This week, the House and Senate budget committees are scheduled to mark up their budget resolutions, and spending caps proposed for the next five years, would hurt many states. President Bush sees these budget spending caps as key to reducing the deficit and overall spending by the federal government — but they will do little to reduce the deficit. It is no secret Bush’s budget includes deep cuts in non-defense discretionary spending for FY 06. The decisions members of Congress will make over the next few weeks will immediately affect many government programs and the millions of people they serve across the country. But those decisions will not only affect government funding in the upcoming year, but also would lock in some of those cuts for the next five years through the use of discretionary budget caps. Five-year caps on appropriations would greatly exacerbate the level of funding cuts programs will see. In fact, if the proposed caps are adopted, by 2010 we will see a 14–16 percent overall real cut in funding for all domestic discretionary programs excluding defense and homeland security. Americans will feel the effects of these cuts in every state. The National Priorities Project has compiled a state-by-state publication detailing how the budget proposal would affect every state in the nation. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has also done a breakdown of how the proposed budget cuts would affect each state. The CBPP report details the extent to which certain programs such as school improvement, special education, child care, and rental assistance would be cut in each state, and how much those cuts would be made worse if Congress adopts five-year spending caps. The debate over these caps comes at a very difficult time for the states. Twenty-six states already have projected budget shortfalls of their own for fiscal year 2006. With states struggling to balance their budgets while continuing to provide vital services on the local level and Congress negotiating more drastic cuts to states over the next five years, it is a crucial time for service providers, state and local government representatives, and interested Americans to be in touch with their representatives in Washington. This week’s markup of the budget resolution will frame the debate for cuts that will directly impact states and municipalities over the next five years. After this week, the budget bills are scheduled to move to the floor and all members will have the opportunity to vote on the budget resolutions. Both the House and Senate hope to have their budget resolutions passed before the congressional recess starting March 21. Tell your representatives not to support a budget resolution that makes deep cuts in spending for 2006 or places harmful caps on spending for the next five years.