'Bush's team listened' to mayor's priorities in budget

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Plans for a new U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Southeast, a crime lab and $33 million in college-tuition assistance were among the D.C. initiatives included in President Bush's proposed $2.57 trillion federal budget yesterday.

The spending plan also called for the creation of a special fund for the District to cover as much as $15 million in local policing costs at federal events such as the presidential inauguration and the World Bank meeting.

The proposal also calls for $25 million to go toward a Coast Guard headquarters on the campus of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast, $19 million to replace steam pipes at federal and D.C. government buildings, and $5 million for a walking trail as part of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative.

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, a Democrat, said he was "extremely pleased" by the budget plan. "President Bush's team listened and heard the priorities I articulated ... over the past year," he said.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat and the District's nonvoting representative in Congress, said the proposal also calls for the federal government to increase its Medicaid reimbursement rates for child welfare services from 50 percent to 70 percent. The change would mean about $6 million in additional federal funds to the District.

"The District has come out much better than many federal agencies will come out," she said.

She also said $7 million in federal money for a crime lab is important because the District has had to rely on the FBI and other federal agencies for those services.

D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp, a Democrat, said the District appeared to fare better than other jurisdictions hit by domestic spending cuts. She said she would have liked more funding for sewer-system upgrades.

"The federal government needs to do an overhaul of the sewer system," Mrs. Cropp said yesterday. "They're our biggest customer."

The budget proposal also includes plans for the federal government to begin a review of its land in the District to see whether "any parcels would be better utilized by the District."