Research Paper on:
The 2004 Federal Budget Proposal

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
new initiates have come forth in several key policy areas. While these appear to be well argued, and are reasonable, there have been many critics of the budget in general  as well as specific categories. This is par for the course as every special interest group, and anyone with an agenda, will certainly complain about a budget that perhaps does  not include enough money in their domain. Yet, the money must be divided, and because of this, there will be disagreements. One example of a significant disagreement is in respect  to the NASA space program as some pioneers believe it is vital, where others think it is a waste of money that can be better used on Earth. For the  2004 budget, even before the recent disaster that killed an entire crew before the nations eyes, there was a plan to increase NASA spending (Stolberg, 2003). Items like those are  controversial, particularly in times when finances are strained. However, the budget does allow for the stimulation of the current, challenged economy. II. Criminal Justice and Civil Rights  According to the proposed budget, the Department of Justice would be allotted $18.7 billion ("The Presidents," 2003, p.62) in discretionary funds . That is an increase of $1.7 billion (2003,  p.62). That represents a whopping 10% (2003, p.62) increase over the prior year. Under this department, several operations are run inclusive of the FBI and the DEA (2003). Other  department activities include civil rights enforcement, grant programs, prison construction and operations needed for the running of the federal judiciary (2003). Clearly, the budget is used for a multitude of  activities. The proposal also includes a $13 million ("The Presidents," 2003, p.62) increase for the DEA. Other increases are included for related endeavors (2003). Increasing the Drug Enforcement Agencys