The “Spending Reduction Act of 2011,” recently released by the Republican Study Committee, was unveiled yesterday by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC). It proposes a list of cuts to non-defense and non-entitlement programs that would, they say, reduce the federal budget deficit by $2.5 trillion over ten years. The act is very unlikely to make it through the Democrat-controlled Senate and would certainly be vetoed by President Obama. But here’s a partial list of programs that would be on the chopping block, all of which would affect cities (figures represent annual savings):
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy ($445 million) – National Endowment for the Arts (Full disclosure: Next American City receives funding from the NEA) ($167.5 million) – Hope VI Program ($250 million) – Amtrak subsidies ($1.565 billion) – “Duplicative” education programs ($1.3 billion) – Community Development Fund ($4.5 billion) – DOE grants to states for weatherization ($530 million) – New starts transit ($2 billion) – Intercity and high-speed rail ($2.5 billion) – Economic development administration ($293 million) – Programs under the National and Community Services Act ($1.15 billion) – Applied research at the DOE ($1.27) – FreedomCAR and fuel partnership ($200 million) – Subsidy to Washington Metro ($150 million) – Subsidies to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ($12.5 million)
To see the dozens of other programs that would face cuts, click here.