The Budget at a glance
By Gannett News Service
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 CHUCK KENNEDY / KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS |
| President Bush, flanked by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaks to reporters about his 2005 budget after a meeting with his Cabinet members. |
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WASHINGTON — The president's $2.4 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2005, which begins Oct. 1, includes spending on these programs:
Agriculture
The president wants to increase agriculture and nutrition spending by 5 percent to $82 billion. Three-quarters of the money is determined by spending formulas Congress already has approved. In the parts of the budget Congress can control, the administration wants to increase spending on developing foreign markets, reducing the threat of forest fires and on food safety. On the other hand, the administration proposes cutting spending on foreign food assistance and many rural development and environmental programs. The administration also wants new user fees for inspections of meat and poultry plants.
Border security
The Bush administration wants to increase the Homeland Security Department's budget to $28.3 billion in discretionary spending in fiscal year 2005. The department, which combines 22 federal agencies, opened its doors in March. The administration is seeking to strengthen border, aviation and port security, prevent a bioterrorist attack, improve intelligence-sharing among agencies, and send more federal dollars to local law-enforcement efforts to combat terrorism. It wants to boost deportation efforts aimed at the country's 8 million to 9 million illegal immigrants while reducing a backlog of applications from millions of immigrants who want to enter the country legally. Among the highest-priced items on the department's wish list is $2.5 billion for Project Bio-Shield, which allows the federal government to pre-purchase vaccines and medications to protect Americans against a possible biological attack.
Counterterrorism
Bush is seeking a 9.6 percent increase in counterterrorism money. The FBI is among the top winners, earmarked to get an 11 percent increase, to $5.1 billion, partly to hire more agents. The Department of Homeland Security would see a bump in discretionary spending from $27.1 billion to $28.3 billion, or 4.6 percent. That includes $900 million more, or 20 percent, for aviation and transportation security.
Defense
The Pentagon won't seek more money from Congress this year to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But in early 2005, shortly after Bush or a new president is sworn in, the Defense Department likely will seek additional money — as much as $50 billion — to finance the war. Congress already has approved almost $165 billion in extra spending for Iraq and Afghanistan. The 2005 defense budget request is $401.7 billion, a 7 percent increase from 2004. Almost 18 cents of every tax dollar goes to the department, the most of any government agency. The president requested almost a $7 billion increase for more troops, a 3.5 percent raise for those in the military, a $13 billion increase in operations and maintenance, and a $4.6 billion increase in research and development. The Pentagon also will ask Congress to spend up to $500 million to train military and security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Education
Bush would spend more than $13 billion to help educate children from poor families — a key goal of his No Child Left Behind school-reform law and a $1 billion jump over last year's funding. His request would also boost spending by $1 billion to school the nation's 6.5 million disabled students. That amounts to 20 percent of the average per-pupil spending on those students. Critics note the federal government has pledged for decades to pay 40 percent of the bill. Altogether, administration officials want to increase federal education spending by 3 percent. Democrats say the budget shortchanges public schools struggling to comply with the reform law. Bush also wants to save $1.4 billion by killing 38 programs, including Even Start, which works to improve literacy for young children. Last year, he proposed killing 45 federal education programs. Congress kept 40. Bush also wants $50 million to make school vouchers available nationwide — down from $75 million last year. Lawmakers have agreed only to a narrow voucher program for students in the District of Columbia. Bush's budget calls for $73.1 billion in financial aid for college students, a 6 percent increase from this year. The money would finance grants, loans and work-study programs.
Energy
The Bush administration wants to increase the department's budget by 6 percent next year to $23.4 billion, much of the increase going toward maintaining the nation's nuclear-weapons stockpile and the national laboratories and disposing of nuclear material from other nations.
The budget includes a 43 percent increase to $228 million for Bush's push into hydrogen research to produce fuel-cell technology for cars and offices. Financing for clean-coal power plants got a boost although the budget slightly cuts money for solar technology.
The budget also gives a 57 percent increase for Yucca Mountain, the proposed nuclear-waste repository slated for Nevada that is expected to open as early as 2010.
Environment
Bush is seeking nearly $7.8 billion in fiscal year 2005 to finance the Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces the nation's clean air, water and toxic waste cleanup laws. Major reductions would occur in the agency's science and research budget, with other cuts recommended in water-quality programs Congress has favored.
The administration touted the fact that it has more than quadrupled money for Great Lakes cleanup, raising it to $45 million in 2005 from $10 million in 2004. The Great Lakes touch states that are important to the presidential election. The administration also announced plans to boost efforts to reduce pollution from school buses by increasing money to $65 million in 2005 from $5 million in 2004. Senate critics complained that Bush's budget would clean up only 40 Superfund toxic-waste sites in 2005, down from an average of 87 sites a year during the Clinton administration.
Families
Bush proposes spending $16.5 billion — the same as last year — on block grants for state welfare programs under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The 1996 welfare bill halved the nation's welfare rolls by emphasizing work over cash assistance. Congress was supposed to reauthorize the bill in 2001, but the program has limped along on temporary extensions because of partisan wrangling over child-care costs and workweek hours. Congress has until March 31 to reauthorize the bill. The Bush administration proposes to keep child-care spending flat at $4.8 billion annually. Bush also wants to double — to $273 million — the budget for abstinence education programs for teens. He proposes spending $1.2 billion over five years on marriage-promotion programs. Current spending is $1 billion over five years.
Health care
Bush's $580 billion request for the Department of Health and Human Services makes national security a centerpiece issue. In a push to defend against bioterrorism, Bush's proposal asks for $130 million for a new bio-surveillance program that also would use money from the Homeland Security and Agriculture departments. The overall $373 million program would aid ongoing federal, state, and local programs that monitor bioterrorism risks and finance vaccine research and steps to improve food and agriculture safety. In response to a shortage of flu vaccines available in the United States this winter, Bush proposes spending $80 million in the next two fiscal years to stockpile 4 million to 6 million doses each year of the pediatric flu vaccine. Bush's budget request would increase Health and Human Services spending by about $32 billion, or 5.8 percent.
Housing
Bush's budget calls for more money to help the poor and minority own homes in 2005. He wants $200 million for the American Dream Downpayment Act for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, up from an estimated $87 million in 204. But some housing groups complain that Bush wants to cut money to help poor people rent homes. His budget calls for almost $12 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rental voucher program, $1.66 billion below demand, said Kim Schaffer, spokeswoman for the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Jobs and trade
Bush's wants more money to help the unemployed, including people who lost work when inexpensive foreign imports pushed their companies out of business. He wants to spend $14.6 billion on Department of Labor job training programs during the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, up from $13.7 billion this year. This includes $7.7 billion for measures such as the Workforce Investment Act and Trade Adjustment Assistance programs, which help workers improve skills and retrain those who lost jobs from foreign competition. Bush also wants a $250 million grant program to help workers gain new jobs skills at community colleges. America has lost about 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2000.
Public lands
The Interior Department, which manages one of every five acres in the United States, would get a 2 percent budget increase in 2005 to $11 billion. The department's largest agency, the National Park Service, would see its budget increase by $100 million to a total of $2.4 billion. Included in the budget is a request to increase money for park operations by $76.5 million to a total of $1.7 billion. The budget proposal has $7 million in new money for the Bureau of Land Management to revise six resource management plans in western Oregon, $41.8 million to remove wild horses and burros from federal land — a 40 percent increase — and $7 million, or nearly double the federal money, to prevent the extinction of the sage grouse.
Seniors
The Bush budget highlights changes created in Medicare legislation the president signed in December. Beginning in May, Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for prescription-drug cards to save 10 percent to 25 percent on most medicines. Additionally, low-income seniors can get a $600 credit on their Medicare discount card to purchase prescription drugs. Medicare prescription-drug insurance begins in 2006. Medicare also will cover preventive benefits for the first time this year. That includes wellness physical exams for new enrollees and blood tests for early detection of heart disease. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation will cost $395 billion over 10 years. The White House budget documents put the cost at $534 billion. Social Security checks won't change, but the Bush budget does propose simplified tax-preferred retirement and savings accounts to encourage current workers to save more.
Space
The White House is asking for $16.2 billion for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a 5.6 percent increase over this fiscal year's spending level.
NASA officials believe they are justified in asking for the increase, citing an estimated $200 million needed for work associated with returning the space shuttles to flight in the coming months. The budget also begins reorganizing the space agency to meet Bush's goal of sending humans to the moon and eventually to Mars.
Tax cuts
Tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 scheduled to expire in 2005 would be made permanent in the president's 2005 budget proposal, adding $990 billion to the national debt over 10 years. They include an increase in the child tax credit from $600 to $1,000, marriage-penalty relief, a reduction in taxes on capital gains and dividends, rate reductions on marginal tax brackets and the estate tax. Bush's proposal also includes Retirement Savings Accounts in which eligible wage earners could save up to $5,000 annually and Lifetime Savings Accounts open to all.
Other areas proposed for tax cuts: health care, charitable giving, telecommuting, and energy production and conservation. More than $44 billion would be raised in 10 years by closing corporate tax loopholes and eliminating tax shelters. Overall, the administration proposes net tax cuts of $1.24 trillion over 10 years.
Transportation
The president's $58.7 billion budget for the Department of Transportation asks for $33.6 billion in highway spending and $7.3 billion for transit, about the same as current levels. But the Bush budget also calls for dramatic cuts in subsidies for Amtrak — from $1.22 billion this year to $900 million in 2005 — and for essential air service for rural communities — from $113 million to $50 million. The budget also includes $8.8 billion to improve aviation safety, including grants to upgrade navigational technology.
Veterans
Bush is requesting $29.7 billion in 2005 for the Veterans Affairs Department for medical care, research and other discretionary programs.
The budget also seeks an additional $38.7 billion for mandatory programs, such as disability compensation, pensions, and burial and housing benefits.
Budget proposals would end $7 drug co-payments, pay for emergency care in non-VA facilities for insured veterans and end hospice co-payments.
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
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