Literacy, antiabuse programs face ax

By Adam Entous, Associated Press, 2/4/2004

WASHINGTON -- One day after proposing bigger budgets for defense and homeland security, the White House yesterday released a list of the 128 programs it wants gutted, from education equity for women to combatting alcohol abuse.

While calling on Congress to rein in domestic spending to address a record budget deficit, Bush has made education reform a key plank in his campaign for reelection in November and announced in last month's State of the Union address a $300 million program to help released prisoners reintegrate into society.

But according to newly released details about his fiscal 2005 budget, Bush would scrap programs to improve writing skills, teach economics and foreign languages, and promote literacy in prison.

A program that provides residents of poor areas access to computers and training would also get the ax, along with recreation programs for the disabled, aid for migrant farm workers, and an initiative to promote "educational equity" for girls and women.

The budget would do away with recreational programs for people with disabilities, deferring to states to pick up the slack. Olympic scholarships, arts in education, and an exchange program for native Alaskans and Hawaiians would also be scrapped.

It also would end a $30 million program which, the White House says, "supports innovative and effective programs to reduce alcohol abuse in secondary schools." The White House said state grants could provide similar help.

It took the White House more than 24 hours to provide the complete list of the 65 program terminations and 63 major program reductions included in Bush budget for the fiscal year that begins in October. It was unclear how much of Bush's spending plan will win congressional approval, as there was already growing opposition within both parties.