Turns out Maryland stands to benefit from President Barack Obama’s proposed budget cuts, despite predicted record deficits. The plan would increase funding to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, up aid to state Medicaid programs, increase pay and job openings for federal workers and even salvage some NASA jobs in Maryland.

The $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 will allot money for improving Chesapeake Bay watershed. Funds to clean out the bay would be increased to $63 million plus $72 million for a separate effort to reduce farm runoff into the bay.

The budget also reaches out to state Medicaid programs with 25.5 billion in additional aid, a measure Gov. Martin O’Malley is “thankful” for.

The plan would mean a 1.4 percent annual pay increase for federal workers. Construction for military and civilian projects in Maryland will get $800 million.

And though many NASA officials are upset by Obama’s plan to cut the $49 billion Constellation human spaceflight program, NASA employees in Maryland are safe. Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt (College Park’s very own neighbor) will as of now not see any cutbacks.

Even Maryland Republicans admitted begrudging satisfaction. Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett of Frederick, though insistent on a more “tightfisted approach,” had this to say:

“proposing a little bit of budget restraint in the future is better than the dangerously bloated and unsustainable budget that the president and the Democratic congressional majority approved last year.”

Quick Hits:
Tuition rates are increasing nationwide. Turns out at least the University of Maryland system is not the hardest hit as schools like University of Illinois and University of Wisconsin pay 9 percent more.

Metro transit police held a terror drill this morning at Union Station during morning rush hour in order to demonstrate increased preparedness for possible terrorist attacks.

A Culpeper County school will not remove Anne Frank’s diary from the curriculum though controversy over the book was stirred-up last week when a parent complained about some of the content. The school is now set to appoint a committee to review the book for future educational purposes.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is receiving donations for his re-election campaign from a few Hollywood big shots like Lost creator J.J. Abrams.

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