February 9, 2007
HEARD IT ALL BEFORE
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Same ole' same ole' |
President Bush released his FY08 federal budget proposal on Monday and it's a harsher variation on many themes we've heard before: new tax benefits for the richest of the rich, vast new cuts to poor and disabled Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries and low-income tenants, and endless amounts of on-budget and off-budget funding for the military.
As have his previous budgets, Bush's 08 proposals make the divide between the rich and the poor worse. (Details here.) Proposed tax cuts alone will hand $739 billion to millionaires. Spending for education, housing, AIDS programs, environmental and all other domestic discretionary funding will total $392 billion – that's $13 billion below keeping up with the cost of inflation.
Housing
Bush's HUD budget proposal represents an 8% decrease from the FY07 continuing resolution. Funding for senior and disability housing are cut; the Housing Choice voucher program is flat-funded, leading to fewer vouchers; and the public housing capital fund is left underfunded. On a brighter note, the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program would be increased by $14 million and homeless assistance would be increased by $234 million.
This budget proposal gets us closer," said Joe Carleo, National AIDS Housing Coalition President and Executive Director of the AIDS Housing Corporation in Boston. "But an even greater commitment to increased funding for HOPWA and other low-income housing programs is critical to ending the housing crisis faced by thousands of poor and disabled Americans, including those living with HIV/AIDS."
NAHC recommends a FY08 funding level of $454 million for the HOPWA program.
Click here for more from NAHC; click here for more from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition here.
Health care
Bush is proposing Medicaid and Medicare cuts of nearly $100 billion over five years, through a range of techniques including increased premiums for seniors, a freeze on payments to home health care programs and hospitals and reduced cost-of-living adjustments to hospitals and other care providers.
The President's Medicaid cuts, when combined with funding shortfalls for the State Children's Health Insurance Program would lead to millions of kids losing basic health coverage.
The Ryan White CARE Act is mostly flat-funded, except for a modest $25 million add for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. The CARE Act needs more than $660 million to achieve anything near full funding – Bush's proposal doesn't even provide new funding for five new Title I EMAs, home to more than 19,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, most of whom live in the South.
Congress is expected to fight back against the Bush health care cuts, and this fight will be led (in part) by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose San Francisco district has been hard hit by HIV/AIDS and who's been an AIDS champion throughout her tenure in Washington.
"Fortunately, new leaders in Congress – including Speaker Pelosi – have made it clear that health care for Americans is a top priority," said Ryan Clary, Associate Director of Health Care Advocacy for Project Inform in San Francisco. "We urge Congress to reverse the disastrous trend of the Bush Administration's health care policies and develop its own budget that not only protects, but expands, care and treatment for people with HIV/AIDS and others in need."
To get involved in federal-level advocacy, email Christine Campbell in our DC office (campbell@housingworks.org).