President Bush’s budget for Fiscal Year
2007 would severely cut programs that directly affect the quality of life of
rural Americans. The following “Rural
Report Card” is an assessment of the President’s annual spending plan and the negative
impact it would have on working families, farmers, small businesses and local
economies across the heartland.
As this analysis
demonstrates, the President’s reductions
in funding for law enforcement, health care, education, economic
development, and agriculture are disproportionately weighted toward rural
America. At the same time, the budget would put affordable health care further
out of reach for many working Americans. (For more information about misguided
priorities in the President’s budget, see the Democratic Policy Committee
report, “The Bush Special Interest Budget Reflects Misplaced Republican
Priorities.”) Democrats believe these are the wrong priorities not just for
those who live in rural America, but for all Americans.
Rural
Law Enforcement
The President has proposed a
total of $1.2 billion in cuts to state and local law enforcement programs,
including programs specifically designed to assist rural communities. Once
again, President Bush’s budget will inhibit the ability of first responders to
prepare for new threats and law enforcement to combat the growing
methamphetamine problem.
Firefighter Assistance
Grants: The President’s budget
includes a $355 million cut (or 56 percent) in Firefighter Assistance
Grants. This program, which provides direct assistance for local fire
departments to better protect firefighters and the public, was authorized to
make $648 million in grants last year. The President’s budget eliminates
funding for the rural fire assistance program in the Department of the Interior
which helps reduce the risk of damage resulting from catastrophic wildfires and
supports rural fire departments. President Bush would also eliminate the state
and local fire assistance program which supports cost-shared grants to local
and rural fire protection districts that protect small communities.
Edward Byrne Memorial
Justice Assistance Grant Program: The President’s budget proposes eliminating this important
program, which made $388 million in grants last year to assist state and local
governments to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system – with an
emphasis on violent crime and serious offenders.
Community Oriented
Policing Services (COPS): The President’s budget proposes deep cuts to this
important program, which last year was authorized to make $371 million in
expenditures to assist State and local law enforcement agencies by providing
grants, training, and technical assistance. In particular, the COPS
Program has helped cities and counties procure equipment and technology,
advance community policing, and combat methamphetamine use and distribution. The
$40 million the President has proposed for the Methamphetamine Clean Up program
is an improvement over last year’s $20 million request, but well short of the
authorized level of $52 million.
Juvenile Justice Programs: The
President’s budget proposes deep cuts in juvenile justice programs, including
elimination of the Juvenile Accountability Block
Grants, which support state and local efforts to prevent juvenile delinquency
and crime. The Bush budget also reduces funding for rural domestic violence
and child abuse enforcement grants.
Rural
Health Care
The President’s budget
proposal slashes programs designed to help rural communities address their
unique health care challenges. It proposes only $27 million for rural
health programs in Fiscal Year 2007, a cut of 83 percent from Fiscal Year
2006. The President proposes terminating rural hospital flexibility
grants, the rural and community access to emergency devices program, and area
health education centers, which provide vial health and health education
services to rural areas.
Medicare: Medicare is a crucial source of health coverage for
rural America. About one-fourth of Medicare’s 43 million beneficiaries
live in rural areas. But the President proposes $35.9 billion in Medicare
cuts over five years and $105 billion over 10 years. He proposes reduced
payment updates to hospitals, nursing homes, home health providers, inpatient
rehabilitation facilities, hospice care, ambulance services, and other changes
to reduce Medicare spending.
Medicaid: More
than 50 million low-income people depend on Medicaid for their health
care. The Republican-controlled Congress just enacted $6.9 billion in
Medicaid cuts over five years. Now the President is looking for
more. The President’s budget, through legislative proposals and
regulatory changes, proposes an additional $17 billion in Medicaid cuts over
five years.
Education
The President has proposed
cutting education funding by $2.1 billion, the largest amount in the history of
the Education Department. In addition, the President’s budget proposes
eliminating 42 programs, including all the vocational and technical education
programs, education technology state grants, GEAR UP, Safe and Drug-Free Schools
and Communities State Grants, TRIO Talent Search and Upward Bound.
School Improvement
Programs for Rural Education: The President’s
budget freezes funding for two vital programs that are served under the rural
education school improvement programs: the Small, Rural Schools Achievement
program which helps fund rural local educational agencies, and the Rural and
Low-Income Schools program, which targets rural local education agencies that
serve poor students.
After-School Programs: The
President’s budget leaves behind two million students who would receive after-school
services if the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program were
funded at the level promised in the No Child Left Behind Act. 21st
Century funding would remain flat, at $981 million–$1.5 billion below the $2.5
billion authorized level for Fiscal Year 2007.
Individuals with
Disabilities in Education Act: The President’s budget proposes that, for the
second year in a row, the federal government provide a smaller share of States’
total costs for special education. Funding for IDEA Part B State Grants would
rise by $100 million, for a total of $10.7 billion. This would provide just 17
percent of the national average per-pupil expenditure toward meeting the excess
costs of educating students with disabilities – less than half of the 40
percent “full funding” level that Congress committed to paying when the IDEA
was first adopted 31 years ago. This is down from 18 percent in Fiscal Year 2006
and 18.5 percent in Fiscal Year 2005. The budget also falls further below the
authorized levels in the IDEA Improvement Act of 2004. The proposed
level of $10.7 billion falls $6.3 billion short of the Fiscal Year 2007
authorized level of $16.9 billion; the shortfall in Fiscal Year 2006 was $4.1 billion.
Economic
Development
Rural businesses face a
changing global economy and increasing costs, and economic development programs
provide them with skills and tools to help them compete. The President’s
budget would drastically cut economic initiatives relied on by rural
communities. The economic development initiatives specifically benefit
communities of 3,000 or fewer residents. These cuts will be detrimental to
rural America.
Community Development
Block Grants: The President’s
budget proposes to cut funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
program by $736 million – a 20 percent cut that would also eliminate funding
for rural empowerment zones. The CDBG program provides eligible
metropolitan areas with annual direct grants that can be used to revitalize
neighborhoods, expand affordable housing and economic opportunities, and
improve community facilities and services.
Manufacturing Extension
Partnership: The President’s budget
proposes a $67 million cut to the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership
(MEP) program, which provides business support and technical assistance
services to small manufacturers. The MEP helps American small businesses improve
productivity and compete in the global marketplace.
Rural Housing: The President’s budget would cut $259 million in
Rural Housing Assistance funding. The proposed budget eliminates funding for
Rural Housing and Economic Development programs (RHED) and Direct Rental
Housing Loans, and freezes funding for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration
program, which helps homeless veterans become employed in urban and rural
areas.
Water and Sewer Assistance: Water
and sewer grants would be cut by $119 million to $346 million in Fiscal Year
2007. These grants assist smaller cities and towns in rural America to provide
their residents with safe water and sewer service. Hundreds of thousands of
people in the United States continue to have inadequate or no water or sewer
service.
Rural Businesses: The Administration’s budget would eliminate Economic
Impact Initiative grants, Rural Business Enterprise grants, Rural Business
Opportunity grants, Rural Community Development Initiative grants, and Rural
Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community grants. These programs provided $80
million toward economic development in rural communities in Fiscal Year 2006.
Rural Utilities: Grants and loans to rural utilities would be cut by
$1.953 billion, from $8.278 billion to $6.325 billion in Fiscal Year 2007. The
budget proposes eliminating mandatory broadband assistance loans authorized in
the 2002 Farm Bill and capping discretionary loan guarantees for broadband
loans at $30 million.
Energy: The Administration would reduce funding for the
grant and loan program for farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses to buy
renewable energy systems and making energy efficiency improvements to$10
million from its authorized level of $23 million. Funding for this program has
been blocked for the last two fiscal years. In addition, the budget proposes
to eliminate high energy cost grants when farmers are struggling to cover
skyrocketing energy costs.
County Payments: The President’s budget would cut funding for county
payments through the Forest Service by over 50 percent. The original county
payments law enacted in 2000 has provided more than $2.1 billion in stable
funding for rural infrastructure, education, and safety programs to over 700
counties in more than 40 states. President Bush’s proposed cuts to county
payments could have a devastating economic effect on rural communities
throughout the country.
Payment in Lieu of
Taxes: The President’s budget would
cut funding for Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) for the third year in a row,
this year by $34.5 million. The President’s proposed $198 million funding is much
less than the authorized level of $350 million.
Agriculture
The President’s budget
includes cuts in farm and nutrition programs that are vital to farmers and
rural Americans.
Commodity payments: The
President’s budget would cut commodity payments across the board by five
percent. The proposed cuts come on the heels of $2.7 billion in cuts to agriculture
programs over five years that were enacted as part of the 2005 budget
reconciliation bill.
Nutrition: Funding for food
and nutrition programs would be decreased in 2007 by $39 million, from $5.516
billion to $5.477 billion. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program—a program
that provides commodities to the elderly, low-income women, infants, and young
children—would be eliminated.
Specialty crop programs: The
President’s budget would eliminate $6.93 million for specialty crop block
grants to states and $5.94 million for the six-state Fruit and Vegetable Pilot
program.
Dairy: The President’s
budget would impose a brand new tax on dairy producers of three cents per hundred
pounds of milk produced. This new tax comes at a time when dairy farmers are
already suffering from escalating energy costs and declining prices for their
milk.
Conservation: The
President’s budget continues to fund conservation programs in the Farm Bill
well below authorized levels. The budget would cut funding for conservation
programs (Environmental Quality Incentive Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentive
Program, and the Farmland Protection Program) by $29 million, from $1.134
billion to $1.105 billion in 2007. The Farm Bill authorized a total of $1.51
billion for these programs. The budget would also eliminate the Grasslands
Reserve Program.
