These are the programs President Obama's budget wants to eliminate

Though Republicans like to think of themselves as the party that cuts waste, fraud, and abuse, Democrats, too, propose putting the ax to programs that they'd like to see go away.

Barack Obama's fiscal year 2017 budget proposal is no exception. Though it generally offers higher levels of government spending than Republicans favor, that doesn't mean Obama loves every program the government runs. In fact, he's proposing to entirely eliminate dozens of initiatives — often small grant programs — that his team has identified as superfluous or unnecessary.

The one that's likely to get the most political attention is eliminating a $10 million-a-year grant program for abstinence-only education run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The biggest proposed elimination is the Department of Justice's $210 million State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which reimburses state and local law enforcement agencies for costs incurred detaining immigrants.

The cut most likely to provoke backlash from liberals is probably the proposed elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency's $13 million grant program for water quality research, which sounds pretty useful in light of the situation in Flint, Michigan.

Here's the complete list of programs Obama wants to eliminate:

• Area Health Education Centers, HHS
• Beaches Grants Program, EPA
• Broadband Loans, Agriculture
• Delta Regional Authority Grants, Agriculture
• Education Research Centers and Agricultural Research, HHS
• Grants for Abstinence-Only Education, HHS
• Economic Impact Grants, Agriculture
• Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation
• Health Care Services Grant Program, Agriculture
• High Energy Cost Grants, Agriculture
• Impact Aid, Payments for Federal Property, Education
• INSPIRE grants, National Science Foundation
• National Priorities Research, EPA
• Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant, HHS
• PRIME Technical Assistance, Small Business Administration
• Rural Community Facilities, HHS
• Rural Energy Savings Program, Agriculture
• Rural Multifamily Housing Preservation Grants, Agriculture
• State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, Justice
• State Indoor Radon Grant Program, EPA
• Targeted Air Shed Grants, EPA
• Water and Wastewater and Community Facilities Loan Guarantees, Agriculture
• Water Quality Research and Support Grants, EPA
• Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations, Labor

In addition, Obama is proposing to kill a long series of small-bore research, education, and extension grants from the Department of Agriculture covering everything from alfalfa foliage to potato breeding.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via