Thugs Rejoice: The gang-bangers and thugs on Chicago's South and Westside must be toasting their 40s after hearing that congress overroad Bush's desire to continue funding the Project Safe Neighborhoods program:

Chicago authorities were scratching their heads Thursday over why Congress wiped out local grant money for Project Safe Neighborhoods, the federal anti-gun program.

The Bush administration asked for $45 million in such grants, but the 2005 spending bill that passed Nov. 20 eliminated them.

In 2003, the Chicago Police Department received a $444,000 grant for teams that hunt for illegal weapons in the Englewood, Deering, Harrison and Austin districts.

The Illinois Department of Corrections received $80,000 for forums that warn parolees they face serious prison time if they're arrested with guns.

And the Chicago Crime Commission received $241,000 to advertise the program.

Another $1.4 million grant -- awarded this year to the Chicago area -- is in the process of being divvied up.

Because the money in each grant is spread over three years, authorities don't think Project Safe Neighborhoods is in immediate peril here.

"None of this will come to a screeching halt," said Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.

But David Bayless, a police spokesman, wondered why Congress would cut funding for a successful anti-crime program in the first place.

"The timing of this news could not come at a worse time, given our progress in Chicago in reducing violent crime," he said.

'Turns it into piecemeal program'

Under Project Safe Neighborhoods, federal and state prosecutors review each gun arrest to determine if the suspect would get a longer prison sentence in federal or
state court. Authorities in Chicago say the anti-gun program is one of the
reasons murders have declined 25 percent this year.

Samborn stressed that Project Safe Neighborhoods' funding for federal agents and prosecutors was not axed from the fiscal 2005 budget. The Justice Department will work aggressively to find money to replace the local grants, he said.

Still, Congress has weakened Project Safe Neighborhoods by killing the local grants, said John Lacey of the Americans for Gun Safety Foundation in Washington.
"It turns it into a piecemeal program," Lacey said.

Ted Chung, the point man on law enforcement on Mayor Daley's staff, said it's too early to predict the long-term consequences of Congress' action.

But "it ought to be the kind of program that receives additional funding, rather than a
reduction," he said.