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Bush: Analysts say proposals a political game
Continued from page 1
“If we had been able to just lower
taxes and to cut deeply into basic pro
grams that really do help a lot of fami
lies, that would be one thing; but what
the president is proposing is deep cuts
to Medicaid,” Leachman said.
Lynn Read, deputy administrator
at the office of medical assistance
programs for the Oregon Department
of Human Services, said while the
proposed budget harms Medicaid’s
financial state, there are other aspects
of the budget that are beneficial.
According to the White House Web
site, the proposed federal budget
would improve health care in the
country by creating more than 1,200
community health centers nationwide
to “make health care more accessible.”
Read said investing more money in
federally qualified health centers is a
helpful way of “expanding that safety
net,” but she added the costs of such
an endeavor could be quite high.
Part of the budget also includes a
change in how states reimburse for
prescription drugs, which Read said
could prove to be a more accurate and
financially fair reimbursement process.
The budget would switch Medicaid re
imbursement for pharmaceuticals to a
system that uses the average sales
price rather than the average whole
sale price, which the National Confer
ence of State Legislatures said inflates
reimbursements. The change is ex
pected to save $542 million in 2006,
according to the NCSL.
Read said the budget also includes
increased support for a children’s
vaccine program, which could prove
very beneficial.
“It seems like any expansion that
would allow children access to vac
cines would be positive,” Read said.
Carl Hosticka, an emeritus associate
professor in the public policy, planning
and management department and a
Portland City Councilor for District 3,
said it is important to remember that
the budget is just a proposal and has to
pass through Congress before any ad
justments can be made.
“These budgets are very political
and very often the game isn’t about
what the person who proposed the
budget actually wants to see enacted
into law; it’s about what political
trade-offs they can force the other
side to make,” Hosticka said.
Hosticka, who served as a state rep
resentative in Lane County from 1983
to 1994, said Bush’s rate increase pro
posal for BPA and his plan for Medic
aid are unlikely to make it through
both Congressional chambers and are
primarily political statements about
the need for fiscal responsibility.
“It’s not a very pretty way of doing
things, and that’s part of why the
public is so skeptical over how
(politicians) do business,” Hosticka
said, referring to the process of politi
cal bargaining.
Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland,
said it is unlikely the budget will
make it through Congress without
undergoing significant changes, and
the proposal should be seen more as
a representation of the Bush admin
istration’s ideological priorities than
its immediate policy plans.
“It does give kind of a horrifying
view of what the priorities of the
administration are,” Buckley said,
adding that the budget proposal is
“fiscally irresponsible and morally
reprehensible.”
Leachman said proposed tax cuts
add insult to injury for those who will
already be feeling the effects of the
reduction in Medicaid funding by giv
ing relief to the very wealthy and not
the families struggling to get by.
Many low-and middle-income
families have seen tax decreases un
der the Bush administration and
Leachman said those were beneficial
but become overshadowed by the
program cuts being proposed.
A decrease in food stamp funding
as proposed in the budget would
harm the improvements to Oregon’s
hunger rate that have come about
since the state expanded the qualifi
cations for the food stamp program,
Leachman said.
“We would have to scale back the
program, and we think that will
hurt Oregon’s anti-hunger act,”
Leachman said.
Hosticka said the political ideology
behind Bush’s budget proposal is such
that the consequences of the proposal
could be an irrelevant topic of discus
sion because of the likelihood it will go
through drastic changes.
Leachman said the impact political
ideologies have on policymaking is
apparent with each year’s budget
proposal.
“It becomes quite clear that it does
make a difference who’s president,”
Leachman said.
meghanncuniff@dailyemerald.com
Education: Funding cuts impact research projects
Continued from page 1
submitted,” said Andy Clark, senior
associate director for federal affairs at
the Oregon University System.
Clark said the State Board hasn’t
taken up any formal consideration of
budget items yet, but that it will be
paying close attention to what’s hap
pening on the federal level.
The White House is planning on
four more annual increases to Pell
Grants to bring the total award per
student to $4,550.
Increases to Pell Grants will be bene
ficial to low-income students, said Eliz
abeth Bickford, director of Student Fi
nancial Aid. She sees both positive and
negative points in the budget.
“We’re always in support of the
needy students receiving more grant
money,” Bickford said.
“ (The Perkins Program) has me a
little worried; it’s the one I’m keeping
my eye on,” she said.
A Perkins loan is a mix of federal
and institutional dollars.
“A certain amount of the federal
share that we’ve been receiving over
time may go back to the federal gov
ernment, which reduces the amount
of money that we can lend out to stu
dents,” Bickford said.
Research activities also depend on
federal dollars.
“Federal investment in academic
research has been critical from
World War II to the present,” said
Richard Linton, vice president for re
search and graduate studies. “About
85 percent of our (research) grants
are federal in origin.”
Linton added that the budget,
which the White House described as a
“pause” in research funding increases,
had a 2 percent overall gain in items re
lated to research. The National Science
Foundation, the National Institutes of
Health and the federal Department of
Education have the most impact on re
search money.
“Considering the federal deficit,
I’m worried that it’s more of a halt
than a pause,” Linton said. “Research
is key to U.S. competitiveness in the
global economy. All of this is a major
ongoing concern.”
Research dollars could also impact
graduate studies.
“Many of those grants include re
search assistantships and teaching
fellowships. If those budgets are flat
or decline, we’re going to have more
trouble supporting our graduate stu
dents,” Linton said.
The U.S. Student Association, a
national lobbyist group comprised of
students, will help represent the in
terests of University students.
Ashley Rees, ASUO federal affairs
coordinator and representative
to USSA, said that overall, she isn’t
happy with the budget.
“The budget doesn’t prioritize high
er education,” said Rees, who didn’t
feel the Pell Grant increase was worth
the tradeoff in terminated programs.
“One in three of (the program cuts)
are education-related,” she added.
USSA will be lobbying in Congress
over spring break to encourage stu
dent-friendly changes to the budget.
Rees said she believes senators and
representatives are supportive of USSA.
“I’m confident that they at least
support our goal of increasing ac
cess,” she said.
Clark said the program cuts will
bolster opposition or support for
those programs.
“This year I believe that Congress
will get to the re-authorization of the
Higher Education Act,” Clark said.
“(The president is) sending a mes
sage to the authorizing committees
that these are programs that he does
n’t want to see in the reauthorization.
He’s created groups to fight for the
things they care about.”
adamcherry@ daily emerald, com
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