The Nation - News from Jan. 31, 1985

President Reagan intends to propose eliminating the revenue sharing program for local governments a year earlier than expected as part of the budget he will send to Congress next week, sources, who spoke only on condition they not be identified, disclosed. They said the move to close the program at the end of the 1986 fiscal year would save $3 billion in that year, and $4.6 billion a year thereafter. The proposed savings will be part of a long list of spending freezes, program cuts and reforms designed to reduce the deficit by $51 billion in the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1, 1985. Even with those changes, the President’s budget is expected to forecast a deficit of about $178 billion.