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Last month, the nation's governors came to Washington complaining about inadequate federal funding for the states. But states are about to find it much harder to make this complaint -- because the Bush administration has decided to stop publishing the budget report that states use to see what money they are, or aren't, getting from Washington.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget is discontinuing the annual report called "Budget Information for States" -- the primary federal document reporting how much states get under each federal program. In fiscal 2003, the report ran 422 pages. In 2002, it was 415 pages.
And for fiscal 2004? "The volume will not be produced this year," said Trent Duffy, OMB's spokesman. He said the change will reduce the cost of "paper and producing another volume."
State advocates are displeased. "There's no one place in the public domain for this information anymore," said Alysoun McLaughlin of the National Conference of State Legislatures. "You can't get that comprehensive picture
anymore.
Hint - make it .pdf only.