WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama releases his proposed 2012 budget today, the first step in figuring out how the federal government should spend your tax dollars in the fiscal year that begins in October.
In reality, Obama’s budget is little more than a presidential wish list that prioritizes his spending plans, since Congress still must approve any federal budget.
Obama already has announced a five-year freeze on discretionary spending and is expected to announce substantial spending cuts today. It probably won’t be enough to please Congress, however.
Led by the new Republican leadership in the House, Congress has signaled it will make cuts that are much deeper than anything Obama proposes.
Here’s an early look at what various budget changes might mean to Georgians:
Transportation
Obama wants to invest $53 billion over six years into high-speed rail and will include some of the funding in his 2012 budget. Since Sonny Perdue was generally ambivalent about high-speed rail when he was governor, the state is behind others such as Florida and North Carolina in planning. Don’t look for much of that money to come to Georgia.
The president may suggest reducing direct funding in other areas, such as highway programs and federal matching grants for secondary-road improvements, relying instead on his plans for a national transportation “infrastructure bank” that would leverage private funding to help pay for roads and other big-ticket projects.
Since Congress has sworn off “earmarks” — the much-maligned mechanism for members of Congress to funnel federal dollars directly to their districts — don’t look for any traditional help from Congress for road improvements.
According to some airport industry groups, Obama also could cut $1 billion out of the government’s $3.5 billion fund for airport construction grants, which could affect Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Proposed tax increases for airline tickets also could affect traffic through the airport.
The $105 million question for Georgia: Will Obama include the state’s request for funding for Port of Savannah improvements in his budget? Supporters hope deepening the port will help attract the larger ships that will be able to pass through the Panama Canal beginning in 2015.
Social services
Many social programs likely will be hard-hit by budget cuts expected from both the White House and Congress.
Obama, for instance, plans to cut $3 billion out of the $5.1 billion federal Low Income Heating Assistance Program. That means nearly 29,000 low-income Georgians who are currently enrolled in the program may see less or no government help in paying their heating bills.
Also in the cost-cutting cross hairs: The Women, Infants and Children nutrition program that helps feed needy pregnant women and children. Georgia is the nation’s fifth-largest state for WIC, with about 323,000 Georgians enrolled in the program in any month.
Cuts in the Department of Housing and Urban Development also could make it tougher for the poor to get housing help. Could that result in replays like the mob scene East Point saw last summer over Section 8 housing?
Other places where Georgians might see cuts to social services: school lunch programs, special education and after-school programs.
The CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Atlanta area’s biggest federal employer, likely will see some budget cuts as Obama and Congress look for ways to deliver on promises to reduce government bureaucracy and duplication by federal agencies.
House Republican leaders have indicated they want to cut the CDC’s $10 billion budget by $755 million. Look for Obama to suggest smaller cuts in the agency and other agencies that have similar duties — such as the National Institutes of Health — in an attempt at compromise.
Also potentially on the chopping block are state-based science and research programs at Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and elsewhere that rely on federal funding.
Military spending
Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have said they want to cut the $708 billion defense budget by $78 billion by 2015 and they will cut outside contracting by 10 percent. Most of the cuts aren’t expected to happen next year, though.
That means personnel at Fort Benning and other Georgia bases could see cutbacks in the services they get.
Big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin in Marietta might feel some tightening too — if not in the next year, then in following years.
Agriculture
Obama could propose cuts to the government’s $5 billion annual farm subsidies program, which could affect Georgia’s agriculture industry. More likely, though, he will wait until Congress works out a new farm bill beginning later this year.
The state’s farming industry shouldn’t be surprised to see cutbacks in areas such as agricultural research and support programs in the president’s budget, however — except perhaps in areas that fit into Obama’s priorities, such as research and development of biofuels, which some Georgia economic boosters have been pushing.
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