Raw Data: FY 2007 Budget Request by Agency

WASHINGTON – Agency: Department of Agriculture

Spending: $96.4 billion.

Percentage change from 2006: +0.2 percent

Mandatory Spending: $76.7 billion

Highlights:

--Reduces spending on commodity programs by $1 billion. Seeks to cut payments to farmers by 5 percent and impose stricter limits on payments, reducing the annual ceiling from $360,000 to $250,000 and closing loopholes that enable big rice and cotton operations to get payments well beyond the limits.

-Requires sugar producers to pay a 1.2 percent marketing assessment and dairy producers to pay an assessment of 3 cents per hundredweight of milk.

-Cuts crop insurance subsidies and requires producers to buy crop insurance.

The Bush administration is proposing farm payment cuts that Congress rejected last year. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said farmers have been spared from cuts to reduce the deficit and need to contribute their fair share.

Producers "were pretty well left alone" in the budget bill that Congress recently sent to the president, Johanns said. At the same time, payments have soared beyond projections in the 2002 Farm Bill, he said.

Farm payments represent less than a quarter of the department's spending. The department's major expense is for the mandatory food and nutrition programs, where spending would rise from $53.9 billion to $54.4 billion.

A record 30.9 million children would receive free or reduced-price meals through the school lunch program, an increase of about 700,000 children. Food stamps would be extended to more of the working poor under a plan to exclude retirement savings from being factored into a family's eligibility.

Still, the administration is again seeking to take food stamps away from an estimated 300,000 people who automatically qualify when they get other non-cash government assistance. Congress rejected this idea last year.

Also targeted for cuts are the department's conservation programs, except for a wetlands conservation program lauded by President Bush. Conservation spending would drop from $3.1 billion to $2.7 billion.

Forest Service spending would drop from nearly $4.3 billion to just under $4.1 billion.

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Agency: Department of Commerce

Spending: $6.3 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: -2.2 percent

Mandatory Spending: $167 million

Highlights:

--Seeks more than $500 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology for nanotechnology, quantum information science, neutron research and other components of the American Competitiveness Initiative President Bush announced in his State of the Union address. The venture is aimed at promoting U.S. innovation to ensure the country remains globally competitive, especially given intense competition from China and India.

--Recommends that the U.S. Patent and Trade Office keep the roughly $1.8 billion in fees it collects and use it to reduce application processing time, hire additional examiners and take other steps to improve efficiency.

--Provides $3.6 billion to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including money for the U.S. tsunami warning system.

--Provides $18 million to the National Telecommunications and Information Agency, in part to help consumers make the switch from an analog to digital TV system.

--Eliminates the Advanced Technology Program that provided grants to businesses to help develop new technologies for commercial use. Budget also would terminate the Public Telecommunications Facilities, Planning and Construction program, saying it duplicates other grant programs that support the building of public telecommunications networks.

"This administration is determined to continue providing American entrepreneurs and workers with the tools they need to fuel our economy while also reining in federal spending," said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

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Agency: Department of Defense

Spending: $491.3 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: -8.7 percent

Mandatory Spending: $2 billion

Highlights: --Includes only $50 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared to an estimated $125 billion that was spent in 2006 for those wars and for hurricane relief in the U.S. The Pentagon is expected to request more money for the wars as the year goes on.

--Increases spending on other military programs by 7 percent, to $439.3 billion.

--Boosts spending to nearly $2 billion on unmanned aircraft and ground vehicles, which are being used extensively in the war.

--Significantly increases spending on special operations forces, adding thousands of new Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, and creating a new Marine special operations force.

--Provides nearly $6 billion for new armored humvees, protective armor, trucks, communications gear and night-vision equipment for the Army.

--Cancels a tanker supply ship program to save $4.4 billion over the next five years.

--Cancels the Aerial Common Sensor reconnaissance aircraft, for a saving of about $314 million in 2007.

--Eliminates the alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and restructures the refueling tanker aircraft program to save nearly $900 million through 2011.

The Pentagon's budget focuses on programs and weapons that administration officials contend will help win the global war on terrorism and transform the military into a more agile fighting force for the 21st century. It estimates that the war on terror will cost as much as $10 billion a month next year.

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Agency: Department of Education

Spending: $63.4 billion

Percentage change from 2006: -28.5 percent

Mandatory spending: $9 billion

Highlights:

--Eliminates 42 programs, including money for the arts, technology, parent-resource centers and drug-free schools. Of the 141 programs that Bush wants to eliminate or cut across the government, almost one-third would be in education, accounting for almost $3.5 billion.

--Creates a $100 million program to give private-school vouchers or expand tutoring for students who attend chronically poor-performing public schools.

--Spends $12.7 billion on poverty aid to school districts, known as Title I funding, the largest federal education program. Notably, Bush is proposing no new money for the program, although Title I spending would still be up 45 percent since he took office.

--Allocates $10.7 billion to educational help for children with disabilities, an increase of $100 million, or 1 percent, over current spending.

--Revives a $1.5 billion plan to add academic help in high school and expand the No Child Left Behind law by requiring two additional years of testing in high school. Congress never really considered the program this year because it would be funded primarily by erasing the government's vocational education program.

The real cuts to the education budget seem high because of one-time changes that inflated the 2006 budget, such as emergency aid to schools hit by hurricanes. Mandatory spending alone is expected to drop by $22 billion, but that's mainly because of different assumptions about interest rates and consolidated loans for college students borrowing money.

The upshot is that discretionary spending would be $54.4 billion, a cut of 6.4 percent.

Bush's themes: Bolster his signature education law, give poor parents more choices, ramp up math and science and erase programs deemed too small to make a difference.

His idea of giving private-school vouchers to poor children in underperforming schools is not new. Congress rejected it when it passed No Child Left Behind in 2001.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said Monday that the idea's "time has come," particularly since the money could also be used for tutoring or vouchers. Both would mean students "in these failing schools could have options beyond those schools," she said.

Agency: Department of Energy

Spending: $20.7 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: -1.8 percent

Highlights:

--Proposes $4.1 billion, an increase of $505 million, for cutting-edge scientific research as part of a 10-year program to double research into such areas as hydrogen fuels, super computers and energy efficient lighting. Also proposes $298 million, a 70 percent increase, for research into alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel as well as solar power.

--Proposes $250 million as downpayment on multiyear program to resume commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing, abandoned in the 1970s. The aim is to reduce volumes of waste from commercial power reactors and develop international program to control civilian nuclear material. Also seeks $544 million, slightly more than this year but less than what was spent in 2005, to continue work licensing a proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain Nevada.

--Provides $84 million, an increase of $60 million, to deploy radiation detection equipment at border points and foreign seaports. Overall spending for nuclear weapons programs proposed at $9.3 billion, an increase of $200 million. Spending for weapons complex environmental cleanup is proposed at $5.8 billion, a 12 percent decline over fiscal 2006.

As in past years, roughly two-thirds of the department's budget goes for activities related to maintaining the U.S. nuclear stockpile and the environmental cleanup left over from the Cold War years at weapons facilities.

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Agency: Environmental Protection Agency

Spending: $7.2 billion

Percentage change from 2005: -4.9 percent

Highlights:

--Cuts low-interest loans to states for water quality protection projects by 22 percent. The cut would decrease funding to $688 million for treating wastewater, reducing pollution from nonspecific sources and managing watersheds and estuaries.

--Increases loans for drinking water improvements by $5 million, to $842 million.

--Increases to $50 million, from last year's $7 million, grants to promote cleaner-burning diesel engines, a major source of fine particle pollution blamed for a variety of respiratory illnesses.

--Proposes $1.3 billion, a slight increase of $28 million, for a Superfund toxic waste cleanup program, the one that's used when the agency has been unable to pin the costs on a polluter.

President Bush says his main priorities at EPA are reducing diesel pollution, decreasing leaks from underground storage tanks, and "developing the necessary tools and protocols to mitigate the environmental and human health effects of chemical, biological or radiological attacks."

To that end, Bush proposes spending $184 million on homeland security programs within the EPA -- including money to protect drinking water from terrorist attack and to improve lab work and decontamination. He also wants to spend more than $100 million on energy-related programs, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said.

The budget also includes $70 million to clean and protect the Great Lakes and $26 million to improve water quality and restore the Chesapeake Bay.

"This budget fulfills every presidential environmental commitment and maintains the goals laid out in EPA's strategic plan, while spending less," Johnson said.

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Agency: Department of Health and Human Services

Spending: $697.7 billion

Percentage change from 2006: +3.1 percent

Mandatory spending: $627.8 billion

Highlights:

--Cuts projected Medicare spending by $35.9 billion over five years. Without legislative changes, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled would grow at an annual rate of 8.1 percent. Under the president's proposal, Medicare spending would grow at a rate of 7.7 percent.

The government's chief Medicare official said incremental steps now would make the Medicare program sustainable without requiring drastic changes in taxes or benefits in future years. Health care providers argue that changes to reimbursement rates would force them to lose money whenever they treat Medicare patients.

--Cuts the Administration for Children and Families budget by about $1.4 billion to $12.3 billion, mainly through the elimination of block grants that pay for job training, housing and health programs intended to reduce poverty. The administration says the block grant program lacks performance measurements and does not award grants on a competitive basis.

--Flat funding of $28.6 billion for the National Institutes of Health, which conducts health research to improve the detection and treatment of disease. Cuts spending at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by about $167 million.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt: "Hard choices had to be made and this budget reflects our effort to make those in the wisest way."

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Agency: Department of Homeland Security

Spending: $31 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: +9.8 percent

Mandatory Spending: $98 million

Highlights:

--Gives FEMA a 10 percent boost -- to $5.3 billion -- to strengthen disaster planning and response after Hurricane Katrina. Retools the National Response Plan and gives $180 million to help local and state authorities avoid flooding or damage caused by other disasters. Designates $11 million to the department's inspector general to oversee disaster-related expenses.

--Adds 6,000 illegal immigration detention beds and provides 1,500 new agents to patrol the nation's border. The 2004 intelligence reform law requires that 2,000 border patrol agents be added annually.

--Doubles airline security fees to $5 for flights to collect $1.3 billion in additional revenues, echoing a similar proposal that Congress rejected last year.

--Provides the Coast Guard with $935 million for the 20-year Deepwater program to modernize boats and planes, and $838 million in counterterror grants for the highest risk cities and regions.

The budget largely focuses on Homeland Security's crackdown on U.S. borders. It also asks for $247 million to fund President Bush's proposed guest worker program granting temporary visas to immigrants seeking employment in the U.S.

The government provided $87 billion to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year, but the department's budget gives little new money to disaster relief.

"Money, of course, is only part of the story," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. Over the next week, he said, "we'll be talking about some of the strategies that we want to employ using these enhanced resources to continue to improve our security across the entire range of threats; whether they be terrorist threats or natural disasters."

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Agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development

Spending: $33.5 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: -29.9 percent

Highlights:

--Consolidates several community development initiatives into the existing Community Development Block Grant program, and cuts it by $975 million to $3 billion. Consolidated programs include one to redevelop polluted areas and one to develop rural housing.

--Allows the Federal Housing Administration to base mortgage insurance premiums on the credit ratings of home buyers. The number of FHA loans has been dropping for three years, in part because low interest rates have enabled home buyers to get less expensive deals in the private market.

Federal Housing Commissioner Brian Montgomery said flexible premiums would enable HUD to offer insurance to more home buyers -- those with both good and bad credit. With the changes, HUD projects a 50 percent increase in FHA loan guarantees next year.

--Contains no new housing money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Congress recently approved about $11.5 billion in housing assistance for hurricane victims. That money was added to the 2006 budget, which explains most of the 30 percent cut in spending for fiscal 2007.

Excluding money for hurricane victims, HUD spending in 2007 would decline by about 1.8 percent, said Roy Bernardi, HUD's deputy secretary.

Bernardi said the agency is focusing on increasing home ownership and reducing chronic homelessness, all in the context of a tight federal budget.

The budget climate "requires that we take a measured approach to discretionary spending," Bernardi said. "We feel very strongly that we are moving forward to utilize our dollars in the best possible way."

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Agency: Department of Interior

Spending: $9.1 billion

Percentage change from 2005: -2.4 percent

Highlights:

--Cuts $312 million from the Office of Surface Mining program to reclaim abandoned mines, because of the expiration of coal mining fees next June. The department says the more than $3 billion in health and safety work under the program remains undone.

--Cuts the National Park Service budget by $89 million, to $2.484 billion, in what department officials call a return to "sustainable levels" after a five-year initiative to address a maintenance backlog. Much of the backlog remains.

--Cuts $35 million from the budget for the Bureau of Land Management, which handles permits for oil and gas drilling. That would decrease the agency's budget to $2.834 billion.

--Adds $250 million for coastal impact assistance, in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

--Spends $322 million on "cooperative conservation" -- the theme of a White House conference last summer. The Bush administration hopes the money will promote local conservation efforts and reduce federal regulatory red tape.

--Trims the Bureau of Indian Affairs budget by 3 percent, down to $2.33 billion. But Secretary Gale Norton said $537 million is proposed to advance reform of the department's trust accounts for American Indian royalties. A long-standing class-action lawsuit alleges the department mishandled more than $100 billion in lost oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties from Indian lands since 1887.

"Within the context of the president's plan to reduce the deficit, this budget will enable Interior to fulfill its key responsibilities," Norton said, such as to increase "collaborative approaches and partnerships, facilitate energy production and continue Indian trust reform."

Agency: Department of Justice

Spending: $22.5 billion

Percentage change from 2006: -0.6 percent

Mandatory Spending: $3 billion

Highlights:

--The FBI budget would increase by 6.5 percent, to $6 billion. The bureau's proposed budget is 87 percent higher than it was in 2001.

The proposed increase reflects the FBI's top priorities since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- combatting terrorism and foreign espionage. But for the first time since the attacks, the budget includes no new FBI agents or analysts. Instead, the money would be spent on facilities and computer systems, including $100 million for the Sentinel program, the replacement for the FBI's troubled paperless case management program that Director Robert Mueller scrapped last year.

--The Drug Enforcement Administration would see a 4 percent increase, to $1.7 billion, mainly devoted to expanding missions in South America and Afghanistan. The High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, popular with local law enforcement, would be cut by nearly 8 percent to $208 million and transferred from the White House drug policy office to the Justice Department.

--Project Safe Neighborhoods, an administration program targeting gun crimes, would get $395 million, a jump of 64 percent over 2006, and a broader mission focusing on gang violence.

--The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would receive $860 million, a drop of nearly 6 percent. But the administration estimates the agency would get an additional $120 million from a proposed new fee that would be paid by holders of permits to purchase and handle explosives. Congress did not embrace a similar proposal last year.

--Calling them ineffective, the administration proposes to end several grant programs to state and local law enforcement, to save $1.1 billion.

These programs include the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which helps states defray the cost of jailing illegal immigrants and grants focused on juvenile offenders. Congress has resisted similar proposals in previous years.

"The president's budget provides $4 billion to prevent and prosecute terrorist activities against our nation," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said.

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Agency: Department of Labor

Spending: $54 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: +5.5 percent

Mandatory Spending: $43.2 billion

Highlights:

--Provides $772 million to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration to strengthen work place safety, up from $749 million in the president's 2006 budget. The administration wants Congress to pass legislation that would boost penalties for mine safety violations from $60,000 to $220,000.

--Allocates $125 million in grants to prepare workers for jobs in high growth industries. The money would train an estimated 50,000 workers.

--Provides $8 million to help update and improve the accuracy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index, a closely watched inflation gauge.

--Seeks legislative changes to prevent improper payments of unemployment benefits. Almost $3 billion in benefits were paid to ineligible workers in 2005, the administration said.

--Proposes changes to the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, which provides benefits to federal workers for occupational illness, injury or death, that would save the government $592 million over 10 years.

"The president's budget protects worker safety, health and long-term retirement security while striving to be fiscally responsible with taxpayers' dollars to optimize and provide effective programs," said Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

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Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Spending: $16.8 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: +1 percent

Highlights:

-- Budget anticipates continued operation of the Space Shuttle through 2010 with 16 flights planned to complete the International Space Station and one flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

-- Budget increases spending for solar system exploration, Earth-Sun science, exploring systems and technology. Decreases are set for education, business partnerships.

-- Agency plans to shift some programs between operational centers.

-- Plans call for a reduction in full time workers from 18,410 to 17,979.

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Agency: State Department

Spending: $33 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: +13.1 percent

Highlights:

--Spending increase is the largest for an agency or branch of government.

--Asks for $115 million to train Americans in languages deemed crucial to fight terrorism.

--Reprises last year's request for $3 billion for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a Bush administration initiative meant to reward good governance and democratic commitments among developing nations, but which has been viewed with skepticism in Congress. Last year, lawmakers gave the program only $1.7 billion.

--Requests $4 billion for a global program to fight HIV/AIDS, more than $740 million above last year, plus $225 million to combat malaria and $210 million to fight bird flu abroad.

--Seeks $770 million for continued rebuilding in Iraq, a figure that does not reflect the much larger ongoing cost of military fighting there.

The budget reflects Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's plan to place greater emphasis on humanitarian programs and improve management of the Bush administration's $18 billion foreign aid programs. It would fund programs that emphasize up-by-the-bootstraps development and democratic advancement overseas, although it also preserves traditional assistance for allies such as Israel, which would see only a slight cut in its annual receipt of more than $2 billion.

The budget includes a $150 million request for aid to the Palestinians, money that is now in question because of the victory of the militant group Hamas in parliamentary elections. The budget numbers were fixed before last month's surprise Hamas victory, but the administration has said that all aid is under review to make sure that none flows to an organization the United States considers a terrorist group.

Cuts came in funding for nations in Eastern and Central Europe, reflecting what the administration says are changing priorities and improved circumstances among countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.

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Agency: Department of Transportation

Spending: $67.7 billion

Percentage change from 2006: +4.9 percent

Mandatory outlays: $54.5 billion

Highlights:

--Spends far less for air traffic control equipment than Congress and President Bush agreed to in the 4-year aviation budget plan signed into law in 2003. Then, Bush agreed to spend $3.11 billion, but he asked for $607 million less than that for next year, a 20 percent decrease.

--Spends about a third less for airport buildings and equipment than Bush and the Congress approved in 2003. Originally, they'd agreed to spend $3.7 billion. Bush wants to spend $2.73 billion next year, a 32 percent cut from the 2003 agreement and a slight reduction from this year's spending.

--Gives Amtrak $900 million to "enable Amtrak's new management team to keep the trains running and act on its mandate to reshape the company." In the 2006 budget, Bush offered no subsidy for the railroad, but Congress decided to grant Amtrak $1.3 billion.

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Agency: Treasury Department

Spending: $495.8 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: +9.2 percent

Mandatory Spending: $484.2 billion

Highlights:

--The biggest chunk of the department's mandatory spending -- roughly $441 billion -- goes to paying interest on the national debt, including obligations related to Social Security. The total interest includes $247 billion in payments to investors on debt held by the public.

--The bulk of the department's $11.6 billion in discretionary spending goes to the Internal Revenue Service, which would receive $10.6 billion, slightly more than last year's request. A portion of the money modernize IRS technology to improve electronic tax-filing options for taxpayers, replace antiquated taxpayer databases and make other changes aimed at bolstering efficiency. IRS also will use some of its funds to catch tax scofflaws and crack down on dubious tax schemes.

--The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, dubbed FinCen, would receive $90 million, up from a request of $73 million last year. The agency is responsible for making sure the nation's financial system isn't abused by terrorist financiers, drug dealers, and other criminals.

"The president's proposed budget for fiscal year 2007 is a budget that works to ensure that future generations of Americans will have the opportunity to live in a nation that is more prosperous and more secure," said Treasury Secretary John Snow.

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Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs

Spending: $77.7 billion

Percentage Change from 2006: +10.4 percent

Mandatory Spending: $42 billion

Highlights:

--Proposes again to charge a $250 health care enrollment fee to veterans whose incomes are above certain levels and who have no illnesses or injuries that resulted from their military service. The VA expects to collect about $226 million from the fee. Congress previously rejected a similar proposal.

--For the same veterans, increases copayments for a 30-day supply of prescription drugs from $8 to $15, providing about $226 million. Similar or identical proposals have been rejected repeatedly by Congress.

--Raises spending on medical care from $28.7 billion to about $31.5 billion.

--Anticipates VA will provide medical care to more than 100,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in 2007.

--Estimates that 3.7 million veterans and beneficiaries will receive about $38 million in disability benefits.

Much of the spending boost for VA comes from a $5 billion increase in spending on disability and other compensation required by law. VA says cost of living increases, more beneficiaries and increases in disability payments account for the increase in compensation costs.

VA estimates about 200,000 veterans already signed up for health care would choose to get out of the system because of the enrollment fee. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson called the 2007 VA budget a "dollars and cents reflection of President Bush's pledge to those who served yesterday, in service today and will serve tomorrow."

But the spending plan likely will receive heightened scrutiny after the department found itself with a gaping budget hole last year, requiring Congress to provide about $1.5 billion in emergency money. Also, the Government Accountability Office in a recent audit said the VA falsely claimed savings of more than $1.3 billion to justify cuts in health services.