High-Powered Influence May Prevent Bush's Budget Cuts

WASHINGTON, Feb 8, 2005 — -- President Bush's proposed $2.5 trillion budget is perhaps his most aggressive in its efforts to contain federal spending. In an effort to reduce government spending and the record federal deficit, Bush has suggested 150 programs for termination, reductions in funding and reform for a total savings to taxpayers of approximately $20 billion. But influence from interest groups, Congress and even some within his own administration will likely obstruct the president's ability to deliver the number of budget cuts he has proposed.

In last year's federal budget, for instance, Bush proposed eliminating 65 spending programs at a savings of about $5 billion. But Congress only approved seven cuts in the final budget, saving only around $370 million.

One of the 58 proposed cuts that survived -- the Advanced Technology Program -- serves as an example of how difficult it is to cut government spending.

Since its birth in 1990, ATP has provided billions to the private sector for research and development. Almost half of that funding has been directed to Fortune 500 companies like General Motors and IBM.

"The Advanced Technology Program is the poster child for corporate welfare," said Tom Schatz, president of the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste.

Despite Bush's proposal to eliminate the program last year, Congress instead appropriated $136 million. ATP, after all, has some very powerful supporters.

"Major corporations such as General Electric, who are very powerful lobbies here on their own, get millions and millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to support their research," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "It's mind-boggling that a major corporation would require taxpayers' dollars to do their job, which is to research products that they will sell and make a profit on."

Noting that Bush has tried to reduce or eliminate funding for ATP three times before this year, McCain said that "the administration always wants to kill it, but somehow [members of Congress] always stick it in, but always behind closed doors."