[Thunderwolf]

WASHINGTON — Behind the modest funding increases in President George Bush’s proposed 2008 budget for American Indian programs lie glaring cuts in funding for health care for those who live off the reservation and educational opportunities for Indian children who attend public schools.
In the budget plan he rolled out Monday, Bush proposes to eliminate the $33 million Urban Indian Health Program, a system of 34 health clinics around the country, including five in Montana, that provide low-cost health care to Indians who live in urban areas.
This is the second year that Bush has proposed eliminating the program, and also for a second year supporters are gearing up for a fight to save it. Both houses of the then-Republican-controlled Congress last year refused to go along with the proposal.
Bill Martin, acting director of the Indian Family Health Clinic in Great Falls, said he is fairly certain Congress will continue to support the program, but he’s uneasy nonetheless because of the money that’s needed for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


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