Washington

How block grants stack up

NO ONE knows how much Illinois — and every other state — will lose in 1982 because of President Reagan's budget cuts. According to an estimate by the federal Office of Management and Budget, Illinois will lose somewhere between $15 and $20 million. But those figures came out before inflation and continued high interest rates forced the president to seek even more budget cuts to achieve his goals of holding down the federal deficit in 1982 and balancing the budget in 1984. Even dedicated budget-balancers like House Republican Leader Bob Michel were worried about the interest rates. "I'm a political creature, and our political futures [require that] there's got to be some movement before spring," the Peoria legislator declared.

Trying to figure out exactly how much an individual state will lose is a very complicated process, which was made even more uncertain by Reagan's trial balloon announcement that he might order the various federal agencies not to spend as much as they're authorized to spend.

As of this writing in early September, Gov. James R. Thompson's office in Washington had not yet received from the budget office in Springfield a breakdown of the effects of the federal budget cuts on the state's agencies and programs. (The federal budget office provided the $15-20 million figure to the governor's office, but it does not usually break down the budget cuts for each individual state. It leaves that task to the states themselves.)

State budget experts were still trying to pinpoint the state's losses under Reagan's original $35 billion in spending cuts, approved by Congress for fiscal 1982 (which began October 1); and the prospect of even further reductions in federal aid to the states has caused considerable confusion.

According to the Illinois General Assembly office in Washington, the state will lose a lot of money through the federal funding of block grants. The following figures are based on authorization levels which are susceptible to change during the actual appropriations process. These numbers are considered the minimum of what the state could expect to lose, since any last-minute changes by Congress during the appropriations process would probably reduce funding levels rather than increase them.

In the Maternal and Child Health Services block grant, the state will receive $12.5 million in fiscal 1982 compared to $16.8 million in fiscal 1981; Social Services, down from $152.6 million to $120.2 million; Community Services, down from $18.6 million to $17.5 million; Preventive Health and Health Services, down from $4.1 million to $3 million; Alcohol and Drug Abuse, down from $18.8 million to $14.4 million; Small Town Community Development, an increase from $32 million in fiscal 1981 to $38 million in fiscal 1982; Energy Assistance, an increase from $105.8 million to $108.7 million.

Again, these figures are merely for block grants and do not represent all of the budget cuts, including any new cuts that may be proposed by the Reagan administration. In addition, Congress is planning to chop another $15 billion from the budget during the appropriations process, and some of those cuts would undoubtedly affect Illinois further.

But if Congress is facing a gloomy fall with high interest rates, more budget cuts (and the 1982 elections drawing ever nearer), many members at least had a good summer vacation.

Some members of the Illinois delegation, such as Democrat John Fary of Chicago, spent at least part of the summer catching up on local issues and attending fund raisers and campaign organization meetings to gear up for the fall elections.

Republican Paul Findley of Springfield and Democrat Frank Annunzio of Chicago took an 18-day trip to New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia sponsored by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The trip included a brief stop in the tropical Fiji Islands, but a committee news release was careful to point out this stopover was "to discuss matters of mutual interest, including Fijan participation in the Sinai peacekeeping force." Democrat Gus Savage of Chicago took an 18-day trip to Africa to look into the severe plight of refugees in Somalia. Most members of Congress resent these excursions being referred to as junkets. They prefer to call them "fact-finding trips" or "congressional study missions."

Finally, for what it's worth, syndicated columnist Jack Anderson and his staff surveyed House members to find how individual members were rated. Here's how some of the Illinois congressman fared.

Most effective: Michel and Democrat Dan Rostenkowski of Chicago; least effective: Democrat Melvin Price of East St. Louis; best backroom operators: Annunzio and Republican Edward Madigan of Champaign; most popular: Rostenkowski and fellow Democrat Paul Simon of Carbondale; special-interest waterboy: Democrat Marty Russo of Oak Lawn for his work on behalf of the funeral and hospital industries and commodity dealers.

November 1981 | Illinois Issues | 37