Bush’s Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal Would Eliminate 14 HHS Programs, Report Finds
The fiscal year 2006 budget proposal released last week by President Bush would eliminate or make large reductions in funds for a number of HHS and other programs that he has never targeted previously, according to a report released on Friday by the White House, the Washington Post reports. According to the report, the budget proposal would eliminate 99 programs, make large reductions in funds for 55 and restructure 16 to save a net total of $17.2 billion. The budget proposal would eliminate 14 HHS programs to save a net total of $970 million.
The programs targeted for elimination include seven Health Resources and Services Administration programs that fund emergency medical services for children, hospital construction, traumatic brain injury and hearing tests for infants. In addition, the budget proposal would eliminate a $59 million federal anti-obesity campaign that encourages children ages nine to 13 to exercise.
"What you have is a who's-who list of federal programs that either don't work well, do exactly the same thing as other federal programs or just aren't essential priorities in the period we're living in," Chad Kolton, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget, said.
"Given the impact of these cuts on average American working families, it is no surprise that the administration would want to hide them in the dark by slipping them under the door after the sun has gone down," Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said (Baker/Lee, Washington Post, 2/12).