Plans for federal budget cuts could hit home in Oregon

[roxiejules]

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/02/plans_for_federal_budget_cuts.html - via Oregonian


WASHINGTON – When Congress begins constructing a new budget this week, all the high-volume talk of deficits and earmarks and fiscal responsibility will give way to these on-the-ground realities for Oregon:

A suicide hotline run by Oregon Partnership may run out of money because an expected $200,000 earmark has evaporated.

Progress on moving the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific fleet to Newport could run aground if Republicans are successful in cutting $366 million from NOAA's budget. The Portland Housing Bureau could find itself unable to meet rising needs for poor families if the Obama administration carries through with plans to cut $300 million from Community Development Block Grants.

Democrats say the Republicans' proposals are poorly targeted and ignore more strategic ways to reduce the deficit. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., calls the Republican plan "the big lie."