WASHINGTON

 

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

 

• Washington will lose more than $233 million in total elementary and secondary education spending[1];
• Funding for special education programs will be cut by more than $146 million in Washington;
• Washington school improvement programs will lose more than $64 million; and
• Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by more than $106 million in Washington.

 

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

 

• Washington will lose $14 million in WIC funding, and 13,400 people will be cut from the program;
• In Washington, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose more than $51 million; 
• Roughly 308 children in Washington will lose access to Head Start in 2006[2], and 1,400 will lose access to the program in 2010; and
• In Washington, 8,700 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

 

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

 

• Roughly 8,000 families in Washington will lose rental assistance vouchers;
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by more than $3 million in Washington; and
• In Washington, Community Development programs will be cut by more than $166 million. 

 

HEALTH: The budget would cut funding in Washington 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 Washington. 

 

• Washington will lose more than $5 million in HIV/AIDS funding;
• Medicaid funding for Washington will be cut by more than $747 million[3]; and 

• 35,200 children or 6,400 seniors in Washington could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010. 

 

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

 

• Washington will spend more than $455 million for the proposed increase in military spending[4]; and
• More than $4 billion of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from Washington.