U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin

The Bush Administration's budget for higher education will negatively affect more than 1.6 million college students who depend on financial aid to pay for college. While tuition costs have increased by more than $2,300 since 2001, this year the Administration has proposed significant reductions in financial aid for college students and their families.

The Pell Grant program is the foundation for our nation's commitment to college access and opportunity. Today, 5.3 million low-and middle-income students rely on Pell Grants to pay for post-secondary education. The maximum Pell Grant award is currently $4,050. This year's budget contains a maximum increase of $100, but does little to compensate for the freeze in past budgets.

While the Administration has purposed a small increase in Pell Grants for this year, it also has changed how the federal government calculates student aid eligibility, cutting deductions allowed for state and local taxes. This change will mean that a total of 81,000 students currently receiving Pell Grants will lose all funding and more than one million students will see their grants cut. I have co-sponsored legislation in this Congress that would undo the Administration's change in calculating student aid eligibility

Unfortunately, the motto seems to be to give with one hand, but take away with the other. For example, the Bush Administration wants to terminate the Perkins Loan program, which provides low-interest loans to 567,000 students who demonstrate substantial need. Two-thirds of Perkins students come from families with annual incomes of $40,000 or less.

The Administration's reasoning is that money for Perkins Loans can be redirected to the Pell Grant program. Unfortunately, they have been shortsighted by not factoring in that colleges and universities must add $1 from their own resources to match every $3 of federal Perkins Loan capital.

In fact, nearly 1,800 colleges and universities use Perkins Loans to address student financial need after Pell Grants and other types of financial aid have been awarded. In addition, Perkins Loans are repaid and are used to assist other needy students. Another consideration is that the loan forgiveness program encourages Perkins recipients to pursue public service careers such as teaching, law enforcement, VISTA and the Peace Corp.

The President's recently unveiled FY 2006 budget has alarmed Americans who care about our soaring budget deficit, funding for education, health and the environment, veterans benefits and strengthening homeland security. Earlier this year, the President promised to offer a plan that would cut the deficit in half, yet his proposed FY 2006 budget contains a record deficit of $427 billion.

While we fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the President's budget calls for making $1.3 trillion in tax cuts permanent. Four years ago, we had a $5.6 trillion, 10-year budget surplus; today, that surplus has evaporated, replaced by a $3.4 trillion deficit over the next 10 years that will be a nightmare for future generations.

The Administration's budget proposal also omits the full costs associated with many major items, including:

* Social Security privatization, which is estimated to cost about $750 billion from 2009 to 2015 alone;

* realistic costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which could reach as much as $400 billion over the next 10 years; and,

* fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), which is affecting far more Americans than was ever intended. The AMT is a 10% tax on deductions of more than $30,000, and it is expected to affect some 33 million taxpayers by 2010. Without any change to the AMT, Americans will be paying approximately $1 trillion more in taxes by 2015.

The President's budget proposal, which must be enacted by Congress, also fails to deal with important national priorities. In education, it fails to provide the necessary funding for No Child Left Behind, and eliminates 48 educational programs, including the Perkins Loan program which provides low-interest loans to financially-needy college students. Under the President's budget, Maryland would lose more than $289 million in after school, Title I and IDEA funds.

The budget cuts to environmental programs are very disturbing. Maryland stands to lose more than $40 million in cuts to efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, including $32 million regionally in revolving loan funds for sewage system upgrades and $10 million in direct Bay cleanup funds. Such a reduction, is likely to have a serious impact on Gov. Robert Ehrlich's effort to upgrade sewage treatment plans in Maryland.

Veterans will also feel the pinch in health care. There will be increased co-payments on prescription drugs and new enrollment fees that will cost veterans hundreds of millions of dollars. Veterans service organizations estimate that the budget contains a $2 billion shortfall in needed funding, particularly as the VA begins to serve a new generation of disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

I also am troubled by the cuts in homeland security. The 9/11 bill, which passed at the end of 2004, called for an additional 2,000 border patrol agents by 2006. Unfortunately, this budget only funds 210 of them, weakening our efforts to protect our borders.

Finally, while 45 million Americans have no health care coverage, this budget cuts $60 million from Medicaid, severely reducing health care funding for children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

We face certain critical budget needs - the war, homeland security, education, veterans health care - and we must provide the funds necessary to meet our obligations. I will be working with others in Washington who agree with me that we must fulfill our obligations while reducing our budget deficit before we make $1.3 trillion in tax cuts permanent.

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