Senators Protest Bush Cuts to Neighborhood Program

A bipartisan group of 55 senators Friday spelled out its opposition to President Bush’s proposed cuts to a neighborhood improvement program, apparently dooming one of the White House’s key deficit-reduction targets.

The letter from the lawmakers also underscored the fight Bush faces in persuading even members of his own party to accept some of the cost-cutting measures in his budget proposal for the new fiscal year.

Fourteen of the Senate’s Republicans -- including usually loyal Bush allies -- joined 40 Democrats and one independent in expressing opposition to any cut to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s $4.7-billion community development block grant program.

The letter came as the Congressional Budget Office estimated Friday that Bush’s policies as outlined in his 2006 budget would add $1.6 trillion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years.

The figures did not include any spending for the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond the $82 billion that Bush is seeking from Congress, nor did they include any money to pay for transitioning to the private Social Security accounts that the president favors. The cost of starting the accounts is estimated at $1 trillion or more over 10 years.

For the next five years, congressional budget estimators forecast deficits somewhat smaller than the administration’s projections. For instance, the White House estimated a deficit of $390 billion for the 2006 fiscal year, while the CBO set the figure at $332 billion.

But the administration’s projections stop after 2010. For the five years after that, the CBO estimated annual deficits of $200 billion to $300 billion.

The shortage would largely be the result of permanently extending many of Bush’s temporary tax cuts, as he has proposed.

In their letter to the Senate Budget Committee, the 55 senators called the 30-year-old neighborhood improvement program the “centerpiece of the federal government’s efforts to help states and localities meet the needs of low-income communities.”

Those who signed the letter included Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican elected to the Senate in November after serving as Bush’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

California’s Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also signed.

Several of Bush’s other proposed cuts, including reductions in farm subsidies, have sparked opposition among Republicans and Democrats.

The proposed cuts to the community development program have been among the most loudly protested in Bush’s 2006 budget.

His proposal calls for slashing the program by 40%, consolidating it with more than a dozen programs and shifting it from HUD to the Commerce Department.

The administration, in targeting the community development program, has been critical of the way it has been carried out.

A spokesman in the White House budget office said the president’s proposal would create a “better and more efficient development program for America’s communities” by focusing federal funds on “programs that need it most and show the most capacity to use the money to build stronger communities.”

Supporting the administration’s view was Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy for Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. He called the proposed cut to the community development program a “necessary first step” toward reducing the federal budget deficit.

“While some lawmakers may not agree with proposed cuts ... the onus is on them to find other ways to trim fat from the federal budget,” he said.

Feinstein called the community development funds “vital to the communities they aid, providing funds for projects such as housing development, recreation centers, clinics, day-care facilities, and job creation and training.”

California is expected to receive $526 million from the program this year.