MONTANA

 

The President’s budget makes drastic cuts in funding for programs that matter to families in Montana.  These cuts will shift responsibility for funding these priorities onto the already cash-strapped state. Since Montana 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 Montana in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger in later years. No program, including K-12, will be spared. 

 

• Montana will lose more than $72 million in total elementary and secondary education spending[1];
• Funding for special education programs will be cut by almost $25 million in Montana;
• Montana school improvement programs will lose more than $25 million; and

• Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by more than $23 million in Montana.

 

FAMILY SERVICES:  Programs providing needed services to low-income families in Montana 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.

 

• Montana will lose $1.9 million in WIC funding, and 1,800 people will be cut from the program;
• In Montana, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose almost $11 million; 
• More than 80 children in Montana will lose access to Head Start in 2006[2], and 400 will lose access to the program in 2010; and

• In Montana, 700 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

 

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

 

• 1,000 families in Montana will lose rental assistance vouchers;
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by $1.2 million in Montana; and

• In Montana, Community Development programs will be cut by almost $25 million. 

 

HEALTH:  The budget would cut funding in Montana 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 Montana. 

 

• Montana will lose $300,000 in HIV/AIDS funding;
• Medicaid funding for Montana will be cut by more than $133 million[3]; and 

• 3,600 children or 800 seniors in Montana could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010. 

 

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

 

• Montana will spend more than $31 million for the proposed increase in military spending[4]; and

• More than $240 million of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from Montana.