Editorial: Heartless budget plan

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 | 8:56 a.m.

President Bush is proposing to cut discretionary spending -- that part of the federal budget that doesn't include defense spending and entitlement programs -- by slightly less than 1 percent. That might not seem like a lot on its surface, at least not until you review in-depth just what some of those cuts would do if Congress were to enact them. We've previously examined the harm that could come from Bush's proposal to eliminate a program called GEAR UP, which has helped thousands of Nevada middle school students from low-income families get better prepared for college. We've also detailed how Bush's proposal to divert 70 percent of the money from federal land sales in Nevada to the federal government would jeopardize conservation and environment programs here. This would be a huge loss to Nevada since it's expected that these land sales could generate up to $1 billion annually in coming years.

The aforementioned programs slated for elimination or a massive reduction would be bad enough, but there is more. Two stories in Wednesday's Las Vegas Sun brought home just how much the reductions in the president's proposed budget would affect Las Vegans. One story, by Washington correspondent Benjamin Grove, noted that the president wants to cut $10 million in vocational education funding that Nevada currently receives. The president even wants to eliminate a program that was set up in 2001 to ensure that states test the hearing of newborn babies. State officials say that Nevada, which received $75,430 for this program last year, has seen a big increase as the percentage of babies screened now stands at 95 percent.

Meanwhile, a story by Sun reporters Jace Radke and Jen Lawson detailed how large funding cuts would affect local police departments. A grant that helps fund an important drug task force could be cut by more than 50 percent, a program that has received $1.4 million a year in federal funds since 2001. Mike Hawkins, the former Metro Police deputy chief who is now director of the Las Vegas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, says the proposal could cripple the task force.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., isn't mincing any words about how he views Bush's proposed budget. "It is a budget of wrong choices and wrong priorities," Reid says. Indeed, it's a budget that worsens the federal deficit by Bush's insistence on continuing tax cuts that favor the wealthy while callously cutting government programs that are essential to the health and welfare of millions of Americans, including a great number of Nevadans.