TRILLIONS FOR TAX CUTS AND PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY: Don't believe the fiscal
responsibility hype. That isn't what's motivating the budget cuts. The
administration is pushing to add trillions to the deficit to push its
ideological agenda of privatizing Social Security and extending tax cuts for the
very rich. Vice President Cheney acknowledged yesterday that " trillions of
dollars in future borrowing may be needed to cover the cost of private
retirement accounts
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=5&u=/nm/20050206/pl_nm/retirement_borrowing_dc)
." Bush is also pushing to extend his tax cuts for the wealthy
(http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10834337.htm) at a cost
of $2 trillion over the next nine years
(http://www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/gale/20040121taxcuts.htm) . The bottom
line: President Bush's promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009 is a fantasy
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/latimests/20050207/ts_latimes/bushsdeficitplanisallinthemath)
.
JOB TRAINING CUT BY $500 MILLION: At a time when overseas outsourcing has left
many American workers -- especially in the manufacturing sector -- out of work,
President Bush will propose cutting federal spending on job training
(http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110765539283746901,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us)
by a half-billion dollars. Federal job training programs, including
dislocated-worker training, will be cut by $200 million. Federal aid to states
for job training, including funding to train veterans, will be cut by $300
million.
FUNDING FOR POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS SLASHED: On 2/2/02, President Bush appeared
at the New York Police Department Command Center and said, "Police and
firefighters of New York, you have this nation's respect, and you'll have this
nation's support
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/02/20020206-3.html) ." Three years
later Bush is seeking to decimate vital funding for police officers and
firefighters (http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/10829728.htm) .
The administration's budget is expected to reduce federal grants to local police
forces from $600 million to $60 million. Grants to local firefighters would be
cut by $215 million dollars.
DRUG CO-PAYMENTS FOR VETERANS DOUBLED: The Bush administration's idea of fiscal
responsibility is making veterans pay more for medication. The Bush budget "
would more than double the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription
drugs (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/07/politics/07budget.html) and would
require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using
government healthcare." Richard B. Fuller, legislative director of the Paralyzed
Veterans of America, calls the $250 fee "a health care tax, designed to raise
revenue and to discourage people from enrolling."
BIG CUTS IN BIOTERRORISM PROTECTION: On 6/12/02, President Bush told the
American people, "bioterrorism is a real threat to our country...It's important
that we confront these real threats to our country and prepare for future
emergencies. Protecting our citizens against bioterrorism is an urgent duty
of...American governments.
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020612-1.html) " Now, Bush's
budget will cut a "range of public health programs, including several to
protect the nation against bioterrorist attacks
(http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/05/politics/05cuts.html) and to respond to
medical emergencies." Funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) would be reduced by 9 percent under Bush's plan. Specifically, "the public
health emergency fund of the [CDC], which helps state and local agencies prepare
for bioterror attacks, would be cut 12.6 percent."
LEAVING THE POOR IN THE COLD: Prices for home heating oil are skyrocketing.
Nevertheless, Bush's budget proposes cutting the Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance program
(http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/05/politics/05cuts.html?pagewanted=2) (LIHEAP),
which helps people pay their heating bills, by 8.4 percent. At last year's
funding levels, only one-sixth of low-income families who qualified for the
program were able to receive assistance
(http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10306350.htm) . Last year's
funding for LIHEAP was 23 percent lower than in 2001
(http://www.cbpp.org/11-19-04bud.htm) . For continually updated information on
the Bush administration's budget, check out our 2006 Budget page
(http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=307118) . |
