Bush Budget Cuts or Freezes Most Programs

摘要

President Bush's $2.4-trillion bud-get proposal for fiscal 2005 seeks to clamp down on nondefense, nonsecurity spending, including cuts in Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency infrastructure arid a freeze on highway and mass transit aid. But the plan, released Feb. 2, also finds room for some hikes, includ- ing State Dept. embassy building, airport grants and Superfund. Now Congress will weigh in. Industry hopes legislators will undo some of the reductions. "Obviously the budget numbers are disappointing," says Steve Hall, the American Council of Engineering Companies' director of government affairs. "But it is the first step in the process." Lawmakers' desire for public works projects rises in election years, which sets up a clash in coming months between Congress and Bush's plan.