The Bush administration, as part of the “President’s Compassion Agenda,” may be expanding its Access to Recovery (ATR) program, which provides federal funds to faith-based drug-treatment providers via a voucher system. While the Bush administration had proposed an doubling of overall funding for the program, the Associated Press reports the program budget will be held at $100 million. But even as the AP report seems to indicate the ATR program is a new one, the White House doled out millions of dollars in funding for it in summer 2004, saying at the time it would allocate “almost $100 million for the Access to Recovery program to help Americans conquer addiction using substance abuse treatment vouchers to access the most effective programs.”

Regardless of whether this represents a new program or a continuation or expansion of an existing program, critics have been quick to point out that faith-based drug treatment could be prone to offer an inferior quality of treatment counselor. Jim Towey, the president’s point man for faith-based initiatives, admits that faith-based counselors are not held to the same standards as typical drug treatment counselors, according to the AP. Other critics are wary of using federal money to fund avowedly religious organizations.