Federal budget cuts will be felt in Iowa, Cedar Rapids

WASHINGTON - Congress' vote for a historic cut in the federal budget last week will be felt in Iowa and Cedar Rapids.

Cities will have less money for a series of local programs, students will have a harder time getting federal grants to pay for college and local police forces will find harder hire new officer.

Cedar Rapids received about $1.5 million in federal block grants last year. Some of that money helped pay for after school and summer programs for 700 school children, provide down payments for eligible first-time homeowners and finance the rehabilitation of some of the city's homes.

Now that Congress has passed a new, leaner spending plan, the city will receive at least 15 percent less money for these types of programs this year.

“There's going to be a public reaction,” predicted Christine Butterfield, Cedar Rapid's community development director. “Some people's requests (for assistance) won't be fully satisfied.”

The compromise that will fund the federal government until the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, was difficult to reach and agreed to just minutes before the federal government would have been shut down on April 8.

It cuts more than $38 billion from dozens of federal programs. WIC, a program that pays for food packages for pregnant women, single mothers and their children will be reduced by $504 million. The COPS program, which helps local police forces hire officers and buy equipment, will be cut by $296 million and Army Corps of Engineer construction by $414 million.

The result of a deal fashioned by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and President Obama, the budget was approved in a bipartisan vote this week that split Iowa's delegation.

Saying it cut too deeply into social programs and would hurt the nation's economic recovery, Reps. Bruce Braley and David Loebsack - both Iowa Democrats - voted against it.

Republican Steve King, R-Iowa, also rejected the plan because he said it did not go far enough.

Sens. Charles Grassley, Tom Harkin and Rep. Tom Latham voted for the budget. So did Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell. Budget supporters say it's a necessary first step to cutting the nation's massive federal deficit and putting the United States on sound financial footing.

Harkin said the bill made some “painful cuts” but “could have been a lot worse.”

Loebsack said he rejected the budget because of its reductions to social and educational programs, including Pell Grants that help students pay for college tuition. He also cited cuts to programs that would help the economy, including new passenger rail funding.

“I don't believe we can balance the budget on the backs of the poor and needy,” he said.

The compromise budget also cuts a series of agriculture programs, including National Institute of Food and Agriculture grants that fund research and a program that provides fruits and vegetables for school lunches.

Bruce Babcock, director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University, said the budget's effects on agriculture are minimal.

“But they're symbolic to the task ahead,” he said.

While wrangling over the 2011 budget was bitter, the fight on Capitol Hill over the 2012 budget will be much more intense.

House Republicans recently introduced a plan that would reduce the deficit by $5.8 trillion over 10 years. President Obama this week introduced a competing plan that would cut $4 trillion over the next 12 years. Reconciling the two will be difficult and include much greater reductions to government programs.

Babcock said he expects the next round of budget negotiations to reduce subsidies to high-income farmers and end ethanol subsidies.

Loebsack said he hopes congressional budget cutters reject a Republican proposal to replace Medicare with vouchers to buy private insurance. He said Congress should instead eliminate obsolete defense programs to save money.

But there's no way Iowans won't feel the budget ax.