Originally published by the Associated Press [here] and the Center for American Progress [here]

The conservative ideological agenda on the economy has hit full stride: aggressively slash taxes on the wealthy; run up huge budget deficits; then push for massive cuts in critical domestic spending under the guise of fiscal responsibility. President Bush will introduce a budget today that is so callous Vice President Cheney felt compelled yesterday to assure viewers of Fox News that "it's not something we've done with a meat ax." Just as with its push for privatizing Social Security, the White House plans "an elaborate marketing strategy to sell the cuts to voters and lawmakers." The message: they aren't cutting government programs for the needy, they are "centralizing government services and saving tax payer money." America doesn't need to be sold another product. America needs a responsible budget that allocates resources to where they are most needed.

TRILLIONS FOR TAX CUTS AND PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY: Don't believe the fiscal responsibility hype. That isn't what's motivating the budget cuts. The administration is pushing to add trillions to the deficit to push its ideological agenda of privatizing Social Security and extending tax cuts for the very rich. Vice President Cheney acknowledged yesterday that "trillions of dollars in future borrowing may be needed to cover the cost of private retirement accounts." Bush is also pushing to extend his tax cuts for the wealthy at a cost of $2 trillion over the next nine years. The bottom line: President Bush's promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009 is a fantasy.

JOB TRAINING CUT BY $500 MILLION: At a time when overseas outsourcing has left many American workers – especially in the manufacturing sector – out of work, President Bush will propose cutting federal spending on job training by a half-billion dollars. Federal job training programs, including dislocated-worker training, will be cut by $200 million. Federal aid to states for job training, including funding to train veterans, will be cut by $300 million.

FUNDING FOR POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS SLASHED: On 2/2/02, President Bush appeared at the New York Police Department Command Center and said, "Police and firefighters of New York, you have this nation's respect, and you'll have this nation's support." Three years later Bush is seeking to decimate vital funding for police officers and firefighters. The administration's budget is expected to reduce federal grants to local police forces from $600 million to $60 million. Grants to local firefighters would be cut by $215 million dollars.

DRUG CO-PAYMENTS FOR VETERANS DOUBLED: The Bush administration's idea of fiscal responsibility is making veterans pay more for medication. The Bush budget "would more than double the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using government healthcare." Richard B. Fuller, legislative director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, calls the $250 fee "a health care tax, designed to raise revenue and to discourage people from enrolling."

BIG CUTS IN BIOTERRORISM PROTECTION: On 6/12/02, President Bush told the American people, "bioterrorism is a real threat to our country...It's important that we confront these real threats to our country and prepare for future emergencies. Protecting our citizens against bioterrorism is an urgent duty of...American governments." Now, Bush's budget will cut a "range of public health programs, including several to protect the nation against bioterrorist attacks and to respond to medical emergencies." Funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be reduced by 9 percent under Bush's plan. Specifically, "the public health emergency fund of the [CDC], which helps state and local agencies prepare for bioterror attacks, would be cut 12.6 percent."

LEAVING THE POOR IN THE COLD: Prices for home heating oil are skyrocketing. Nevertheless, Bush's budget proposes cutting the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP), which helps people pay their heating bills, by 8.4 percent. At last year's funding levels, only one-sixth of low-income families who qualified for the program were able to receive assistance. Last year's funding for LIHEAP was 23 percent lower than in 2001. For continually updated information on the Bush administration's budget, check out our 2006 Budget page.

Budget Programs Facing Cuts, Elimination 
Here are the 154 programs that President Bush wants to eliminate or cut in his 2006 budget proposal. Bush would terminate 99 programs and make major spending reductions in 55. Separately, the administration listed eight major reforms Bush proposed that also would produce spending cuts.

Of the terminations, Bush has recommended 59 of them before. Twenty-seven of the 55 programs targeted for spending reductions have been previously submitted to Congress.

TERMINATED:

_Agriculture Department

AMS Biotechnology Program

Forest Service Economic Action Program

High Cost Energy Grants

NRCS Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations

Research and Extension Grant Earmarks and Low Priority Programs

_Commerce Department

Advanced Technology Program

Emergency Steel Guarantee Loan Program

Public Telecommunications Facilities, Planning and Construction Program

_Education Department

Comprehensive School Reform

Educational Technology State Grants

Even Start

(High School Program Terminations:)

Vocational Education State Grants

Vocational Education National Activities

Tech Prep State Grants

Upward Bound

Talent Search

GEAR UP

Smaller Learning Communities

Perkins Loans: Capital Contributions and Loan Cancellations

Regional Education Laboratories

Safe and Drug Free Schools State Grants

(Small Elementary and Secondary Education Programs:)

Javits Gifted and Talented Education

National Writing Project

School Leadership

Dropout Prevention Program

Close Up Fellowships

Ready to Teach

Parental Information and Resource Centers

Alcohol Abuse Reduction

Foundations for Learning

Mental Health Integration in Schools

Community Technology Centers

Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners

Foreign Language Assistance

Excellence in Economic Education

Arts in Education

Women's Educational Equity

Elementary and Secondary School Counseling

Civic Education

Star Schools

(Smaller Higher Education Programs:)

Higher Education Demos for Students w/Disabilities

Underground Railroad Program

Interest Subsidy Grants

(Small Job Training and Adult Education Programs:)

Occupational and Employment Information

Tech-prep Demonstration

Literacy Programs for Prisoners

State Grants for Incarcerated Youth

(Small Postsecondary Student Financial Assistance Programs:)

LEAP

Byrd Scholarships

B.J. Stupak Olympic Scholarships

Thurgood Marshall Legal Opportunity

(Small Vocational Rehabilitation Programs:)

Vocational Rehabilitation Recreational Programs

Vocational Rehab (VR) Migrant and Seasonal Workers

Projects with Industry

Supported Employment

Teacher Quality Enhancement Program

_Energy Department

Hydropower Program

Nuclear Energy Plant Optimization

Nuclear Energy Research Initiative

Oil and Gas Programs

_Health and Human Services Department

ACF Community Service Programs

ACF Early Learning Opportunities Fund

CDC Congressional Earmarks

CDC Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant

CDC Youth Media Campaign

Direct Service Worker Delivery Grants

HRSA Emergency Medical Services for Children

HRSA Health Facilities Construction Congressional Earmarks

HRSA Healthy Community Access Program

HRSA State Planning Grant Program

HRSA Trauma Care

HRSA Traumatic Brain Injury

HRSA Universal Newborn Hearing Screening

Real Choice Systems Change Grants

_Housing and Urban Development Department

HOPE VI

_Interior Department

BLM Jobs-in-the-Woods Program

LWCF State Recreation Grants (NPS)

National Park Service Statutory Aid

Rural Fire Assistance (BLM, NPS, FWS, BIA)

_Justice Department

Byrne Discretionary Grants

Byrne Justice Assistance Grants

COPS Hiring Grants

COPS Interoperable Communications Technology Grants

COPS Law Enforcement Technology Grants

Juvenile Accountability Block Grants

National Drug Intelligence Center

Other State/Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program Terminations

State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP)

_Labor Department

Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker Training Program

Reintegration of Youthful Offenders

_Transportation Department

National Defense Tank Vessel Construction Program

Railroad Rehabilitation Infrastructure Financing Loan Program

_Enviromental Protection Agency

Unrequested Projects

Water Quality Cooperative Agreements

_National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Hubble Space Telescope Robotic Servicing Mission

_Other Agencies

National Veterans Business Development Corporation

Postal Service: Revenue Forgone Appropriation

SBA: Microloan Program

SBA: Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Participating Securities Program

MAJOR REDUCTIONS:

_Agriculture Department

Federal (In-House) Research

Forest Service Capital Improve and Maintenance

Forest Service Wildland Fire Management (incl. supp. and emergency funding)

Biomass Research and Development

Broadband

CCC - Bioenergy

CCC - Market Access Program

Farm Bill Programs (EQIP

Farm Bill Programs (CSP)

Farm Bill Programs (WHIP)

Farm Bill Program (Farm and Ranchland Protection)

Farm Bill Programs (Ag. Management Assistance)

IFAS

Renewable Energy

Rural Firefighter Grants

Rural Strategic Investment Program

Rural Business Investment Program

Value-added Grants

Watershed Rehabilitation

NRCS Conservation Operations

NRCS Resource Conservation and Development Program

Water and Wastewater Grants and Loans

_Commerce Department

Manufacturing Extension Partnership

_Education Department

Adult Education State Grants

State Grants for Innovation

_Energy Department

Environmental Management

_Health and Human Services Department

HRSA Children's Hospitals GME Payment Program

HRSA Health Professions

HRSA Rural Health

SAMHSA Programs of Regional and National Significance

State, Local & Hospital Bioterrorism Preparedness Grants

_Housing and Urban Development Department

Housing for Persons with Disabilities

Native American Housing Block Grant

Public Housing Capital Fund

-Interior Department

Bureau of Indian Affairs School Construction

National Heritage Area Grants

Payments in Lieu of Taxes

USGS, Mineral Resources Program

_Justice Department

Federal Bureau of Prisons Construction Program

High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program

Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Assistance Programs

_Labor Department

International Labor Affairs Bureau

Office of Disability Employment Policy

Workforce Investment Act Pilots and Demonstrations

_State Department

Assistance for the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union

_Transportation Department

FAA - Facilities and Equipment

FAA - Airport Improvement Program (Oblim)

FRA - Next Generation High Speed Rail

_Treasury Department

Internal Revenue Service - Taxpayer Service

_Environmental Protection Agency

Alaska Native Villages

Clean Water State Revolving Fund

-National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Aeronautics: Vehicle Systems Program

Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter

_Other Agencies

Archives: National Historical Publications & Records Commission

U.S. Institute of Peace, Construction of New Building

MAJOR REFORMS

Agriculture: Rural Telephone Bank

Commerce: Economic and Community Development Programs

Homeland Security: State and Local Homeland Security Grants

Homeland Security: Transportation Security Administration, Recover Aviation Security Screening Costs Through Fees

Labor: Job Training Reform, Consolidate Grants Program

Transportation: Amtrak

Army Corps of Engineers (Civil Works): Performance Guidelines for Funding Construction Projects

U.S. Agency for International Development and Department of Agriculture: International Food Aid