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White House targets 154 programs

A list of programs eliminated or cut in the 2006 Bush budget

WASHINGTON - President Bush challenged lawmakers Friday to eliminate or reduce spending for 154 federal programs, offering a long list of what the administration sees as duplications, failures and inefficiencies.

With a document detailing the administration's rationale for each proposed cut, the White House fleshed out Bush's State of the Union promise to curb government spending and reduce deficits that have been forecast.

Many of the items listed are not widely known, very small projects inserted by lawmakers to benefit their districts.

This list was in addition to $4.7-billion in savings from major proposed reforms already discussed in the budget released Monday, like beginning to eliminate Amtrak, consolidating job training programs and moving community development grants to the Commerce Department.

In the list, the president asked lawmakers to eliminate programs worth $4.3-billion from education, $1-billion from health and $1.5-billion from law enforcement.

Reductions include cuts totaling $2.5-billion from agriculture, $690-million from health and $470-million from housing.

In all, the targeted programs include 99 that the White House wants to eliminate, for a total of $8.8-billion in savings. The president wants to clip an additional $6.5-billion from the budget by cutting spending on 55 programs.

Last year, the president asked Congress to eliminate 130 federal programs. Four were terminated.

The administration said it paid special attention to overlapping programs that serve the same purpose. By streamlining those programs, the White House suggests the government can save $1.9-billion.

[Last modified February 12, 2005, 00:25:13]