On February 5, 2008, the administration released its fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget proposal to Congress. Unfortunately, as in years past, the budget proposal included sweeping cuts to law enforcement assistance programs.

As outlined in the chart below, in total, the administration’s proposed budget slashes just over $1.1 billion from existing law enforcement assistance and other anticrime programs. This is a 45 percent cut when compared with FY 2008 funding levels (see table below).

In its budget, the administration proposed two new initiatives: the Violent Crime Reduction Partnership Initiative (VCRPI) and the Byrne Public Safety and Protection Program (BPSP). The VCRPI is intended to help communities suffering from high rates of violent crime by forming and developing effective multijurisdictional law enforcement partnerships between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. The BPSP would consolidate several existing programs to fund programs that intend to reduce violent crime, address substance abuse, clean up methamphetamine labs, promote law enforcement information-sharing efforts, and improve services to victims of crime. Unfortunately, the proposed funding levels for these new programs do little to offset the massive reductions elsewhere in the budget.