Ready to Teach
Parental Information and Resource Centers
Alcohol Abuse Reduction
Foundations for Learning
Mental Health Integration in Schools
Community Technology Centers
Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners
Foreign Language Assistance
Excellence in Economic Education
Arts in Education
Women's Educational Equity
Elementary and Secondary School Counseling
Civic Education
Star Schools

(Smaller Higher Education Programs:)

Higher Education Demos for Students w/Disabilities
Underground Railroad Program
Interest Subsidy Grants

(Small Job Training and Adult Education Programs:)

Occupational and Employment Information
Tech-prep Demonstration
Literacy Programs for Prisoners
State Grants for Incarcerated Youth

(Small Postsecondary Student Financial Assistance Programs:)

LEAP
Byrd Scholarships
B.J. Stupak Olympic Scholarships
Thurgood Marshall Legal Opportunity

(Small Vocational Rehabilitation Programs:)

Vocational Rehabilitation Recreational Programs
Vocational Rehab (VR) Migrant and Seasonal Workers
Projects with Industry
Supported Employment
Teacher Quality Enhancement Program

Energy Department

Hydropower Program
Nuclear Energy Plant Optimization
Nuclear Energy Research Initiative
Oil and Gas Programs

Health and Human Services Department

ACF Community Service Programs
ACF Early Learning Opportunities Fund
CDC Congressional Earmarks
CDC Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant
CDC Youth Media Campaign
Direct Service Worker Delivery Grants
HRSA Emergency Medical Services for Children
HRSA Health Facilities Construction Congressional Earmarks
HRSA Healthy Community Access Program
HRSA State Planning Grant Program
HRSA Trauma Care
HRSA Traumatic Brain Injury
HRSA Universal Newborn Hearing Screening
Real Choice Systems Change Grants
Housing and Urban Development Department
HOPE VI

Interior Department

BLM Jobs-in-the-Woods Program
LWCF State Recreation Grants (NPS)
National Park Service Statutory Aid
Rural Fire Assistance (BLM, NPS, FWS, BIA)

Justice Department

Byrne Discretionary Grants
Byrne Justice Assistance Grants
COPS Hiring Grants
COPS Interoperable Communications Technology Grants
COPS Law Enforcement Technology Grants
Juvenile Accountability Block Grants
National Drug Intelligence Center

(Other State/Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program Terminations:)

State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP)

Labor Department

Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker Training Program
Reintegration of Youthful Offenders

Transportation Department

National Defense Tank Vessel Construction Program
Railroad Rehabilitation Infrastructure Financing Loan Program

Enviromental Protection Agency

Unrequested Projects
Water Quality Cooperative Agreements

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Hubble Space Telescope Robotic Servicing Mission

Other Agencies

National Veterans Business Development Corporation
Postal Service: Revenue Forgone Appropriation
SBA: Microloan Program
SBA: Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Participating Securities Program

MAJOR REDUCTIONS:

Agriculture Department

Federal (In-House) Research
Forest Service Capital Improve and Maintenance
Forest Service Wildland Fire Management (incl. supp. and emergency funding)
Biomass Research and Development
Broadband
CCC - Bioenergy
CCC - Market Access Program
Farm Bill Programs (EQIP)
Farm Bill Programs (CSP)
Farm Bill Programs (WHIP)
Farm Bill Program (Farm and Ranchland Protection)
Farm Bill Programs (Ag. Management Assistance)
IFAS
Renewable Energy
Rural Firefighter Grants
Rural Strategic Investment Program
Rural Business Investment Program
Value-added Grants
Watershed Rehabilitation
NRCS Conservation Operations
NRCS Resource Conservation and Development Program
Water and Wastewater Grants and Loans

Commerce Department

Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Education Department

Adult Education State Grants
State Grants for Innovation

Energy Department

Environmental Management

Health and Human Services Department

HRSA Children's Hospitals GME Payment Program
HRSA Health Professions
HRSA Rural Health
SAMHSA Programs of Regional and National Significance
State, Local & Hospital Bioterrorism Preparedness Grants

Housing and Urban Development Department

Housing for Persons with Disabilities
Native American Housing Block Grant
Public Housing Capital Fund

Interior Department

Bureau of Indian Affairs School Construction
National Heritage Area Grants
Payments in Lieu of Taxes
USGS, Mineral Resources Program

Justice Department

Federal Bureau of Prisons Construction Program
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program
Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Assistance Programs

Labor Department

International Labor Affairs Bureau
Office of Disability Employment Policy
Workforce Investment Act Pilots and Demonstrations

State Department

Assistance for the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union

Transportation Department

FAA - Facilities and Equipment
FAA - Airport Improvement Program (Oblim)
FRA - Next Generation High Speed Rail

Treasury Department

Internal Revenue Service - Taxpayer Service

Environmental Protection Agency

Alaska Native Villages
Clean Water State Revolving Fund

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Aeronautics: Vehicle Systems Program
Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter

Other Agencies

Archives: National Historical Publications & Records Commission
U.S. Institute of Peace, Construction of New Building

MAJOR REFORMS

Agriculture: Rural Telephone Bank
Commerce: Economic and Community Development Programs
Homeland Security: State and Local Homeland Security Grants
Homeland Security: Transportation Security Administration, Recover Aviation Security Screening Costs Through Fees
Labor: Job Training Reform, Consolidate Grants Program
Transportation: Amtrak
Army Corps of Engineers (Civil Works): Performance Guidelines for Funding Construction Projects
U.S. Agency for International Development and Department of Agriculture: International Food Aid

[Brf]

Well.... It is either deficit spending and increasing the national debt by record amounts.... or cuts...

Which would you prefer?

[broomdalf]

For the cuts:

Starting out with Agriculture: All federal agriculture assistance does is anger the WTO, and our forests are currently overcrowded. With trees. States can certainly handle their own flood prevention.

Commerce:
Steel assistance makes the WTO mad, public communications funds are frivolous, Advanced Technology stuff can be handled by the states. (Note Arnold's funding of the stem cell labs)

Education:

The states can control all of this much more efficiently, as they each have different needs. And Underground Railroad Program sounds like total hogwash to me.

Energy Department:
We have already got the nuclear technology to make extreamly safe nuclear power plants, why don't we apply it?
"Oil and gas programs" sounds like wasted tax money to me.

And I'm sure states can build their own hydropower, and then profit from their own dams.


Health and Human Services:
States...

Interior: BLM Jobs-in-woods sounds like money flowing down the drain, States can build their own recreation, and stop their own fires. Won't comment on Nat'l Parks cut.

Justice: The Byrne Grants sound like great ways for people to pick and choose to send money to their friend judges, but not others.

Cities and states can run their own damn police forces.
National Drug Intelligence Center: we really could use one of these, but that is only one thing.
We can just deport criminal aliens, or maybe give them prison labor to do, not assist them.

Labor:
We need to keep some of our migrant workers migrant workers, or more will come from Mexico to replace them.
States can reintegrate their own Youthful Offenders.

Transportation:
Railroads don't need corporate welfare, and I can't tell what the other one means.

EPA: Unrequested Projects is vague, and I'm sure states can handle their own water.

NASA:
I thought we were replacing Hubble, don't need that program.


Argh, I might do "Major Reductions" Later, but I only found 1 or 2 of those programs that we cut that we'd be better off keeping the deficit that it's costing us.

[Eddy]

Brf wrote: Well.... It is either deficit spending and increasing the national debt by record amounts.... or cuts...

Which would you prefer?

How about getting rid of corporate welfare for starters? Then we could, oh I don't know, pull our troops out of Iraq. Honestly, I read an essay entitled "Let Africa Sink" and it pretty much sums up my attitude towards the rest of the world. Let Them Sink. The war is 200 billion and counting and we got nothing out of it. Then get rid of the loopholes for the wealthy in the tax code.

I'm not saying that every single program on the list is completely needed (what the heck is Underground Railroad anyway), but instead of ensuring a generation of uneducated criminals and unemployed poor, we could trim a lot of fat from a few instead of the many.

(Just looked it up. The Underground Railroad Program is run by the National Park Service and is designed to educate tourists in the history of the Underground Railroad used by escaping slaves in the 1800s)

[Brf]

Eddy wrote: Just looked it up. The Underground Railroad Program is run by the National Park Service and is designed to educate tourists in the history of the Underground Railroad used by escaping slaves in the 1800s)

What the heck does the National Park Service have to do with escaping slaves? ... a pretty weird mismatch if you ask me....

[JuntaJoe]

It's probably a museum. The parks service runs quite a few.


The problem with a list like this is that you have no raw data.

Is the program a duplicate? Bush said he was dumping those.

Is the program not living up to its potential for the money spent?

We know nothing about these programs other than the label.

You simply have to admit that we are unable to fairly critique this without more info.

[Eddy]

It's not so much the actual programs as the overall trend I see here. Basically alternative fuels are being demolished with a token program about oil, education is being totally destroyed with many of the programs having a positive impact that is much greater than the NCLB Act, the environment is clearly not one of his priorities, and neither is employment (both for unemployed and rehabilitation purposes). Basically, the whole thing is gutting agencies that should be left alone.

[JuntaJoe]

Perhaps the energy cuts are to get Congress to finally make some headway on the 5 year old Energy Bill stalled in Congress.

And as for killed programs, they might be duplicates as I said before. Another department's program doing the same thing might be more effective.

And you need to stop thinking that an important sounding name means it is a big program. An "Excellence in Schools" program might be nothing but a small pork program in a single school district in Montana.

Here is a little more info to shed some light:


Bush Lays Out Details on Spending Cuts

February 13, 2005 9:50 AM EST

WASHINGTON - More than five days after unveiling his budget, President Bush spelled out in detail for lawmakers his requests to eliminate or sharply reduce spending for 154 programs the administration sees as duplications, failures or inefficiencies.

With a document detailing the administration's rationale for each proposed cut, the White House fleshed out Bush's State of the Union promise to curb government spending and reduce budget deficits that have been forecast.

The document was released late Friday, a time that administrations of both parties have picked for years to deliver unpopular news, because of Saturday's newspapers and news broadcasts have the week's smallest audiences.

Many of the items listed are not widely known, rather very small projects inserted by lawmakers to benefit their districts.

This list was in addition to $4.7 billion in savings from major proposed reforms already discussed in the budget released Monday, such as beginning to eliminate Amtrak, consolidating job-training programs and moving community development grants to the Commerce Department.

In the new list, Bush asked lawmakers to eliminate programs worth $4.3 billion from education, $1 billion from health and $1.5 billion from law enforcement.

Reductions include cuts totaling $2.5 billion from agriculture, $690 million from health and $470 million from housing.

In all, the targeted programs include 99 that the White House wants to eliminate, for a total of $8.8 billion in savings. The president wants to save an additional $6.5 billion by cutting spending on 55 programs.

More than half of the identified programs had been flagged for cuts or elimination in previous years.

Last year, the president asked Congress to eliminate 130 federal programs. Four were terminated.

A few examples of the new recommendations:

-End the Small Business Administration's $15 million micro-loan program because it costs taxpayers yearly $1 for each $1 lent.

-Eliminate $496 million in educational technology state grants to free more money for higher priority programs that focus on student achievement and show clearer results.

-Cut half of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and move the program closer to self-reliance.

-Cut one-third of the Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Payment Program because an assessment determined there was no demonstrated need for the program.

-Eliminate the National Drug Intelligence Center because it duplicates programs run by a new, multi-agency Drug Intelligence Fusion Center.

The administration said it paid special attention to overlapping programs that serve the same purpose. By streamlining those programs, the White House suggests the government can save $1.9 billion.

Some changes identify programs the administration sees as better served by private companies and organizations.

"When the federal government focuses on its priorities and limits its claims on resources taken from the private sector, that helps sustain a stronger, more productive economy," the report said.

The list of 154 proposed cuts came from the one-third of federal spending reviewed and directed by Congress every year. That does not include such programs as Social Security and Medicare.

The president additionally asked lawmakers to review the Pentagon's budget and to consider trimming the vast portion of federal spending that increases automatically each year, such as agriculture payments.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press.