Follow-up on FY'06 Budget recommended program terminations

A recent local story about a business closing down a unprofitable operation, 'Scripps closing Shop at Home', prompted a reminder to look into the programs that the President recommended be terminated in the 2006 federal budget.

According to the OMB report Major Savings in the 2006 Budget:

...Of the 154 savings proposals, 89 were acted on by Congress in whole or in part,
for a total of $6.48 billion in savings. This is a vast improvement from the FY 2005 budget in which the President proposed terminating 65 programs and only 7 proposals were adopted by Congress for a savings of $366 million.

This document summarizes the 89 terminations and major reductions that Congress accepted, either in whole or in part, in the 2006 appropriations cycle...

...Program Terminations—Of the 99 programs proposed for termination in the 2006 Budget, Congress terminated 24 (saving $1.37 billion) and reduced funding for 28 (saving $1.33 billion). The outcome of one termination proposal is still pending Congressional action.

Spending Reductions—Of the 55 programs proposed for reduction in the 2006 Budget, Congress reduced funding for 37 (saving $3.78 billion)...

That's $6.48 billion in terminations, reduced funding and spending reductions. That number should have been closer to $350 billion considering the size of our deficit and the national debt approaching $9 trillion!.

Here's an example from page 37 of the report detailing a program that was zeroed-out from a 2005 approved funding level of 59 million:

Background

The CDC Youth Media Campaign is a paid media campaign to encourage young people aged 9- 13 to be more physically active. The campaign was first funded in 2001 at $125 million. The Administration requested no funding in 2002 and 2003 and $5 million each year in 2004 and 2005. The Youth Media campaign has developed lessons and materials over the past four years that can also be used for public service announcements and by the private sector. Some owners of children’s programming have recently created programs intended to get children to be more physically active, including Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and PBS Kids. The establishment of these programs, which support the same objectives as the Youth Media Campaign, illustrates that there is no longer a need for this Federal program.

Administration Action

The 2006 Budget proposed no funding for the Youth Media Campaign at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Instead, the 2006 Budget invested in competitive grants in school health, nutrition, and physical activity to help States and local communities improve the health of the Nation’s youth.