Durbin: President's Budget Reflects "The Wrong Values" for Illinois and America

DURBIN: PRESIDENT'S BUDGET REFLECTS "THE WRONG VALUES" FOR ILLINOIS AND AMERICA

Senator Says Proposal Goes Too Far Cutting Funding for Illinois Priorities, Hides True Cost of President's Tax Cuts

Monday, February 7, 2005

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said the budget the President sent to Capitol Hill today continues his failed tax polices, masks the true cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the costs of his Social Security privatization plan, and shortchanges vital domestic priorities like education, Medicaid and Veterans benefits that millions of Americans rely on.

"A budget is more than a collection of numbers; it's a reflection of values," Durbin said. "What the President is sending to Congress today reveals a wide gulf between the President's speeches and his real priorities."

"In this budget, the President increases health care costs for veterans, cuts health care for people in nursing homes and poor children, and continues to fail to fully fund his education mandates," said Durbin. "On top of that, he borrows hundreds of billions of dollars - adding to the largest national debt in U.S. history -- and phases in a new tax cut giving millionaires $20,000 apiece. Those are the wrong values. They would put Illinois and our nation on the wrong track."

Durbin noted that when the President took office in 2000, the United States had a $236 billion surplus; in five short years, the Bush Administration has managed to turn that into a $427 billion deficit.

"The President promises to cut the deficit in half in five years, but he is attempting to do that on the backs of veterans, students, senior citizens and working families," Durbin said. "His rhetoric on halving the deficit is completely undercut by his insistence on making tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent," Durbin said

Durbin said the following line items of the President's new budget pose particular problems for Illinois:

Veterans: The President's budget would force more than 40,000 Illinois veterans with incomes as low as $25,842 per year to pay more for their health care. Illinois veterans will be hit with a $250 annual fee to participate in the VA healthcare system and their monthly prescription drug costs will more than double - going up to $15 per month from the current $7 per month.

In addition, the Department of Veterans Affairs has consistently underestimated the agency's true costs in three areas: acute hospital care patients, psychiatric patients and the number of total medical visits have all exceeded VA's projections in three of the last four years. Already more than one million American troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 10,000 soldiers have been wounded in action. Mental health professionals estimate that at least 16 percent of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan will suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), requiring psychiatric treatment.

Homeland Security / First Responders: The President would cut funding for the nation's primary first responder grant programs. His budget proposes a $290 million reduction in grants for state and local governments over last year. The President would also cut funding by $200 million for high risk urban areas including the City of Chicago.

Competitive grants to firefighters and fire departments would be cut by $150 million -- approximately 20 percent. This program provides funding for specific needs of fire departments in Illinois, providing fire vehicles, protective equipment, training, fire prevention and education programs. More than 50 local fire department in Illinois have benefited from these grants in the past two years.

The President's budget also slashes funding for the successful Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program by $488 million - from the program's overall funding level of $606.4 million last year to $117.8 million in the Bush FY06 budget.

Since 1994, Illinois law enforcement agencies have been awarded more than $416 million in COPS grants for community policing efforts. COPS grants have funded 5,854 additional police officers and sheriff's deputies in Illinois. 677 local and state law enforcement agencies in Illinois have benefited from COPS funding, and more than $22 million has been awarded to hire 182 school resource offices to improve safety for students, teachers and administrators in Illinois elementary and high schools. An additional $45 million has been awarded to enhance crime fighting technologies, allowing Illinois law enforcement officers to spend more time on the streets preventing and fighting crime. Energy: The President has proposed cutting funding for the Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) to just $4 million, putting the future of this important project in doubt. Bush's budget proposes $16 million less than the amount needed for the design and construction of the RIA. The University of Chicago is competing for the RIA project, which would provide a $1 billion investment in Illinois' economy and would bring 1,750 permanent jobs and 16,000 temporary construction jobs to the State.

The President also would completely eliminate the $6.7 million in funding for the Fermilab BTeV project, which is designed to help scientists better understand the nature of matter and how the universe was formed. If successful, the project would be a huge leap forward in science - much as Einstein's Theory of Relativity helped spawn hundreds of scientific breakthroughs in physics, chemistry, medicine and engineering. The BTeV experiment will utilize the world-class proton-antiproton collider at the Fermi National Accelerator Lab, located in Aurora, Illinois. Housing: In his FY06 budget, the President proposes to transfer the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) Fund from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the Department of Commerce, combine it with 17 other programs, and fund all 18 programs at $3.71 billion -- $1 billion less than CDBG's total FY05 funding. CDBG supports state and local governments' community development and neighborhood revitalization projects, including the development of affordable housing, neighborhood improvements, and community services such as child care, housing counseling and services for the homeless.

For FY05, Illinois received more than $196 million in CDBG funds statewide. The City of Chicago alone received $95.5 million in CDBG funding to provide more than 2,500 affordable housing units, economic development in 70 communities, job training and placement for nearly 900 low-income residents and health care services to more than 235,000 people.

For the third consecutive year, President Bush has proposed the elimination of the HOPE VI program, which is used to renovate or demolish existing public housing and replace it with mixed-income housing. Between 1993 and 2003, Illinois received 12 HOPE VI revitalization grants totaling $347.6 million.

The President's FY06 budget also slashes nearly $178 million from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) - an $80 million decrease in regular funding and a $97.6 million decrease in contingency funding. In Illinois, that cut translates into a $5 million shortfall for the program. LIHEAP funds assist low income households in covering rising residential energy costs. Only two states receive more LIHEAP funds than Illinois, and last year the state received nearly $108 million in assistance.

In 2003, some 250,000 households in Illinois received LIHEAP assistance. Last year, that number increased nearly 27 percent to approximately 318,000 homes.

Amtrak: The President's Budget does not include any federal funding for Amtrak service in Illinois. Amtrak would need $1.8 billion in FY06 to operate, but the President completely eliminated Amtrak funding in his current budget.

Chicago and 29 other communities in Illinois would lose state-subsidized Amtrak service altogether, leaving the 3 million passengers a year who rely on Amtrak service in Illinois out of luck and pushing 2,000 Illinoisans out of jobs. The $70 million dollars Illinois has invested in a high-speed passenger line connecting Chicago, Springfield and St. Louis would be wasted.

Health Care: The Bush budget would cut $60 billion in "inappropriate spending" from the Medicaid program. Included in the President's definition of "inappropriate spending" is funding that has expanded health care coverage for 1.8 million Illinoisans, including 1 million Illinois children and comprehensive prescription drug coverage for 160,000 Illinois seniors. Education: The President's budget again fails to provide full funding for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) - bipartisan legislation that imposes tough accountability standards on schools in exchange for increased resources to improve teaching and learning in grades K-12.

The bulk of federal funding for NCLB is through Title I funding. Title I helps schools provide textbooks, teachers, and additional classroom help to students from low-income families. The President's budget falls far short of the Title I funding promised to Illinois this year, dropping from the $951 million needed, to just $565 million - a $386 million shortfall that will leave 120,726 low-income Illinois students behind.

The President's budget for after school programs also shortchanges Illinois schools by $50 million. NCLB authorized $91 million for Illinois after school programs in FY06, but the President's budget provides just $40 million for Illinois schools. That leaves 67,886 students throughout the state without the benefit of after school programs and the extra support they need to meet NCLB's academic standards.

President Bush has repeatedly said that every child should be able to read by the third grade, but as many as 800 Illinois children from low-income families will be cut from the Head Start program because his budget funds the Head Start program at the same level as last year.

http://durbin.senate.gov/releases.cfm