washington | President Bush’s controversial budget includes no surprises in aid for Israel, a dramatic increase for the Palestinians — and drastic cuts in domestic programs that affect Jewish services and Jewish lives.
The $2.57 trillion plan, which landed on Capitol Hill this week, calls for a 1 percent cut in domestic spending, which includes a severe reduction or elimination of 150 programs.
While much of the voluminous budget has yet to be deciphered, many Jewish organizations are expressing concern that funds for programs that aid elderly and impoverished Jews — as well as other Americans — would decline dramatically and it would be hard to launch new programs.
“A 1 percent cut doesn’t matter if a program has been flush for a number of years,” said Stephan Klein, director of governmental affairs at the United Jewish Communities. “But it is a problem if programs are already bare bones.”
Under Bush’s proposal for fiscal year 2006, which begins Oct. 1, the total amount of non-defense, non-homeland security discretionary funds would remain frozen for the next five years.
Given the rate of inflation and population increase, this would amount to a 16 percent cut, Klein said.
“If it were to be implemented, it would be devastating,” Klein said of the freeze in total funding. “Many of our programs are dependent on these discretionary funds.”
Of particular interest to the Jewish community, the president’s budget request includes:
• $2.52 billion in economic and military aid for Israel, part of an overall 14 percent increase in foreign aid spending.
• $150 million for the Palestinians; an additional $200 million is expected to be part of a separate supplemental budget request from the administration.
• $60 billion cut over 10 years in funding for Medicaid, which is the largest funding source for Jewish nursing homes and hospitals, providing more than $2 billion a year.
• $6 million cut in funds for independent living in retirement communities. The program, which was cut by $31 million last year, is used by more than 100 federation-aided facilities to provide assisted living, communal meals and other programs for the elderly.
• $29.3 billion in funds for homeland security, an increase of $258 million or 1 percent from last year, which could include additional funds beyond the $25 million now earmarked for high-risk nonprofit sites, including Jewish institutions.
Many of the earmarks for specific programs of interest to the Jewish community are added by lawmakers in Congress when they tackle the budget. They are not in the president’s budget proposal.
There is some hope that many of the proposed cuts in programs will be salvaged by Congress. That has happened in the past.
Several Jewish groups already are prepping for a fight with Bush and congressional Republicans over plans to transform Social Security and cut Medicaid by $60 billion over the next 10 years.
“I think there is a philosophy in this administration that says that government is not responsible for providing a safety net for people,” Marsha Atkind, president of the National Council of Jewish Women, said, echoing the view of several Jewish organizations.
Many Jewish groups, except for the Orthodox, oppose faith-based initiatives, saying it crosses the line of separation of church and state, and if misused could create state-funded proselytizing or worship.
While many Jewish communal officials expressed frustration with some of Bush’s domestic choices, several said they were impressed with Bush’s proposals to fund new efforts to combat AIDS and provide international debt relief.
In fact, Bush’s budget includes a 14 percent increase in foreign assistance, totaling $18.5 billion.
Under the Bush plan, Israel would receive $2.28 billion in military aid and $240 million in economic assistance. Those numbers, down from a combined $2.58 billion last year, are in keeping with a restructuring plan agreed to by Israel and the United States.
Israel would also receive $40 million for the resettlement of Ethiopian refugees, a drop of $10 million because of a decline of Jewish immigrants to Israel.
The budget calls for $1.795 billion in aid for Egypt, down $40 million from last year, in accordance with a similar restructuring plan for Israel; and $456 million to Jordan, which reflects no change from last year.