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Leaders call Bush
budget a
'hazard'
Community advocates predict that cuts in the president's
proposed
budget threaten
crucial services such as education, housing and health care.
Friday, February 25, 2005,
BY KAREN LEE ZINER,
Journal Staff Writer
WARWICK
-- In a mini-mall corner of America yesterday, community
leaders predicted widespread fallout from President Bush's
proposed
budget cuts
that they say means a potential $300-million loss in federal
funds to Rhode Island.
And after
the final speaker left the podium at the West Bay Community
Action Office and after the coffee cups and pastries were
cleared, the ire still glowed red-hot.
Low-income
children and families, disabled people and other vulnerable
populations would suffer, they said, predicting that the cuts
would hobble crucial services such as education, housing,
energy assistance, health care and community development, as
well as roll back environmental progress.
Those
attending the news conference -- sponsored by The Poverty
Institute at the Rhode Island College School of Social Work --
also opposed Mr. Bush's proposed changes to the Medicaid
program. They predicted those changes will threaten the
federal-state partnership that provides health care to low-
and moderate-income Rhode Islanders.
"Put quite
simply, the Bush administration's
budget should
come with a health advisory: 'Enclosed
budget cuts may
cause irreparable harm to the environment and public health,'
" said Sheila Dormody, Rhode Island director of Clean Water
Action.
"This
budget
threatens our ability to reduce air and water pollution and
assure clean drinking water -- it is truly a hazard to the
health of all Rhode Islanders," Dormody added.
"My level
of outrage is -- we've mortgaged our future," said Vivan
Weisman, executive director of the Rhode Island Parent
Information Network.
"Funding
for education continues to challenge our state and local
budgets. This president's proposal would result in a loss of
close to $50 million in federal assistance over the next five
years. How can the president talk about leaving no child
behind, while he is proposing such deep cuts in education
spending?" said Weisman.
Many of
the advocates who attended yesterday have been fighting at the
State House in recent years to preserve measures that provide
adequate income, food security, education and training
programs, under the rubric of the "One Rhode Island" platform.
Kate
Brewster, the Poverty Institute's executive director, said
Bush's proposed cuts "would hurt all Rhode Islanders and
especially our most vulnerable residents, while doing nothing
to reduce the federal deficit."
Brewster
praised Rhode Island's congressional delegation for having
voiced objection to Mr. Bush's
budget
proposal, and said advocates are counting "on their strong
leadership to craft a fair and responsible
budget."
Warwick
Mayor Scott Avedesian said, "The current proposal at the
federal level to cap funding or make Medicaid a block grant
would decimate the Medicaid program in Rhode Island and would
threaten the RIteCare program and its valuable services."
Avedisian
announced that his administration and the Warwick City Council
have passed a resolution that calls on Rhode Island's
congressional delegation "to oppose any of these changes."
The
president's
budget calls
for a $214-billion reduction in domestic "discretionary"
programs between 2006 and 2010, according to a statement
released by The Poverty Institute. However, the
budget does not
show how cuts after next year would affect specific programs.
The
Poverty Institute derived the $300-million loss to Rhode
Island from a report by the national nonprofit Center on
Budget and
Policy Priorities. That report uses Mr. Bush's priorities for
2006 and unpublished documents the administration gave
Congress, the institute said.
Those
losses will shift costs "for critical programs to the state
and local governments," according to The Poverty Institute.
Those
losses would include $42 million in community development
funds and mean that by 2010 the state "will be able to provide
1,700 fewer families, seniors and people with disabilities
with affordable housing," according to The Poverty Institute.
Elizabeth
Burke Bryant, executive director of RI Kids Count, said that
Mr. Bush's
budget will
place young children and working families at risk.
She said
that cuts to the WIC nutritional program "could mean that in
2010 almost 2,000 fewer low-income pregnant women, infants and
young children would have access to the healthy foods and
nutrition counseling that WIC provides."
Noting
that Rhode Island "has been a leader in developing a strong
early childhood education and child-care network," Burke
Bryant said that the state's continued ability to provide
those critical services "is threatened when the federal
government fails to shoulder its share of the costs for child
care and Head Start."
Also
participating were Jeanne Gattegno, of the Rhode Island
Community Action Association, and Brenda Dan Messier, of
Dorcas Place. |
