NORTH CAROLINA

 

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

 

• North Carolina will lose almost $292 million in total elementary and secondary education spending[1];
• Funding for special education programs will be cut by more than $208 million in North Carolina;
• North Carolina school improvement programs will lose $92 million; and

• Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by nearly $166 million in North Carolina.

 

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

 

• North Carolina will lose more than $18 million in WIC funding, and 18,400 people will be cut from the program;
• In North Carolina, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose almost $72 million; 
• Almost 540 children in North Carolina will lose access to Head Start in 2006[2], and 2,500 will lose access to the program in 2010; and

• In North Carolina, 14,400 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

 

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

 

• Almost 10,000 families in North Carolina will lose rental assistance vouchers;
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by $3.1 million  in North Carolina; and

• In North Carolina, Community Development programs will be cut by more than $208 million. 

 

HEALTH: The budget would cut funding in North Carolina 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 North Carolina. 

 

• North Carolina will lose more than $7 million in HIV/AIDS funding;
• Medicaid funding for North Carolina will be cut by almost $1.4 billion[3]; and 

• Almost 60,000 children or 12,400 seniors in North Carolina could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010. 

 

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

 

• North Carolina will spend almost $462 million for the proposed increase in military spending[4]; and
• $3.6 billion of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from North Carolina.