Spending by the Department of Health and Human Services would rise by $58 billion, to $642 billion, in fiscal 2006. The HHS discretionary budget authority would decline by $300 million, to $68.9 billion.
Most of the HHS budget is consumed by mandatory programs, particularly Medicaid and Medicare, which serve the elderly, disabled and poor. Administration officials project the Medicare prescription drug benefit will cost $395 billion over the first five years, or nearly double the original estimate of $400 billion over a decade.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the world's premier public health agency, would be hit the hardest, with about $500 million cut. CDC would slash preventive health grants and bioterrorism preparedness grants to state and local health departments.
Medicaid spending would be cut $45 billion over the next decade. Officials say most of that would come from negotiating lower drug prices, cracking down on fraud and caring for the elderly in their own homes. The National Institutes of Health would receive $196 million, or 0.7 percent, more than it did last year. The budget includes more money for biodefense and a new chemical countermeasures project.
The Food and Drug Administration would get a $1.9 billion budget -- $1.5 billion in federal funds and $382 million in industry user fees. The FDA budget is a 4.5 percent increase over 2005. Much of the increase would be in its counterterrorism program, but there also is more money for the safety surveillance program for drugs already on the market.
Numerous popular projects at HHS, including the Ryan White CARE Act, the Administration on Aging and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, would have no change in funding amounts.
-- Ceci Connolly
The Department of Homeland Security is proposing a budget of $29.3 billion for fiscal 2006, an increase of $258 million, or 1 percent. Including $4.8 billion in existing and new fees, its discretionary budget is $34 billion, a 6.8 percent increase. Including funds spent by other federal departments, the government is spending $49.9 billion on domestic defense, an increase of $3.9 billion, or 8.6 percent, from this year.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit, which has had massive financial shortfalls, would receive an increase of $490 million, or 13 percent.
Homeland Security also proposes spending an extra $90 million for new detention facilities for illegal immigrants after it had to release thousands of them because of inadequate bed space. The department plans to spend $36 million more on the Border Patrol, mostly to hire 210 new agents along the nation's borders -- a fraction of the 2,000 Congress said last year should be hired.
-- John Mintz
The Department of Housing and Urban Development's budget would shrink by about $3.7 billion, or 11.5 percent, to $28.5 billion. Much of those cuts would come from a government reorganization and consolidation plan that would send the agency's multibillion-dollar community development programs to the Commerce Department.
The administration's proposal, which Congress must approve, would also reduce some programs that provide housing assistance to low-income Americans. It would cut housing aid for the disabled by $118 million, or almost half, as well as cutting housing assistance for those with AIDS and for Native Americans. The budget would increase some rental assistance, set aside an additional $200 million for anti-homelessness programs and quadruple funding for programs that help cover down payments for some home buyers.
-- Brian Faler
