Know Where Your Dollars Go: Looking More Closely at the Budget

During the week of March 7, 2005, Congress is expected to begin writing a budget resolution based on the proposal President Bush submitted in February.

Bush’s $2.57 trillion plan for fiscal year (FY) 2006, which begins on October 1, 2005, does not include funding for the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor does it contain the money needed to restructure Social Security, which is Bush’s top legislative priority. These activities would be funded by separate appropriations bills, but should be incorporated into overall government spending estimates. Although these supplemental spending bills are considered "off budget," they actually claim real tax dollars and demand the selling of Treasury bonds to foreign investors.

Capping discretionary spending

Roughly 8 percent of the budget is up for review by Congress each year. This spending, known as discretionary spending, is the primary site of the cutbacks.

Bush’s budget restrains the growth of discretionary spending to 2.1 percent, which is lower than the 2.3 percent rate of annual inflation. This means that many programs will have less money to work with in FY 2006 than they did in FY 2005.

Some refer to the controlled growth as a spending cap, an $840 billion limit for programs without mandatory funding. Many people are frustrated that the spending cap is accompanied by an $81 billion spending request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- money that’s not included in the budget as discretionary spending, although technically, that’s what it is.

The Iraq and Afghanistan supplemental

Democrats criticize Bush for funding Iraq and Afghanistan through a supplemental bill, instead of including the cost in the general budget. The supplemental-bill strategy, Democrats say, allows the Bush administration to announce a general budget that is $82 billion smaller.

The administration deflects this accusation by saying that they could not predict Iraq and Afghanistan costs in time for the general budget.

Some surprises in the supplemental

Buried in the supplemental spending request is $36 million for a new prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where 550 terror suspects are still detained.

The provision demonstrates that the Bush administration intends to continue to hold suspects indefinitely and without trial, a policy permitted by the controversial Patriot Act.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard B. Myers has told Congress that a number of detainees will be held for an extended period of time, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the new 200-bed facility will help the U.S. to meet Geneva Convention standards for treatment of prisoners of war, since current Guantánamo prison conditions fall short.

Democrats are sure to oppose the administration’s detention policy when the House begins consideration of the supplemental on March 7, but because the provision is separate from the general budget, it’s likely to be excluded from debates about discretionary spending. But is a new prison in Guantánamo the best way to spend $36 million of very scarce discretionary money? Should we instead incorporate these captured suspects into our existing legal system? The latter question is currently being considered by the courts.

For this reason, some lawmakers say that the request for a new prison is premature - the courts need to first decide if the current detention program is legal.

Considering domestic and war expenses side by side

The operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are a funding priority for most lawmakers, but some say that these expenses should be considered within the general federal budget, as should related costs like the new prison in Guantánamo. When domestic expenses like health care and farm subsidies are placed side by side with war costs, the American people can accurately consider their priorities.

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Article Posted on: 3/5/2005