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The president's budget for the coming year has just been released, and now Congress will spend the next four to six weeks developing the Budget Resolution that will define what happens to funding for 2006 and beyond. The president's budget cuts domestic discretionary programs by $212 billion and mandatory programs (like Medicaid, food stamps and child care assistance for low-income families) by $138 billion over the next 10 years. Based on these numbers, child care assistance would be ended for 300,000 low-income children and food stamps would be cut for 200,000-300,000 people by the year 2009.

The president and Congress have indicated that the deficit has to be cut in half over the next five years. A disproportionate share of the burden of deficit reduction will fall on programs which assist the poor and vulnerable populations, even though these programs are not the major contributors to the deficit. With the exception of Social Security, defense, homeland security and Medicare, all other programs in the federal budget could be reduced or cut in the budget debate. It is likely that while low-income programs alone account for only 6 percent of the federal budget, they may experience almost 50 percent of the cuts. In addition, the tax cuts that were initiated in the last four years are going to be expanded.

Programs that have been the cornerstones for support and survival to thousands of Montanans and constitute about a quarter of our state's budget will be among those likely to be reduced. Programs like Medicaid; CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program); TANF (Temporary Relief to Needy Families); food stamps; housing assistance; child care services; education programs; Head Start; veterans benefits; WIC (Special Supplemental Programs for Women, Infants and Children); aging services; maternal and child health; mental health; and low-income energy assistance are only a few of the many programs that Congress will be consider for cuts in one form or another. Besides giving vital assistance, these programs bring much-needed dollars into the local economy.

The president's budget has cut Medicaid by $45 billion over the next 10 years. This comes at a time when the number of people without health coverage is growing. Currently, in Montana, there are approximately 119,860 adults between 19 and 64 and 37,790 children without health care. In November 2004, there were 85,722 people in the state Medicaid program, of which more than half were children, 17,099 were blind or disabled and 7,337 were elderly. Overall, about two-thirds of all Medicaid expenses go towards health care for seniors, including those in long-term care as their health needs increase in the final years of life.

The TANF program, which is available only to parents with dependent children, had an increase in enrollment from 17,110 in 2001 to 18,074 in 2003 in the state. Most TANF clients are single mothers. TANF has already seen a

23 percent reduction in benefits because funding has not been increased since 1997.

As the poverty level in the state grew, so did the number of people who were hungry or frequently going without meals. Between 2000 and 2002, 47,000 families in Montana were not able to secure food in a consistent and reliable manner. In many of these families, adults as well children also had to go without food.

Reducing the federal deficit is a necessary and admirable goal, but it is extremely important for us to remember that the domestic programs slated for severe cuts are not the ones that caused the deficit. About 45 percent of the cost of lost revenues since 2000 has come from tax cuts. This amounts to

$244 billion in 2005. Federal tax revenues have fallen to their lowest in over 40 years. Now the president's budget proposes new tax cuts of almost $130 billion over the next five years.

Another 37 percent of costs are due to increases in defense and homeland security. Because these two programs plus Social Security and Medicare are not facing any reductions, domestic programs may be seen by many in Congress as optional and the easiest to cut.

Montana citizens are fortunate to have a congressman and two senators whose primary concerns are the needs of all people in Montana. We urge Sens. Max Baucus and Conrad Burns and Rep. Denny Rehberg to make every effort to protect these programs for Montana. The low-income people don't have a powerful voice in Washington, but messages to our congressional delegation from caring citizens will assist them in their efforts to save our funding.

Jean Curtiss is a Missoula County commissioner. Minkie Medora is a member of the Food Policy Council of the Montana Food Bank Network.

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