Nevada projected to lose $432 million in federal budget cuts

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada by 2010 could lose an estimated $432 million in federal budget cuts to education, human services, environmental and community development programs, according to a new analysis.

The study released today by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examined how states would fare under the proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2006 that President Bush sent to Congress Feb. 7.

The liberal nonprofit research group estimated Bush budget cuts through 2010, projecting that cuts to domestic discretionary programs could total $214 billion nationally. The cuts are the deepest proposed by a president in recent memory, center executive director Bob Greenstein said today.

White House officials say the report is premature because the budget does not contain specific proposals beyond next year and that it is too early to make estimates for the next five years.

The center in its projected estimates relied on supplementary budget tables and data that Bush provided to members of Congress but did not include in the budget released to the public Feb. 7.

Center officials say the Bush administration aims to propose certain budget caps for future years. They said that Bush outlined only $18 billion in specific cuts for 2006. But the White House intends $196 billion in cuts from 2007 to 2010, the center says.

Nevada could be hurt by cuts to a variety of federal grants received by the state and local governments, according to center estimates.

In Nevada, Bush aims to slash an estimated $65.4 million for K-12 education programs and $63.7 million in community-development block grants, according to the center.

The cuts pass a burden to states and are disproportionately worse for Nevada because the state is growing so fast, said Jan Gilbert, Northern Nevada coordinator for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, which tracks the Bush budget.

"Rather than investing in our children, disabled residents and seniors and low-income families, this budget is actually going to do some real damage," Gilbert said.

According to the center, the Bush proposals also include:

White House officials dismiss the center estimates.

It's not fair to make predictions about "severe, draconian cuts," White House Office of Management and Budget spokesman Chad Kolton said. The data outlining future-year estimates that was given to lawmakers is not a "reflection on reality," Kolton said.

Budget proposals will be made annually by the president and debated annually in Congress, Kolton said.

Bush will continue to call for "spending restraint" to reduce the deficit in the next five years and aims to trim waste and duplicative programs, Kolton said. But Bush in future years could propose increased budgets for certain "priority" domestic programs, Kolton said.

"These organizations are organizations that always want to spend more money," Kolton said. "We think there is a smarter way to do it."

Center officials said it was difficult to say how receptive Congress will be to cuts, given that they are generally protective of federal money that flows to their states

"These are more than just numbers on a page," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in a statement. "They are investments in our future that are on the chopping block in this budget."