White House unveils list of programs slated for cuts

President Bush's fiscal 2007 budget proposes to terminate funding for 91 programs and sharply cut another 50 from 2006 levels, for a combined savings of $14.7 billion, according to a document released by the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday.

The Major Savings and Reforms document provides the first detailed look at the 141 programs President Bush has said he would like to see significantly scaled back or eliminated altogether. Of the 91 programs the administration proposed terminating to produce savings of $7.3 billion, only 12, representing $580 million in funding, haven't been on past years' lists.

The 50 programs identified for major reductions represent $7.4 billion in savings. Proposed cuts to the 10 programs that are newly targeted would yield $2.3 billion in savings.

By far the hardest hit by the proposal would be the Education Department, which could face the elimination of 42 programs and cuts to four more, for reductions worth $4.3 billion. The departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture are next in line, with proposed cuts to 14 HHS programs for a savings of $1.9 billion, and reductions in 25 USDA programs for a savings of $1.5 billion.

While OMB describes the cuts in the 50 programs as "significant," there are no set criteria for what degree of reduction constitutes significance, said Alex Conant, an OMB spokesman. The president's budget would boost total discretionary spending by $27.3 billion, but the Defense Department is slated for a $28.5 billion increase, meaning that many nonsecurity programs face spending cuts that are not included in this list.

Last year, the president proposed 154 major program reductions and terminations, and Congress adopted 89 of those recommendations for a savings of $6.5 billion. Congress is under more pressure this year to find savings that would offset high hurricane- and war-related spending, but making cuts to domestic programs may be difficult in a congressional election year.

"Congress substantially delivered on the president's spending restraint goals last year," said Joshua Bolten, the director of OMB. "After speaking with members at this week's congressional hearings, I'm optimistic we can again provide a significant level of savings for American taxpayers."

The president's budget proposal has been closely tied with the Program Assessment Rating Tool, which evaluates the effectiveness of programs in meeting measurable goals. But the administration also has repeatedly emphasized that a program's PART score does not correlate directly to funding recommendations, with the budget proposal taking into consideration both program effectiveness and priority level.

A breakdown of the PART scores for programs recommended for reduced funding was not immediately available. But programs recommended for termination and evaluated by OMB received a range of ratings, with some falling into the effective, moderately effective or adequate categories but still making the cut list. OMB announced last week that 72 percent of the nearly 800 evaluated programs fell in this acceptable range.