(The following story by Faith Bremner appeared on the Great Falls Tribune website on February 7.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Jon Tester on Wednesday said President George Bush’s proposed 2009 budget fails rural America.
In a telephone press conference held with Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., the Montana Democrat said Bush’s budget would slash funding for federal programs that are important to rural communities.
Among other things, Bush’s $3.1 trillion budget would eliminate a program that subsidizes air travel to small towns, cut 20 percent of the U.S. Forest Service’s wildland fire program and cut 40 percent from Amtrak’s federal subsidy.
“When you start slashing Essential Air Service by $61 million, what that means is that folks in rural communities do not have access to vital services, vital resources that a lot of us take for granted in the more populated areas,” said Tester, a farmer from Big Sandy. “There’s another nail in the coffin of rural America, so to speak.”
It’s not very likely that the Democratic-controlled Congress will go along with Bush’s plan to slash funding in these and other areas. However, Bush’s proposed budget cuts will make it harder for lawmakers to restore funding because they’ll have to take the money from somewhere else.
Lincoln blamed the cuts on Bush’s desire to reduce the national deficit.
“That’s fine and good, but it shouldn’t be done disproportionately on the backs of rural America,” he said.