Budget proposal of $2.4 trillion slashes programs

WASHINGTON – President Bush proposed a $2.4 trillion budget Monday slicing scores of programs from prisons to arts education in the face of record federal deficits and the costs of war. His budget chief warned a future request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan could add $50 billion.

The election-year blueprint would pour funds into the military, domestic security, and some education and health initiatives. It provides the first dollars for what ultimately could be a hugely expensive effort to visit Mars, and renews his call for making permanent the tax cuts he has shoved through Congress.

Handcuffed by shortfalls he projects will surge to an unprecedented $521 billion this year, the spare plan for 2005 offers few dramatic initiatives. It is aimed mostly at familiar Bush priorities such as war, terrorism, the economy and struggling schools plus a new goal: Halving the deficit in five years, which he projects he will achieve with a 2009 shortfall of $237 billion.

“I’m confident our budget addresses a very serious situation,” he said at a Cabinet meeting. “And that is that we are at war and we had dealt with a recession. And our budget is able to address those significant factors in a way that reduces the deficit in half.”

Last year’s deficit hit $375 billion, the highest ever in dollar terms. Though Bush projects next year’s red ink at $364 billion, that excludes a forthcoming request for U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which White House budget director Joshua Bolten said could hit an “upper limit” of another $50 billion.

“Hopefully, the needs will be less, but it will all depend entirely on the security situation,” said Bolten.

Administration officials say that request would come next year – after this November’s presidential and congressional elections.

Democrats derided Bush for shortchanging social programs, pursuing tax cuts largely helping the rich and producing an unyielding stream of huge budget shortfalls.

“The president clearly does not understand the economic, social and security challenges that our nation faces today,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a leading presidential contender.

Maine Rep. Michael Michaud said in a press release, “This budget continues to shift the burden of payment for services to states and local communities,” and added: “It is possible to pay for the military and homeland security, provide a middle class tax cut, and not run record deficits.”

Tom Allen, Maine’s 1st District congressman, said the president’s budget proposal “promises a bottomless sea of red ink over the next decade and beyond.”

If Bush’s deficit and spending projections come true, the government will borrow 22 percent of what it spends this year and 15 percent next year. His plan sets aside $178 billion next year just for paying interest on its debt.

Bush provided few details on how he would halve deficits, other than broad references to economic growth and spending restraint.

His budget assumes the one-third of the budget Congress writes every year – the rest is automatically paid benefits like Social Security – will grow by a total of 3.7 percent over the next five years. That figure is so low lawmakers are unlikely to heed it.

Bush also proposed $1.1 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade, mostly to renew expiring reductions for individuals and businesses but also reworked plans to encourage saving.

Bolten, the budget chief, said Bush wants to eliminate 65 programs for a savings of $4.9 billion and cut 63 others. Congress has ignored such proposals before.

Though Bush proposed an overall 3 percent education increase – a figure Democrats say is too skimpy – 38 programs slated for extinction were in the Education Department. They included a $35 million arts in education program, school counseling and Even Start for improving poor children’s reading skills.

Programs Bush would cut include water projects, rural conservation, aid to state and local law enforcement agencies, the Amtrak passenger railroad, and federal prisons, which would drop from $4.76 billion to $4.71 billion.

Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe said in a press release that while she shares the president’s desire to reduce the deficit, “this year’s budget is a validation of my deep concerns that … we cannot countenance deficits in perpetuity.”

“It is vital that we scrutinize both sides of the federal ledger,” she said.