Analyze Bush's budget in context of the Valley

While U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. looks favorably upon President Bush's $1.96 trillion budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, we would urge the congressman to study carefully the spending proposals for those agencies that are of great importance to the Mahoning Valley, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Justice Department.
Granted, the analysis of Bush's blueprint is continuing and the administration is still filling in the blanks, but a preliminary review of the budget by the Washington Post suggests that HUD would lose $700 million for a program aimed at upgrading public housing around the country and $309 million for its initiative to rid public housing projects of drug dealers.
Public housing is important to the Mahoning Valley, and there is an on-going effort to replace the traditional large projects with smaller complexes. There is also a push in the cities of Youngstown and Warren to rid public housing of the drug infestation that has made it a haven for criminals. Law-abiding residents have long complained about being in harm's way because of drug-related gang warfare.
Traficant should meet with officials of the local housing authorities to get their take on what effect, if any, the president's proposed cuts will have on their future plans.
Community development: In addition, the administration wants to cut $411 million worth of special projects paid out of the community development block grant program. What's a special project? The proposed convocation and community center in downtown Youngstown for which $26.8 million has been secured by Traficant would fall into that category. Traficant has talked about going after another $10 million for the center, which carries a price tag of $40 million. If the president's cut stands, the congressman would be out of luck.
With regard to the Justice Department, Bush intends to phase out the community policing program that was launched by his predecessor, Bill Clinton. The program, which has a goal of putting 100,000 new police officers on America's streets, has been a god-send for cities like Youngstown and Warren, which have launched aggressive crime-fighting initiatives, and for other communities that need to bolster their police departments.
Budgetary games: Bush administration officials insist that the elimination of the Community Oriented Policing Services program will not prevent the 100,000 goal being reached because the money is already in the pipeline. But knowing Congress' penchant for budgetary sleight-of-hand, we believe that Traficant should not only confirm the administration's claim, but he should also determine whether there are communities in the 17th District that would like to participate in the program.
According to Traficant's spokesman, Charlie Straub, the Democratic congressman agrees with the Republican president's funding for education and his tax cuts.
But the devil is in the details and we would hope that Traficant views the spending plan within the context of the needs of the Mahoning Valley.