Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Parents would get tax breaks to send their children to a school outside the neighborhood, under President Bush’s budget proposal, but they might run into a pothole or two on the way there because of deep reductions in federal highway spending.
The budget plan calls for subsidies for older people pinched by the high cost of prescription drugs and spruced-up national parks for tourists and outdoor enthusiasts.
But with the nation’s unemployment rate hitting a six-year high in December, Bush would cut nearly two dozen job training programs now administered by 10 agencies.
The plan would also attempt to direct federal housing dollars to the neediest communities.
Bush’s budget is just a proposal, an extensive set of papers, tables and graphs outlining his spending priorities for the 12-month period starting Oct. 1.
However, Congress, which actually does the government’s spending, is sure to have ideas of its own.
But the wartime budget Bush released Monday shows where he wants to go and how average citizens might be affected.
Among his proposals:
Bush is trying to keep his promise to seniors by asking Congress for $190 billion over 10 years so Medicare can pay for their prescription medicines, and to make other program changes.
But he’s had differences on this issue with congressional Democrats, who want to spend more than the president deems necessary to reduce drug costs for the elderly.
On education, Bush is trying again to help children get out of failing public schools by transferring to private schools. He has proposed a tax credit covering up to $2,500 of the cost of such a move, which could be used to pay for tuition or transportation costs, for example.
Bush recently signed into law an education funding law that helps parents move such children to other public schools. Congress balked at using the money for private school.
But whether it’s public or private, the ride to a new school could get bumpier because of an $8.6 billion cut in the pot of money states can spend on road construction.
Gasoline tax revenues that help pay for road maintenance and improvements have dropped, largely because people have chosen to stay home or much closer to it after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the Bush administration is unwilling to plug the gap.
As a result, the fund is expected to shrink to $23.2 billion next year, from $31.8 billion this year.
Unemployed people who want to learn new skills would have fewer options. Bush wants to cancel 20 of the government’s 48 job training programs. On Bush’s chopping block is the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker program, which the administration says has shown little success in helping these workers find nonagricultural jobs. Also targeted is a program geared toward finding jobs for youthful offenders.
Bush aims to improve the experience of visiting national parks by eliminating, by 2006, maintenance backlogs that have left many broken toilets, washed-out trails and crumbling roads.
After being rebuked by Congress last year, Bush proposes to spend $247 million on a program aimed at reducing drug use in public housing. The administration wanted to eliminate the program last year, but Congress rejected the idea and provided $312 million for it instead.
The budget also seeks to direct some $5.8 billion in Community Development Block Grants away from wealthier communities to those most in need.
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