While news of the recent legislative session has been dominated by a few high profile and controversial issues, the Legislature took several important actions that will improve the quality of life in our state. Utahns should be thankful for several wise investments the Legislature made that will strengthen families and communities while also providing substantial returns in our economy. At the same time, we should be wary of irresponsible federal proposals that push us further into debt while undermining our future.

In Utah, 12,000 uninsured children in working families will gain access to quality health care as a result of HB114, which expands the Children's Health Insurance Program. Through careful budgeting many thousands of Utah residents will gain needed dental and vision care. Working parents needing child-care assistance will benefit from $1.4 million invested in the state's child-care program. All of these investments will generate between two and four times their dollar value in direct matching funds from the federal government.

Thousands of mentally ill and uninsured Utahns who were cut off from treatment last year will again receive help through the legislative budgeting process, and the high community costs of untreated mental illness will be avoided. Many other Utahns will benefit from an expansion of primary health care, restoration of funding for HIV/AIDS treatment, increased adult education and training services and more support for multicultural health initiatives.

Homeless Utahns will benefit from supportive housing and general assistance, while others struggling to afford housing will benefit from increased funding for housing development, in turn strengthening Utah's construction industry. Each of these investments addresses one or more serious community problems identified by United Way of Salt Lake's 2004 Community Assessment, and other United Way research conducted throughout the state. While the total amount of state funds mentioned above is quite limited compared to other state priorities, the impact will be profound. United Ways in Utah are grateful to the Legislature and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. for their wisdom and efforts to secure a brighter future for all Utahns.

Unfortunately, these efforts are undermined by the opposite approach to budgeting taken by the Bush administration over the past four years, and continued in their 2006 proposal. The Congressional Budget Resolution being debated contains drastic cuts to key community investments while failing to bring the budget deficit under control. The president proposes eliminating or drastically reducing numerous successful programs, including the Community Services Block Grant, the foundation and infrastructure for addressing poverty throughout the country. Overall, this year's proposal cuts domestic discretionary programs (excluding defense and homeland security) by $18 billion in 2006, rising to $66 billion (16 percent) in 2010, but does not identify how those cuts should be achieved beyond year one.