President Bush’s FY 2002 budget clearly reflects his belief that a $2 trillion tax cut is the number one priority, more important than education, law enforcement, or the environment. Congress recently passed a budget resolution that modified the President’s budget, but in the coming months I hope Congress will modify his budget proposal even more to continue many of the programs that Americans want preserved.

While there are some hopeful signs in the President’s budget, I have serious concerns about what it will mean for Maryland if it is not modified by Congress. It’s important to take a close look at what the President’s budget -- in its current form -- will mean to millions of Marylanders.

First, the President’s budget contains a net loss of about $500 million in the Environmental Protection Agency budget. The overall decrease in EPA funding could have a dramatic impact on Maryland, including a $2 million reduction in funds to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

One positive note is continued funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides money for land acquisition and conservation programs and could mean more than $8.5 million for Maryland’s Rural Legacy and Smart Growth programs.

Unfortunately, significant cuts to the Department of Energy could mean a reduction of $200 million nationally for conservation and energy efficiency research programs. The President also backed away from a campaign promise to double the $38 million State Energy Program. Instead, these funds, which are matched by states to implement numerous energy conservation programs, could be seriously reduced.

While the President has promoted an almost $2 trillion tax cut over 10 years, he has also called for an end to the Class Size Reduction Initiative that would put 100,000 new teachers in the nation’s schools. In 1999 and 2000, Maryland received more than $36 million under this program to hire almost 1,000 new teachers. Sadly, that budget priority has been eliminated.

Also threatened is the very successful COPS program, which has enabled Maryland to place more than 2,300 new police officers on the street. Unfortunately, proposed cuts to the Justice Department of $1 billion seriously threatens this program.

Maryland’s state legislature acted this year to extend prescription drug coverage to seniors. However, proponents of the state plan acknowledged that the only real solution is federal action to make prescription drug coverage part of Medicare. Unfortunately, the President’s budget does not include adequate funding to provide this much-needed benefit.