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August 28, 2008
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eNewsletter: February 28, 2007
President Bush proposes cuts in key federal programs
President Bush’s FY 2008 budget proposal, released in early February, calls for significant cuts in key federal alcohol and drug prevention, treatment and recovery programs. The President’s budget serves as a blueprint for the Congress, which will begin putting its plans together for the fiscal year 2008, which begins on October 1, 2007. Among the programs that the President’s budget proposes cutting are the Recovery Community Services program and Recovery Month.
Apart from the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant, which would receive funding similar to the FY 2007 level, many federal drug and alcohol treatment, prevention and recovery programs received requests for significantly lower levels of funding as compared with the FY 2007 funding levels.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Overall, the President’s FY 2008 budget requests almost $160 million in cuts to SAMHSA programs. The President’s budget request for the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SAPTBG) program would hold the program at the current funding level of $1.759 billion.
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT)
The CSAT FY 2008 request for $352.1 million is a decrease of $46.8 million from FY 2007 funding. It includes an $11.5 million increase to the Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral and Treatment (SBIRT) program, a $6.5 million decrease to the Pregnant and Postpartum Women program, and a $9.9 million decrease to the Children/Adolescent/Family Programs.
The Recovery Community Services Program (RCSP) is slated for a $3.9 million cut in the President’s proposed budget:
FY 2006 Actual: $8,842*
FY 2007 Actual: $9,116
FY 2008 Pres. Proposed: $5,263
Decrease: $ -3,853
* in millions
Click here for a handout on the RCSP program and a list of the former and current grantees.
Funding for the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month programming are also slated for cuts.
CSAT’s Criminal Justice Activities portfolio, which includes the Drug Court and Young Offender Reentry Programs, would receive a $13.7 million increase under the President’s budget proposal. SAMHSA’s budget description notes that this increase would support additional Drug Court grants to help fund alcohol and drug addiction treatment services for individuals referred by the court. In addition, the funding requested would support reentry services for young people who are released from correctional settings.
The President’s FY 2008 budget requested $98 million to continue funding for the Access to Recovery (ATR) program. The ATR program is a voucher program administered by States and Tribal Organizations. The funding request includes $25 million to support methamphetamine addiction treatment and recovery support services. The Methamphetamine portion of the Access to Recovery program will focus on those States where epidemiological data and treatment data indicate high methamphetamine prevalence and treatment prevalence.
Allied national addiction prevention, treatment and recovery organizations have come together to develop an alternative budget proposal that we will be sending you information about as the FY 2008 budget process unfolds.
For more information and updates on the FY 2008 budget process, check out the Legal Action Center’s Washington Weekly Roundup.