2010 Federal Budget

Congress passed its Budget Resolution on April 27, 2009. It closely mirrored the President’s budget priorities. This Web page provides information about the Budget for FY 2010. NASW has worked on the Budget and will continue to work on the Appropriations process. NASW's interest in the budget and appropriations is to ensure that human needs are covered in the process.

Social Work and The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (5/09)

Human Needs Report: Congress Passes Budget Outline; President Fills in the Blanks (5/11/09)

Coalition on Human Needs: FY 2010 Human Needs Funding - President's Request compared to prior years' funding levels (5/8/09)

FULL BUDGET ROLLOUT
7 May 2009

• The President ordered a line-by-line review of the federal budget, looking at all government programs to set priorities – because to build a new foundation for economic growth and change for the future, we can’t afford to waste taxpayer dollars on wasteful, outdated, or duplicative programs.

• The Terminations, Reductions, and Savings volume is a progress report on that process.

• There are 121 programs that are terminated, reduced, or cut to produce savings of nearly $17 billion next year alone.  Some of these programs are ones that have outlived their usefulness.  Some are programs that never worked to begin with.  All are ones that taxdollars should not be spent for.

• Today, the President sent to Congress the full budget for Fiscal Year 2010. This document builds on the budget overview document released on February 26 by providing more details on specific allocations and cuts as well as appropriations language.

• The President’s 2010 Budget seeks to usher in a new era of responsibility – an era in which we not only do what we must to save and create new jobs and lift our economy out of recession, but in which we also lay a new foundation for long-term growth and prosperity.

• This Budget details the pillars of this new foundation for broad and sustained economic growth that we seek: making long overdue investments and reforms in education so that every child can compete in the global economy, undertaking health care reform so that we can control costs while boosting coverage and quality, and investing in renewable sources of energy so that we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and become the world leader in the new clean energy economy.

• Fiscal discipline is another critical pillar in this economic foundation. It is impossible to put our nation on a course for long-term growth with uncontrollable deficits and debt. We no longer can afford to tolerate investments in programs that are outdated, duplicative, ineffective, or wasteful.

• That is why the Budget includes a separate volume of terminations, reductions, and savings. This is the first report of the line-by-line review the President told the American people his Administration would undertake.

• In this volume, the Administration identifies 121 terminations, reductions, or other areas of savings which will save nearly $17 billion next year alone. These programs are ones that do not accomplish the goals set for them, do not do so efficiently, or do a job already done by another initiative – and that are cut or substantially changed.

• They range from subsidy programs to big oil and gas companies that cost us tens of billions of dollars to 60-year-old navigation system for ships made obsolete by GPS.

• Half of our savings for next fiscal year are from defense programs, and half are from non-defense.

• Together – big and small -- these program cuts and reductions – as well as other efficiencies -- will save nearly $17 billion next year.

• These efforts are just part of a larger and longer effort needed to change how Washington does business and put our fiscal house in order.

• The Budget also includes an historic down payment on health care reform, the key to our long-term fiscal future, and was constructed without commonly used budget gimmicks that, for instance, hide the true costs of war and natural disasters.

• The Budget will cut the deficit in half by the end of the President’s first term, and we will bring non-defense discretionary spending to its lowest level as a share of GDP since 1962.

• Since the budget overview was unveiled 10 weeks ago, the President has announced a contracting reform effort that will greatly reduce no-bid contracts and save $40 billion.

• At the Cabinet’s first meeting, he directed agency heads to identify at least $100 million in administrative savings.

• The President personally called on the congressional leadership to pass PAYGO laws so that Congress is required to say how it will pay for the spending decisions it makes.

• And Secretary of Defense Gates, in consultation with our nation’s military leadership, unveiled an unprecedented effort to reform defense contracting, saving billions.

• We are well aware that there will be various interests – vocal and powerful -- who will oppose different aspects of this Budget. Change is never easy.

• But after an era of profound irresponsibility, Americans are ready to embrace the shared responsibilities we have to each other and to generations to come. They want to put problem-solving ahead of point-scoring, and to reconstruct an economy on a solid foundation.