Where Will The Money Go?

The Senate and House have passed a $520 billion dollar spending package and sent it to the White House for the president's signature. Here are some major spending items in the fiscal 1999 budget package:

• $56 billion for agriculture and rural development, including $22.6 billion for food stamps, $9.2 billion for child nutrition programs, and $1 billion for the Food and Drug Administration.
• $34 billion for the departments of Commerce, Justice and State, including $5.2 billion from the Violent Crime Trust Fund. Programs include $1 billion for the Year 2000 Census, $4.8 billion for state and local law enforcement, $2.5 billion for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and $300 million for the Legal Services Corporation.

• $500 million in federal funds for the District of Columbia.

• $31.3 billion for foreign operations, including $2.94 billion in aid for Israel, $2 billion for Egypt, and $800 million for the former Soviet states. North Korea gets $35 million in aid contingent on progress on ending its nuclear program. The International Monetary Fund gets $17.9 billion, conditioned on the IMF becoming more open and efficient.

• $14.1 billion for Interior and Indian programs, including $1.7 billion for the National Park Service, $2.2 billion for the Indian Health Service, $140 million for Everglades restoration and $98.5 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.

• $292 billion for the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. Included are $1.1 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, $1.1 billion to help start hiring 100,000 new elementary school teachers, $4.7 billion for Head Start, $15.6 billion for the National Institutes of Health, and $168.2 billion for the Health Care Financing Administration, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid.

• $47 billion for the Transportation Department, including $25.8 billion for highway spending and $9.5 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration.

• $26.8 billion for the Treasury Department and related agencies, including $7.9 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, $2 billion for Treasury's part in the war against drugs, and $608 million for the Secret Service.

• $21 billion in emergency spending, including $1.2 billion for natural disaster relief, $3.4 billion for the Year 2000 computer problem, $1.8 billion for embassy security, and $1.9 billion for Bosnia operations. About $6.8 billion for the Pentagon includes $1 billion for a national missile defense system.

• $9.2 billion to extend expiring tax credits over 10 years.