|PIC1|President Bush defended his new 2007 spending blueprint on Wednesday amid criticism over plans to cut from social service programmes while making major boosts on homeland security and national defense.

One major goal of the proposed $2.77 trillion budget is to halve the national deficit – which this year stands at its all-time high of $423 billion – by the time Bush leaves office in 2009. In doing so, the proposal seeks cuts in several social service programmes, including cuts in Medicare, Medicaid support for poor children’s care, and education.

Nine Cabinet agencies would also see reductions, with the biggest percentage cuts occurring in the Departments of Transportation, Justice and Agriculture. In addition, the budget seeks cuts or total elimination on 141 programmes that would produce savings of nearly $15 billion in 2007.

According to Jim Towey, Director of the Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, faith-based groups are not exempt from the cuts.

|QUOTE|“The President is not interested in religion, he’s interested in results and he’s trying to fund programmes that have proven to be effective,” Towey said during a press briefing Monday.

“There is a greater level of competition, and I guess that does threaten the status quo,” he continued. “But at a time when budget resources are tight because of the war on terror and other pressures, you need to have competition.”

However, Towey predicted that such competition will open new doors for faith-based and community groups that previously did not have access to government grants.

“The reality is if you looked at the data last year in the category of competitive non-formula grants, the great majority of money went to secular not-for-profits and government entities, not religious charities,” said Towey. “So I think there hasn't been any dramatic shift. What has happened, though, is barriers have been removed and now we're seeing groups competing for the first time for these grant dollars.”

|AD|According to Lynn Ziegenfuss, the director of Mentor Youth – a mentoring resource programme jointly run by the National Network of Youth Ministries and the Department of Justice – these new opportunities can bring many benefits, but not all ministries are fit to receive them.

“Everyone can win, as long as churches understand the boundaries of where the money can be spent,” said Ziegenfuss on Tuesday. “Ministries and faith-based organizations have to figure out how to appropriately make use of funds that are available, and still be able to do their mission.”

In the case of Mentor Youth, the initiative received a total of one million dollars in designated funds from the government in the last three years. And while the ministry “enjoyed a very good relationship with the government,” Ziegenfuss said it is ready to be self-sustaining.

“We don’t know if we have any more money coming in this year, but the goal of the funds was for us to be a recruiting initiative [for the NNYM] that can be self-sustaining,” she explained. “And we are now sustainable.”

Specific data on which groups will be receiving grants is expected to be released next month, alongside information on the recipients of the 2005 grants.






Pauline J. Chang
Christian Today Correspondent