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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (2652)	2/5/2002 10:36:17 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15516

Bush unveils $2.1 trillion budget Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday February 5, 2002 The Guardian President George Bush led the US government back into deficit, after four years in the black, with the publication yesterday of a budget envisaging the biggest leap in defence spending in 20 years matched by deep tax cuts for the rich at the expense of social programmes and the environment. The budget for the fiscal year 2003 was sent to Congress wrapped in the flag - in place of the usually drab monotone covers the four volumes were emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes, while the budget message called on the nation to face up to the "new realities" of the war on terrorism. Defence expenditure is scheduled to increase by $48bn (£34bn) to $379bn, the biggest jump since Ronald Reagan's cold war defence bonanza a generation ago. Spending on "homeland security" was doubled to nearly $38bn, including $5.9bn to be spent on defences against bio-terrorism, a legacy of last year's unsolved anthrax attacks. Border controls will be upgraded with $10.6bn to be spent on increased staff and more sophisticated equipment. The budget envisages total government spending of $2.1 trillion, a 3.4% increase on 2002. Under the Bush plan, the government is expected to run up a deficit of $106bn this year, followed by an $80bn deficit in 2003 and $14bn in 2004 - a sharp reverse from four years of surpluses under President Bill Clinton. Democrats in Congress have already voiced their near unanimous support for the increase in defence spending. The budget battle in the coming months will focus instead on Mr Bush's tax cuts, which were deepened by $591bn and extended indefinitely in yesterday's budget. The tax cuts, critics argue, disproportionately favour corporations and the wealthiest citizens. To help pay for them, Democrats argue that the administration is raiding revenues which would otherwise have been set aside for social security funds to help care for the baby-boom generation as it retires. Senator Chris Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, referring to the failure to prepare for those future needs, warned the Bush administration: "You're playing a very risky game." The other big losers in the budget are the Labour department and its various job training schemes for impoverished areas, and the environmental protection agency, whose budget is cut by 4%. Overall spending on non-defence government programmes would increase by only 2%. The budget director, Mitch Daniels, has argued that the necessary cuts will increase overall government efficiency by channelling money away from ineffective programmes to those with a track record of success. The administration's critics, however, claim such judgements are subjective and are being used to disguise a redistribution of spending away from some of the most vulnerable groups in society. In his budget message, Mr Bush said his plan "recognises the new realities confronting our nation. It is a plan to fight a war we did not seek - but a war we are determined to win", he wrote. The Pentagon has spent about $7bn on the war against terrorism, which is forecast to cost more than $27bn in the 2003 fiscal year, which begins on October 1 this year. Over a third of the defence budget will go towards maintenance costs to keep the armed forces at a high state of readiness. Under the administration's five-year plan, military spending will rise to $451bn by 2007. Spending on the national missile defence programme is unchanged at $7.8bn. But the programme's critics expected NMD spending to balloon in the next 15 to 25 years to $238bn. guardian.co.uk