MICHIGAN

 

The President’s budget makes drastic cuts in funding for programs that matter to families in Michigan. These cuts will shift responsibility for funding these priorities onto the already cash-strapped state. Since Michigan will not be able to provide the same level of services with less federal funding, the budget cuts will force the state either to reduce funding for schools and leave more people hungry, homeless, cold and uninsured, or to raise state taxes. 

 

EDUCATION: The President’s budget would reduce funding for education and training programs in Michigan in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger in later years. No program, including K-12, will be spared. 

 

• Michigan will lose nearly $380 million in total elementary and secondary education spending[1];
• Funding for special education programs will be cut by more than $263 million in Michigan;
• Michigan school improvement programs will lose more than $140 million; and

• Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by more than $187 million in Michigan.

 

FAMILY SERVICES: Programs providing needed services to low-income families in Michigan face major cuts in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger over time. Under the President’s budget proposal, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), programs for abused and neglected children, Head Start, and child care assistance programs all face steep cuts.

 

• Michigan will lose more than $16.5 million in WIC funding, and 18,600 people will be cut from the program;
• In Michigan, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose more than $117 million; 
• Almost 1,000 children in Michigan will lose access to Head Start in 2006[2], and 4,600 will lose access to the program in 2010; and

• In Michigan, 16,500 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

 

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: The President’s budget targets housing and community development programs in Michigan for funding cuts in 2006 and beyond. 

 

• 8,600 families in Michigan will lose rental assistance vouchers;
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by $9.1 million in Michigan; and

• In Michigan, Community Development programs will be cut by almost $321 million. 

 

HEALTH: The budget would cut funding in Michigan for HIV/AIDS treatment services, including funding to help those with HIV/AIDS purchase drugs.  President Bush has also proposed major cuts to the Medicaid program in Michigan. 

 

• Michigan will lose $8.1 million in HIV/AIDS funding;
• Medicaid funding for Michigan will be cut by more than $102 billion[3]; and 

• 71,900 children or 10,400 seniors in Michigan could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010. 

 

PENTAGON: While taxpayers in Michigan would lose local services, they will pay increasingly more for the Pentagon.

 

• Michigan will spend more than $539 million for the proposed increase in military spending[4]; and

• $4.6 billion of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from Michigan.