NEW YORK

 

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

 

• New York will lose almost $765 million in total elementary and secondary education spending[1];
• Funding for special education programs will be cut by more than $506 million in New York;
• New York school improvement programs will lose more than $323 million; and

• Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by nearly $337 million in New York.

 

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

 

• New York will lose almost $44 million in WIC funding, and almost 40,000 people will be cut from the program;
• In New York, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose almost $216 million; 
• Almost 1,400 children in New York will lose access to Head Start in 2006[2], and 6,400 will lose access to the program in 2010; and

• In New York, nearly 20,000 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

 

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

 

• 36,300 families in New York will lose rental assistance vouchers;
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by $21 million  in New York; and

• In New York, Community Development programs will be cut by more than $860 million. 

 

HEALTH: The budget would cut funding in New York 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 New York. 

 

• New York will lose more than $101 million in HIV/AIDS funding;
• Medicaid funding for New York will be cut by more than $6.1 billion[3]; and 

• 163,400 children or 24,400 seniors in New York could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010. 

 

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

 

• New York will spend $1.6 billion for the proposed increase in military spending[4]; and

• $13 billion of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from New York.