Capitol Hill Reports - How Will Obama's Proposed Program Terminations Fare on Capitol Hill?

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How Will Obama's Proposed Program Terminations Fare on Capitol Hill?
Sunday, May 10, 2009
11:30 PM

President Obama's release of his detailed fiscal year 2010 budget request late last week dominated the headlines, with much of the media's coverage focused on the roughly $17 billion in proposed terminations, reductions and other savings from dozens of federal programs. Half of the cuts are targeted at the Pentagon and the other half from non-defense agencies.

The $17 billion figure was the result of the administration's "line-by-line" examination of federal programs to find waste, inefficiency, and duplication. Of that amount, the White House is seeking $8.2 billion in savings by terminating more than 50 discretionary programs ranging from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation to the F-22 Raptor Fighter jet.

"Now, every one of the programs listed in our Terminations, Reductions, and Savings volume has a supporter, and there will be vocal and powerful interests that will oppose different aspects of this Budget," said Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag in a May 7 release. "I am under no illusions that change will be easy."

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Indeed. Most House and Senate lawmakers' tendency to protect the federal dollars sent to their home towns and states has not waned with the usherance of a new administration, and Congress holds the power of the purse. Consequently, Obama faces an uphill battle to rein in less than one percent of the $3.5 trillion in projected spending for FY 2010.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), for example, wasted no time expressing her concern with the White House proposal to zero-out the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), which provides federal reimbursement to states and localities for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens under specific circumstances. SCAAP received $400 million for the current fiscal year.

"Immigration is a total federal responsibility," argued Feinstein, whose home state of California holds roughly 32 percent of the nation’s illegal immigrants. "By failing to reimburse states and local governments for the cost of incarcerating criminal aliens, the federal government deprives communities of critical funding for public safety services... I am committed to restoring the funding for this essential program." Feinstein sits on the Senate appropriations panel with jurisdiction over SCAAP funding, and will be a powerful advocate for the program.

In justifying the termination, OMB asserted that the program's funding "can be better used to enhance Federal enforcement efforts."

If recent history is any guide, the prospect is slim that Obama will win congressional approval to zero-out SCAAP. During President Bush's tenure, Congress restored funding for the program for seven consecutive years following Bush's requests to terminate it.

Only time will tell how Obama's other proposed spending cuts will fare on Capitol Hill. For those interested in tracking House and Senate action on the administration's proposed $8.2 billion in terminations for programs that receive annual appropriations, Capitol Hill Reports™ has created a scorecard that will allow observers to evaluate the president's success at the end of the FY 2010 appropriations cycle.