Note:
- Spending is the total amount proposed for the agency in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
- Percentage change is based on 2007 spending estimated by the Bush administration; 2007 spending levels for most federal agencies still have not been enacted by Congress.
- Mandatory spending is the amount required by programs, like Medicare and food stamps, where the government is legally bound to make payments to all eligible recipients.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Agriculture","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $90.9 billion
Percentage change from 2007: \+3.6 percent
Mandatory spending: $70.7 billion
Highlights:
Would let more elderly and working poor qualify for food stamps by excluding retirement savings from income limits and letting parents deduct the full amount of child care from income calculation; proposal would cost $1.38 billion over 10 years.
Would take away food stamps from families who qualify only because they receive other non-cash government assistance; the change could shut an estimated 185,000 people out of the food stamp program.
Would eliminate a program that gives boxes of food to nearly half a million seniors each month, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. The program provides powdered milk, vegetables, cereal, juice, meat, fruit, rice, cheese and other food as an alternative to food stamps.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Commerce","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $6.7 billion
Percentage change from 2007: -15 percent
Mandatory spending: $132 million
Highlights:
The spending reduction reflects a one-time implementation of the digital TV spectrum auction in 2007. The agency's discretionary budget, covering year-to-year programs, would increase by 16.5 percent.
Provides $1.2 billion of the department's $6.7 billion in discretionary spending to the Census Bureau to continue preparing for a retooled national census in 2010. That's up substantially from the estimated $797 million the agency will spend in 2007. The bureau in 2008 will conduct a \"full dress rehearsal\" for the 2010 census. The bureau also will start opening offices for the rollout of nationwide field activities in 2009.
Seeks $3.8 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, almost 13 percent more than this year's estimated spending. The increased funding would go to, among other things, improving weather forecasting and strengthening U.S. tsunami detection and warning systems.
Provides $644 million to the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, up 15 percent from this year. Part of the additional money would pay for initiatives to boost U.S. competitiveness, including nanotechnology, neutron research and quantum information science.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","EPA","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $7.1 billion
Percentage change from 2007: -4.9 percent
Mandatory spending: $97 million.
Highlights:
Reduces agency's overall operating budget by about $100 million to $4.2 billion.
Maintains funding for clean air and climate change programs at about $216 million.
Includes $802 million for a revolving fund to provide loans and grants for drinking water supply systems.
Proposes $35 million to help states clean up contaminated sediment in the Great Lakes region; and $29 million to help restore the Chesapeake Bay's water quality.
Provides $162 million to assess 1,000 sites for cleanup under the so-called \"brownfields\" toxic cleanup program.
Calls for $22 million for pilot programs to help local water agencies develop early warning about water contamination.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Housing and Urban Development","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $36.2 billion
Percentage change from 2007: \+7.1 percent
Mandatory spending: $949 million
Highlights:
Would remove limits on the number of housing vouchers distributed under the Section 8 program, which provides housing assistance to more than 2 million low-income families.
HUD estimates that as many 180,000 additional aid payments could be issued if the limits are removed.
Would encourage local housing agencies to issue more Section 8 vouchers by linking the size of their administrative budgets to the number of vouchers they distribute.
Under the current voucher system, local housing agencies can distribute only a set number of vouchers, even if they have enough money to issue more. Some agencies have more money than they need for their allotted vouchers, while other agencies don't have enough money to pay for all of their allotted vouchers.
Democrats in Congress have called for rewriting the distribution formula to address the inequities.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank, estimates that the current distribution formula has resulted in the loss of about 150,000 vouchers since 2004.
The center estimates that it would cost about $16.5 billion in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 to fully fund all the authorized Section 8 vouchers. The Bush administration proposed spending $16 billion on the program.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Interior","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $10.1 billion.
Percentage change from 2007: \+4.1 percent
Mandatory spending: $488 million.
Highlights:
Proposes $2 billion for operating the national parks, about a 12 percent increase. That includes an additional $150 million for daily park operations.
Calls for $100 million to match citizens' contributions to national park operations, in hopes of spurring such private spending.
Allocates $4 million for environmental studies of new areas considered for offshore oil and gas leasing, including 8 million acres Congress opened last year for drilling in the central Gulf of Mexico and leasing in Alaska's Bristol Bay.
Provides $324 million for wetlands and other conservation programs that, in cooperation with private landowners, states and tribal governments, protect fish, migratory birds and other species.
Proposes an additional $16 million for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to strengthen law enforcement and counter growing methamphetamine production and use in Indian communities.
As part of its budget, the administration asks that Congress repeal a provision passed in 2005 as part of a broad energy bill that prohibits new fees for oil and gas permits on federal land. The administration estimates such fees could generate $20 million a year.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Justice","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $23.3 billion
Percentage change from 2006: \+2.2 percent
Mandatory spending: $2.9 billion
Highlights:
Would boost funding for staff at the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, all which are facing hiring freezes or slowdowns.
Asks for an additional $257 million for counterterror investigations -- an increase of 13 percent -- and $7 million more for criminal cases investigated by the FBI. Shifts $78 million to the department's newly created National Security Division, which prosecutes terror and espionage crimes.
Cuts grant money for community policing and helping troubled juveniles and abused women, but adds $200 million to gangs, drugs, illegal gun activity and other violent crime in cities.
Prosecutors in the 94 U.S. attorneys' offices nationwide would see more money -- about $171 million -- to help with a 4 percent workload increase over the last year. Additionally, Justice Department lawyers who manage hundred of thousands of applications annually for pardons and immigration appeals would get about $31 million more.
The budget would also put more money -- about $13 million -- back into the department's information-sharing systems after they were cut by 28 percent this year. Additionally, it would cut $7 million from a program that compensates people who have been exposed to radiation by working with, mining or transporting nuclear materials.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Labor","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $50.4 billion
Percentage change from 2007: \+7.9 percent
Mandatory spending: $39.8 billion
Highlights:
Provides $313 million to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, a nearly 13 percent increase from the administration's estimate for the agency's spending in 2007. The increase would be used to strengthen enforcement, especially at the nation's more than 2,000 coal mines. It would allow the agency to keep 170 additional enforcement officials who were hired with emergency, or supplemental, funding last year. The agency said 2006 was a deadly year in mining with 47 fatalities in the coal industry, the most since 1995.
Provides $490 million to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, up slightly from the administration's estimate of the agency's spending in 2007.
Provides $228 million to veterans employment and training, which is up around 2.2 percent from the administration's estimate of such spending in 2007.
Slashes funding by nearly 81 percent for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, to $14 million from the estimated $73 million the agency will spend in 2007. The agency conducts research on and develops international economic, trade, immigration and labor policies with other government agencies.
Cuts money going to the Office of Disability Employment Policy to $19 million from $28 million, a 32 percent reduction. The agency aims to bolster employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Seeks a package of legislative changes to prevent improper payments of unemployment benefits. More than $3.3 billion in benefits were mistakenly paid to ineligible workers in 2006, the administration said.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","NASA","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $17.3 billion
Percentage change from 2007: \+6.9 percent
Mandatory spending: $14 million
Highlights:
Proposes $951 million for a new manned space vehicle, the Orion, in preparation for a manned mission to the moon and later to Mars.
Proposes $1.2 billion for the Ares I, a new rocket designed to launch the Orion.
Would provide $436 million over three years to award private developers who build commercial spacecraft to fly to the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010.
President Bush's budget would sharpen NASA's focus on exploration, adding half a billion dollars -- a 5 percent increase from last year -- for new manned vehicles, the space shuttle, the Hubble telescope, the International Space Station and other exploration programs.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","State","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $37.4 billion
Percentage Change from 2007: \+12.9 percent
Mandatory Spending: -$110 million
Highlights:
Proposes $20.3 billion in foreign assistance, including $2.4 billion for Israel, traditionally the largest single recipient of foreign aid.
Proposes $391 million for the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Sudan, the largest such request, and $167 million for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which was expanded following Israel's 34-day war with Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
More than doubles request for an international aid and good government program called the Millennium Challenge Corporation. It would increase from $1.1 billion to $3 billion.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation doles out U.S. foreign aid using business principles, setting fiscal and other benchmarks for developing nations to meet. The MCC has signed agreements with 11 nations totaling $3 billion: Madagascar, Cape Verde, Honduras, Nicaragua, Georgia, Armenia, Vanuatu, Benin, Ghana, Mali, and El Salvador.
Proposes cuts in support for direct spending for anti-drug efforts in South America, partially offset by increases in direct foreign aid to some nations. The administration would spend $443 million on drug eradication and anti-trafficking efforts in the Andean region, down from $570 million this year. The program benefiting Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela and Panama received $760 million in 2006.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Transportation","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $67.4 billion
Percentage change from 2007: \+2.7 percent
Mandatory spending: $55.2 billion
Highlights:
Gives $39.6 billion to the states for highway spending, $500 million more than the $39.1 billion Congress is expected to approve for 2007. It is the basic amount that Congress agreed to spend in 2008 as part of the 2005 law that funds highways for six years, but does not include an adjustment for an increase in gas tax collections. Some highway advocates say Congress intended to spend $40.4 billion by including the adjustment.
Gives Amtrak an $800 million subsidy, $500 million less than the federal government spent on the passenger railroad in 2006. Congress is likely to freeze Amtrak spending for 2007 at 2006 levels. Another $100 million would be set aside as matching grants that the states could use for intercity passenger rail projects.
Proposes to change the way the air traffic control system is financed. Airlines now pay for most of the system through taxes on jet fuel and tickets. Under the new plan, which Congress must approve, the government would instead collect fees that reflect the actual cost of using the national airspace. The government would also be able to charge aircraft operators for flying in the most congested airspace. The proposal would shift more of the burden for flying in the U.S. from airlines to private and corporate aircraft.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Treasury","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "
Spending: $525.9 billion
Percentage change from 2007: \+6.9 percent
Mandatory spending: $513.8 billion
Highlights:
The biggest chunk of the department's mandatory spending, roughly $470 billion, goes to pay interest on the national debt, including obligations related to Social Security.
The bulk of the department's $12.1 billion in discretionary spending goes to the Internal Revenue Service, which would receive $11.1 billion, slightly more than the administration estimates the IRS will spend in 2007. To step up IRS's efforts to catch tax scofflaws and crack down on dubious tax schemes, the budget would increase enforcement funding by $440 million. That includes $291 million for new enforcement initiatives. An administration priority is reducing the \"tax gap,\" which is the difference between taxes paid and taxes owed. That gap accounts for an estimated $290 billion a year in lost revenue.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network would receive $86 million, up from the $71 million the administration estimates the agency will spend this year. The agency is responsible for making sure the nation's financial system isn't abused by terrorist financiers, drug dealers and other criminals.";
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i++] = new Array("","Veteran Affairs","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
Pol_070205_2008_Budget_By_Agency[i-1].body = "Spending: $84.4 billion
Percentage change from 2007: \+13.3 percent
Mandatory Spending: $44.9 billion
Highlights:
Percentage increase in overall spending is the largest for a federal agency.
Proposes higher health care enrollment fees for veterans whose incomes are above certain levels and who have no illnesses or injuries that resulted from their military service. Congress has previously rejected similar proposals.
For the same veterans, seeks to increase copayments on prescription drugs. Similar plans have been rejected by Congress.
Raises spending on medical care from $29.3 billion to $34.2 billion. About $3 billion would go to mental health care as veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan report increased symptoms of stress or other mental disorders.
Anticipates VA will provide medical care to nearly 263,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in 2008.
Devotes $1.9 billion to information technology, an increase after last year's budget was cut to $1.1 billion. Of that, $70.1 million would be spent on data security.
Much of the VA's spending increase would meet growing costs of treating combat-injured troops and other health care for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, a need that Democrats say repeatedly has not been met by the Bush administration.
The department also is boosting information technology spending, much of it on data security, following last May's theft of a VA data analyst's laptop containing sensitive information on 26.5 million veterans. The laptop was later recovered intact, but VA Secretary Jim Nicholson has since pledged to make the agency a \"gold standard\" in IT.
\"This landmark budget will allow us to expand the three core missions of the VA those being to provide world-class health care; broad, fair and timely benefits; and dignified burials in shrine-like settings for our nation's veterans,\" Nicholson said.
Veterans groups praised the proposal as a good first step. But they called on Congress to reject the plan to increase enrollment fees and copayments for higher-income veterans.
\"Veterans should not have to pay for health care they earned,\" said Gary Kurpius of Veterans of Foreign Wars.";
// END editorial data