The President's Budget and Colorado - Meeting the Goals of Our Time

America faces a unique moment in history: our nation is at war, our homeland was attacked, and our economy is in recession. The President’s Budget meets the requirements of victory and the test of responsibility. The President’s Budget holds government accountable for results that address these priorities of the American people:

• Winning the war on terrorism;
• Strengthening protections of our homeland; and
• Revitalizing our economy and creating jobs.

• Increases defense spending by 12 percent, nearly doubles homeland security spending, and provides immediate assistance to workers who lost their jobs - while holding the growth in spending for programs outside of defense and homeland security to only 2 percent;

• Provides significant funding increases for important priorities like health care , prescription drugs , education , the environment , agriculture , and retirement security ; and

• Returns to budget surpluses within 2 to 3 years if Congress adheres to the President’s call for fiscal responsibility.

• Increases defense spending by $38 billion (12 percent), with an additional $10 billion, if needed, for the war against terrorism. This funding is needed to meet new and emerging threats on the global battlefield; modernize our military; improve intelligence; fund new high-tech weapons; protect our troops against chemical and biological attacks; and give our troops another well-deserved pay raise and their families important quality of life improvements, including better housing and health care.

• Provides $38 billion for a sustained nationwide strategy of homeland security focused on four key areas – bioterrorism, emergency responders, airport and border security, and improved intelligence. This includes $5.9 billion to counter bioterrorism; $10.6 billion to secure our borders and more than doubles the number of Border Patrol agents on our Northern border; $380 million to implement an entry-exit visa security system; $4.8 billion to toughen aviation security; and $3.5 billion to equip and train first responders such as firefighters, law enforcement and emergency medical personnel.

• Immediate Help to the Economy. Includes an aggressive job creation package for America and Colorado that accelerates middle-class tax relief, creates jobs for more people in Colorado by spurring investment; and makes available in FY 2003 a total of $9.3 billion – 36 percent more than will be spent in FY 2002 - to help unemployed workers get job training, get back to work, and get health care assistance. The budget also supports extended unemployment benefits and provides assistance to help dislocated workers keep their health care coverage. The best way to guarantee future surpluses is to guarantee future economic growth.

• Retirement Security. Provides $190 billion to strengthen Medicare and provide a new Medicare prescription drug benefit; takes immediate steps to modernize Medicare to improve Medicare benefits and give seniors in Colorado better coverage options; and fully funds Social Security and Medicare benefits for seniors in Colorado.

• Provides $783 million in grants to help low-income seniors all across America and Colorado find affordable, safe and decent places to live out their golden years.

• Education. Builds on the successful passage of the No Child Left Behind Act and the dramatic increases in fiscal year 2002 by providing historic levels of funding for special education ($8.5 billion); boosting funds for low-income students by $1 billion; funding important reading initiatives to ensure that every child can read by the 3 ^rd grade; and providing $10 million for a new initiative to recruit and train library professionals. The President’s Budget:
• Benefits an estimated 708,109 Colorado public school children in 1,561 Colorado public schools led by an estimated 42,100 Colorado teachers
• Increases federal education funding for Colorado to more than $542.7 million to improve local schools
• Increases Title I funding for Colorado school districts to more than $105.8 million to boost the quality of education for disadvantaged children of Colorado
• Provides historic levels of funding for Special Education - $8.5 billion nationally and more than $ 107.9 million for the children of Colorado
• Increases funding for Reading First by more than 333 percent nationwide, with more than $10 million targeted for Colorado schools to ensure that every Colorado child learns to read at or above grade level by the 3 ^rd grade
• Increases funding to more than $5.1 million for after-school programs for at-risk children in Colorado
• Increases funding to more than $6.2 million to help Colorado school districts assess how well children are learning and schools are teaching
• Increases Pell Grant funding to an estimated $134.3 million to ensure greater access to a college education for deserving Colorado students from disadvantaged backgrounds

• Health Care. Provides a refundable tax credit to subsidize up to 90 percent of the cost of health insurance for low- and middle-income Americans and citizens of Colorado who do not have employer coverage ($89 billion nationwide over 10 years); expands the number of community health centers nationwide by 1,200 to serve an additional 6.1 million patients; doubles NIH medical research spending, which will help fund research on important diseases like breast cancer, heart disease and AIDS; and proposes tax deductions for the purchase of long-term health care insurance and tax exemptions for caregivers who provide family members with long-term care.
• Prescription Drugs. Provides $190 billion to strengthen Medicare with a Medicare prescription drug benefit nationwide, with immediate help for low-income Colorado seniors.

• The President’s Call to Service & Citizenship. Provides the new USA Freedom Corps with $560 million to prepare for crisis at home, to strengthen our communities, and to extend American compassion throughout the world. Provides additional support for 122 Job Corps Centers to prepare more than 72,000 disadvantaged young Americans for work in the new economy.
• Election Reform. Modeled on the recommendations of the Ford/Carter Commission on election reform, the Administration is proposing a new Federal-state funding partnership totaling $1.2 billion over the next three years in Federal funds, matched by $1.2 billion in state funds.

• The Federal government would provide $400 million annually for 2003 through 2005, with an estimated $5.6 million targeted for Colorado the first year to strengthen and improve its voting equipment, registration systems, voter education, and poll worker training.

• Environment. Provides record funding levels for the EPA’s operating budget and its state grant programs allowing the EPA to protect our drinking water, clean up industrial waste sites, reduce pollution and preserve America’s precious national wildlife refuges. Fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million and eliminates the National Park Service maintenance backlog by 2006, with more than $23.2 million targeted to help preserve the natural beauty and resources of Colorado.

• Energy . To increase energy efficiency and use of renewable resources, and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the budget provides $9.1 billion in tax incentives over 10 years to develop alternative technologies, including renewable electricity generation, residential solar energy systems, and hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. The budget also increases funding to weatherize low-income family homes.

• Compassionate Assistance for Those in Need. Funds a 20 percent increase in federal weatherization programs to help low-income Americans heat and cool their homes; restores food stamp eligibility for legal immigrants; increases funding by $364 million for the Women, Infants and Children’s nutrition program to serve almost 8 million women and children nationwide each year; provides tax credits to spur charitable giving; and increases funds for programs to mentor children of prisoners and initiatives to promote responsible fatherhood.

• Increases funding over current levels to $6.2 million for low-income Colorado families to weatherize their homes and save money on energy costs
• Increases funding for Colorado over current levels to more than $19.6 million to help more Colorado children awaiting adoption find loving homes faster
• Increases Head Start funding in Colorado over current levels to more than $66.4 million to better prepare the children of Colorado for success in school
• Increases funding to $4.1 million to help safeguard children and strengthen families in Colorado
• Provides $24 million in funding for community-based substance abuse treatment and prevention organizations in Colorado
• Provides $617,000 in funding to help the homeless in Colorado reclaim their dignity and get back on their feet
• Provides $1 billion in funding for Colorado veterans whose service and sacrifice helped ensure our nation’s freedom for us and for future generations
• Provides $1.5 million in housing assistance for people with AIDS in Colorado

• Provides $783 million in grants to help low-income seniors all across America and Colorado find affordable, safe and decent places to live out their golden years.
• Provides $43.1 million in Community Development Block Grant funding to help meet local housing needs, revitalize neighborhoods and encourage economic development
• Provides greater access to the American dream of owning a home for people all across America and Colorado by:
• quadrupling to $200 million nationwide the President’s Down Payment Assistance Initiative for state and local governments to help first-time home buyers;
• tripling funding to $65 million nationwide for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity program that helps families achieve this dream through sweat equity;
• increasing HOME block grant funding nationwide by another $100 million to help local communities meet their affordable housing needs;
• providing tax credits as incentive for construction of affordable housing.

• Agriculture. Provides an additional $73.5 billion over 10 years to support America’s farmers.

• Americans With Disabilities. Increases funding on cutting-edge technologies to tear down the barriers between communities and the disabled all across America and Colorado. Last year, President Bush announced his New Freedom Initiative to help the more than 54 million Americans with disabilities become active members in their community. The budget continues support for this initiative with additional investments in programs that help individuals with disabilities lead independent lives, including a $1 billion increase for special education, $145 million for innovative transportation programs, and $750 million for four HHS demonstrations to break down barriers to community living for people with disabilities.

• Holding Government Accountable for Performance & Results. Holds government to stricter and stronger standards by reforming management and budget practices. Installs accountability by linking program funding to program results. Programs will be judged by their results – not by their funding levels.