Not so long ago, we applauded President Bush’s commitment, made during his State of the Union address, to improve training for defense lawyers in death penalty cases.

His budget, however, falls far short of his words.

“Soon I will send to Congress a proposal to fund special training for defense counsel in capital cases, because people on trial for their lives must have competent lawyers by their side,” Bush said.

Three months before the speech, the president signed legislation that would have spent more than $350 million over five years on lawyer training. In his budget, that figure is scaled back to $50 million over three years, the Chicago Tribune reported last week.

That’s significant backsliding in funding.

President Bush’s track record on the death penalty has given critics plenty of reasons to be skeptical of his intention. While governor of Texas, he presided over 152 executions, and many of those people made claims of ineffective counsel.

According to an American Bar Association study surveying 22 states released in December, the legal representation of indigent suspects is in a “state of crisis.”

“Our hearings support the disturbing conclusion that thousands of persons are processed through America’s courts every year either with no lawyer at all or with a lawyer who does not have the time, resources, or in some cases the inclination to provide effective representation,” the ABA wrote in its report, “Gideon’s Broken Promise: America’s Continuing Quest for Equal Justice.”

The Death Penalty Information Center estimates that more than 100 people have been exonerated in death penalty cases since 1973. How many should have been but weren’t?

We’re disappointed with the president’s funding proposal, but at least he is providing some money, $20 million in 2006. It’s well short of our hopes and expectations, but at least it’s a start.