Posts Tagged: 2011 federal budget

Police departments feel impact of federal budget cuts

By Matthew Blake | May 13 2011 at 12:34 | Your take

The last-minute 2011 federal budget cut $38 billion in non-entitlement domestic spending, exempting all national security agencies from cuts. But the Chicago Tribune’s Robert Channick and Joseph Ruzich report that Justice Dept. money to local law enforcement was not exempt — overall the Dept. lost about $1 billion from its 2010 budget, including $296 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, program. The Tribune looks at how hard these cuts hit suburban Chicago police forces. For example, the COPS program pays the salaries of three police officers and provides the money for bulletproof vests for the Maywood police department.

Topics: Beltway Outsider, Dept. of Justice, Government in My Backyard (GIMBY)
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No extra help now for unemployed

By Matthew Blake | Nov 19 2010 at 11:00 | Your take

The U.S. House of Representatives has rejected an extension of unemployment benefits beyond their Nov. 30 expiration date — stopping benefits for 800,000 workers, report the Wall Street Journal’s Janet Hook and Martin Vaughan. The Journal suggests that Congress may yet compromise on unemployment benefits — GOP leaders want the $12 billion cost offset with spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. However, if no agreement is reached, 2 million additional people will lose benefits in December. The lack of an extension hits Illinois especially hard: the state continues to have an unemployment rate above the national average.

So the irrationality of lawmaking has once again prevented the federal government from being a positive force. (more…)

Topics: Beltway Outsider, Dept. of Labor, Government in My Backyard (GIMBY)
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