Why Cities Should Be Mad About Federal Defense Spending

"[T]he Republican Congress and President Obama, their differences notwithstanding, deserve failing grades for focusing all their budget-cutting efforts on the 15 percent of the federal budget accounted for by non-defense discretionary spending.

The result has been a carnival of knife-wielding that may get even worse with the next fiscal year. While massive farm subsidies are left intact, we're in danger of shrinking or killing programs that provide some relief from poverty, assist public transit and Amtrak, underwrite Head Start and parts of college tuitions, support the Legal Services Corporation, family planning counsel and technology innovation programs."

Peirce argues that mayors and cities should be especially concerned about the impending dissolution of the Community Development Block Grant program.