Group complains about federal budget cuts

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 | 9:54 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- President Bush's budget would cut millions of dollars from Nevada's programs that affect the poor, elderly and children, a coalition of 29 groups says.

Jan Gilbert, coordinator for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, told a press conference Monday that Bush is proposing tax cuts for the wealthy and cutting back programs for low-income people. She said this is a strategy to force the state to pick up the programs. Her group said Congress could make deeper cuts.

And it hurts Nevada more because of its fast-growing population, said Gilbert.

After the press conference, Gov. Kenny Guinn said both Democrat and Republican governors are concerned about the reductions. "We're all on the same line," said the governor.

"We know we are going to lose some," said Guinn. But he said the governors don't want cutbacks on Medicaid in programs for the disabled, seniors, children and poor.

He will attend the National Governors Conference in Washington Feb. 28. The governors will be hosted at a dinner at the White House and the next day will meet with Bush and members of the cabinet.

During the press conference, the most dramatic testimony came from Chuck Fulkerson, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services.

With his voice choking with emotion, Fulkerson said the proposed reductions will mean the nation is "not living up to its obligations to the veterans." He said, "This is truly without heart."

In a press release, Fulkerson said the state Veterans Home in Boulder City will see a reduction in funds. "The administration is paying for the present war by reducing care promised to veterans of prior wars," said Fulkerson, who heads the state agency that handles veterans affairs.

At present the federal Veterans Administration contributes $59 for every veteran admitted to the home. Fulkerson said the proposal is to allow the $59 only to former POWs and those severely injured in the line of duty. That would mean a great impact on Nevada.

The group composed of labor, education and social organizations is calling itself "Nevadans against Cuts and Caps." Nevada, according to the organization, will lose $166 million in the next 10 years in Medicaid, the program that provides medical care for the poor.

The state could lose more than $16 million in the next 10 years to pay for childcare for 6,300 kids of low-income families.

Jon Sasser, statewide advocacy coordinator for Legal Services, said the next three weeks are critical because Congress starts marking up its proposed budget for the next fiscal year. He said "There may be deeper cuts by Congress" and there is no filibuster permitted to stop this.

Sasser and others urged Nevadans to write their congressional representatives opposing the reductions. He said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is "very supportive" of the effort.

Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, said there are proposed cuts for such programs as Head Start, after-school sessions and the safe and drug free project in schools.

The state would also lose $16 million in childcare assistance over the next 10 years, according to Families USA.

Sasser said "Washington is once again trying to dump on Nevada."

"This time instead of unloading nuclear waste, they are trying to shift the cost of deficit reduction onto our backs," Sasser said.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said the items being cut in the Bush plan "are not luxuries." She said these cuts would dump the problem in the lap of the state. She said these proposed reductions are "unconscionable."