As reported in today’s Washington Post, House and Senate conferees are nearing completion on negotiations over H.R. 2, the omnibus bill for the remaining 11 FY 2003 appropriations bills that were not enacted by last October 1.

In addition to the National Priorities Project’s handy “State of the States” reports announced in the last Watcher, there is also a new set of fact sheets from AFSCME documenting the draconian cuts states have been forced to make to contend with their 3-year cumulative budget gap of $189 billion. A one-page fact sheet looks comprehensively at the cuts used by many states to meet their own constitutions’ mandates of a balanced budget. Some of the cuts recently used by states include releasing prisoners before completion of their sentences, cuts to higher education, increases in tuition at state universities, reducing funds for community services and child support enforcement, tightening eligibility requirements for the working poor and disabled for state Medicaid health plans, raiding state rainy day funds, and layoffs. Other state-by-state analyses will be available soon, which OMB Watch will note.

The President issued his FY 2004 budget proposal February 3, which was received with accolades by some and with great criticism by others worried that several key education, housing and environmental programs would suffer under his proposed funding levels. Included in this article are links to OMB Watch analyses, as well as the responses of other organizations and Members of Congress.