Faith in His Budget

President’s plan would increase role of religious groups

President Bush last week put into concrete terms his vision of compassionate conservatism. In the 2006

spending plan he proposed to Congress last week he suggested taking money away from many longstanding, broad-based social programs that he says are ineffective and sought to put some of it into new, carefully focused programs that would be carried out primarily by small charities and religious groups.

At the same time, spurred by pressure to cut the deficit, now more than $400-billion, Mr. Bush made proposals to carry out his pledges to cut the size of government. The president proposed reducing by more than 1 percent every spending category except those related to defense and homeland security, as well as overseas projects. He also singled out more than 150 programs for elimination or sharp reductions, a move that he said would save the government $20-billion. Many of those changes would lead to cuts in programs that subsidize charities and the people they serve.

Among the key proposals in the president’s plan:

• Eighteen neighborhood-improvement programs, including the $4.1-billion Community Development Block Grant Program, which supports many housing-development efforts, would receive less money than this year or be consolidated into a single $3.7-billion program. Meanwhile, an additional $200-million would be spent to help the homeless, bringing total spending to $1.4-billion. Among housing efforts that Mr. Bush wants to keep is one that finances housing for the elderly — a program that the Housing and Urban Development Department said provided $316-million to religious groups that house older people.
• Forty-eight education programs, including vocational training, would be abolished. At the same time, the budget proposes an additional $52-million for “school choice” programs that help parents send their children to private or parochial schools instead of public institutions.
• An additional $75-million, doubling this year’s total, has been proposed for a drug-treatment program run primarily by local groups and religious charities. The president proposed an overall cut of $56-million in the budget of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
• About $50-million would be cut from a longstanding Justice Department program designed to keep children from joining gangs, while $50-million for a new program with similar goals would be financed through the Compassion Capital Fund, which gives most of its money to religious charities and grass-roots groups.

“The president has chosen to go with the programs that he thinks are the most effective, and, of course, he has continued to maintain a strong belief that partnerships between government and America’s armies of compassion mean a lot in the lives of our poor,” said Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

The long-term impact of the changes the president wants to make in federal programs in the 2006 fiscal year, which begins October 1, is difficult to measure.

The president did not include estimates of how much each federal program would be projected to spend over five years, a departure from the spending plans that have been submitted by the White House in the past. As a result, charity lobbyists and advocates for the poor have been poring over the fine print to figure out what the future might bring.

Limiting Benefits

Among changes not easily visible in the 2006 budget, Mr. Bush has proposed revisions in some of the government’s biggest programs that would save money by extending benefits to fewer people.

For example, while the president would not cut spending on child-care and food-stamp programs next year, the budget proposes to tighten eligibility rules so that 200,000 to 300,000 fewer people would be eligible for food stamps by 2010, down from 26.4 million this year, and parents of some 300,000 children would lose federal subsidies for child care, down from 2.3 million.

President Bush has also proposed shaving $45-billion from Medicaid, the federal health-care program for the poor, over the next 10 years.

Charity leaders and budget analysts note that as part of the budget proposal, the president asked Congress to impose mandatory spending ceilings on an array of social programs.

The effects of those ceilings would be felt in coming years because lawmakers would be unable to approve new spending, said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a government watchdog group. “This is going to be nasty,” he said. “We’re talking about everything from NIH research to environmental cleanups to human services to education and space exploration,” he said. “Everything you think of government doing is going to be on the table.”

‘Fiscal Discipline’

Nonprofit groups that have long sought to reduce federal spending said they were pleased by the administration’s proposal.

“This year it seems they’ll be serious about following through and imposing some fiscal discipline,” said Demian Brady, a senior policy analyst at the National Taxpayers Union. He said that charities that lose money because of the changes would have opportunities to apply for money from some of the new programs proposed in the budget. Otherwise, charities whose programs have been cut will need to make a better case for federal funding or seek private money. “It’s time to think about lightening the load on taxpayers,” he said.

Charity leaders said the administration’s proposals could hurt many of the most-established charity programs, although some proposals do funnel more money to charities.

Irv Katz, president of the National Human Services Assembly, praised the proposed increases in a nutrition program for women and children, as well as the plan to extend Medicare coverage to more needy children and to increase the number of community health centers across the country.

At the same time, many of the proposed cuts in traditional programs would hurt those on the lower end of the economic ladder, he said, which could mean more people turning to charities for aid. “We’re seeing disinvestment in the poor,” he said.

Joshua B. Bolten, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters last week the criticism was inaccurate.

“There are cuts spread throughout this budget,” he said. “We have tried to ensure that, where we are providing a safety net for the poor, that safety net remains in place.”

Tough Sell

The spending reductions included in the budget proposal have generated so much opposition in so many quarters that some observers wonder whether any of the cuts will be enacted. Mr. Bush has proposed slashing many programs that are popular with lawmakers, charity lobbyists say.

Among items in the budget of particular interest to charities:

Arts. The president sought $122-million for the National Endowment for the Arts and $138-million for the National Endowment for the Humanities — the same amount those agencies received in the 2005 fiscal year.

Education. Mr. Bush would reduce aid to several education programs, such as adult education, and eliminate all spending on vocational education, which received nearly $1.2-billion this year. “This federal money serves as a pot of money that is used for innovation and program improvement, professional development, equipment, and technology,” says Alisha Hyslop, assistant director of public policy at the Association for Career and Technical Education, in Alexandria. “Without that pot of money it could be devastating to programs in a lot of places. While they might be able to continue, the quality would be hurt by the lack of resources.”

For the past two years, the administration has sought to reduce spending on vocational education by 25 percent, but Congress has refused to make those cuts. Adult-education programs would be cut by nearly two-thirds, from $574-million to $200-million. Among the programs affected would be English classes for immigrants and preparatory classes for adults seeking high-school equivalency diplomas.

Mr. Bush’s plan to eliminate numerous education programs, including those designed to deter youngsters from dropping out of school and help others prepare for college, alarmed Raul Gonzalez, legislative director of the National Council of La Raza.

“It isn’t clear to us how eliminating programs that are successful in getting Hispanic and Latino kids to go to college could be called high-school reform.”

Health. The White House recommended increasing grants for community health centers by $304-million, to $2-billion.

The administration also has proposed a 64-percent cut to a program that trains nurses, dentists, and others who provide health care. The president plans to increase spending to fight AIDS overseas by $382-million to $3.2-billion. The National Association of People with AIDS said that, while it supported that spending, it was worried by the overall effect of the $491-million cut in spending at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which finance projects to prevent the spread of HIV. The cut represents a 7-percent decrease.

Housing. The president has proposed cutting $3.9-billion from the Housing and Urban Development budget, to $28.5-billion. Aside from the elimination of the Community Development Block Grant Program, housing programs for people with disabilities would be cut in half, from $238-million to $120-million.

Funds for the Department of Agriculture’s rural-housing rental program would be cut by nearly 75 percent, from $99-million to $27-million.

“The federal government is pulling away from constructing new units and relying much more on the private market to do the right thing,” said Linda Couch, deputy director of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The theory is that if there’s really a need for low-income housing in neighborhoods, the private market will figure out a way to meet that need.” But without federal funds to underwrite some of the costs or guarantee rental payments for private developers, Ms. Couch added, “there’s no profit in it for them. There’s no reason for them to play in this game without federal incentives.”

Social services. President Bush recommended reducing money for programs that encourage foster care and adoption, as well as reductions in the Legal Services Corporation, which provides legal assistance to the poor, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, among others.

Head Start would receive $6.9-billion, about the same amount as last year. Danielle Ewen, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy, said that because of the effects of inflation, that means 25,000 fewer children would be able to participate in 2006 than the 919,000 enrolled now.

Nicole Lewis contributed to this article.