THE PROGRESS REPORT
by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin
with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde
.February 3, 2005
STATE OF THE UNION
STATE OF THE UNION
The 16 Word Contest
During last night's comprehensive coverage of the State of the Union on ThinkProgress.org, Center for American Progress CEO John Podesta issued a challenge. "Everyone remembers the classic 'sixteen words' from the 2003 State of the Union that came back to haunt the Bush Administration – 'The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,'" he wrote. "What sixteen words from tonight's State of the Union will come back to haunt President Bush tonight? Use this post to nominate your sixteen words." Thanks to everyone who wrote in. And sixteen words or not, here are some of the better entries we've received so far: "The principle here is clear: a taxpayer dollar must be spent wisely, or not at all" (del99); "By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt" (Judy, David, Monni); "I will cut the budget deficit in half by 2009" (Pat); "And best of all, the money in the account is yours, and the government can never take it away" (HSR, Lee, Newell); and "In Iraq, 28 countries have troops on the ground" (Pvt Bledsoe). Check out the rest of the nominees here – even better, add your own. The winner, to be announced later in the day on ThinkProgress.org, will receive a stylish American Progress vest.
STATE OF THE UNION
Groundhog Day
President Bush delivered his fourth State of the Union address last night – there was, unsurprisingly, "a great deal that was very familiar" from the previous three addresses. In fact, you could be forgiven for checking your calendar and making sure it really was 2005, and not 2004, when President Bush was brandishing yet another rationale for the war in Iraq, or 2003, when the president said he would do something about AIDS, or 2002, when Bush pledged fiscal responsibility and said he would increase funding for first responders. The president did pepper his speech with a couple of new promises, such as increased attention to gang violence in cities, and some details of his plan for Social Security. Unfortunately, the facts of the president's first-term record do not inspire confidence in his new second-term proposals.
GANGING UP ON AMERICAN YOUTH: President Bush said he wanted to increase his focus on giving "young men in our cities, better options than apathy, or gangs, or jail." Time to finally put his money where his mouth is. The president has proposed a 40 percent cut in federal juvenile crime prevention funds, which would effectively "pull the plug" on local programs that reduce gang and youth violence. He consistently has attempted to eliminate all funding for Youth Opportunity Grants, a program that gives job training to young people. In 2002 that program was funded at $225 million, in 2003 he proposed funding only $45 million ($43.5 million was actually funded) and in the 2004 budget, he proposed eliminating the program. Congress accepted his recommendation and funding has been eliminated. Finally, two federal banking agencies headed by Bush appointees are trying to change laws that would cripple the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination by banks against people who live in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
A CAPITAL DEFENSE: Last night, the president proposed a special training for defense counsel in capital cases, "because people on trial for their lives must have competent lawyers by their side." As the Los Angeles Times writes, "If only he'd been so concerned about poor lawyering when he was overseeing all those executions as governor of Texas." Bush recently promoted White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to the position of the nation's attorney general. As chief legal counsel for then-Gov. Bush in Texas, Gonzales was responsible for writing a memo on the facts of each death penalty case – Bush decided whether a defendant should live or die based on the memos. An analysis of these memos by the Atlantic Monthly concluded that "Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence." In his first term, the president also delayed the Innocence Protection Act, which provided funding for post-conviction DNA testing and higher-quality defense counsel, even after it passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support. His administration wrote a 22-page letter saying the bill was the end of the world. He eventually signed it after some of its most important provisions had been badly diluted.
LOW ENERGY: President Bush also outlined his goals to resolve the nation's energy problems, saying, "To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy." In fact, in his first presidential budget, Bush proposed cutting $277 million out of renewable energy research, while spending an additional $2 billion on coal-related programs. His FY2004 budget tried to "slash funding for numerous clean energy and energy efficiency programs, including funding for bioenergy, wind and geothermal electricity sources." (Those cuts "were announced less than a week after the president announced his goal of energy independence in the State of the Union address.") And his tax cuts include provisions that actually make the energy situation worse. His tax bill included a provision creating a $100,000 tax write-off (subsequently trimmed to $25K) for large SUVs like the Hummer, which gets just 10 miles to the gallon.
THE STATE OF SOCIAL SECURITY: President Bush unveiled some details of his plan for privatizing Social Security last night, saying, "your account will provide money for retirement over and above the check you will receive from Social Security." But in fact, "the plan is more complicated." Under the proposal, "the check you receive from Social Security" would likely be reduced sharply from what it is now. Meanwhile, workers who opt to divert some of their payroll taxes into individual accounts would "ultimately get to keep only the investment returns that exceed the rate of return that the money would have accrued in the traditional system… In effect, the accounts would work more like a loan from the government, to be paid back upon retirement at an inflation-adjusted 3 percent interest rate." The Congressional Budget Office predicts an average of 3.3 percent gains, leaving most workers "with nothing but the guaranteed benefit." In other words, even assuming the market stays stable, unless workers received an unusually high rate of return on their investments, they would face significant cuts to their Social Security benefits.
THIS YEAR'S RATIONALE FOR WAR: In 2002's State of the Union, President Bush unveiled Iraq as part of the axis of evil. 2003 brought sixteen false words about uranium and Niger. Last year, the rationale was all about Iraq's (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction. In 2005, the rationale for sending our men and women to fight in Iraq: "Our men and women in uniform are fighting terrorists in Iraq, so we do not have to face them here at home." Like all the other rationales, this one is a lot of hot air. According to a recent report by the CIA's think tank, "Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of 'professionalized' terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council. In fact, Iraq provides terrorists with 'a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills,' said David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats. 'There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries.'"
STILL NO EXIT STRATEGY: President Bush last night failed to give any details for an exit strategy in Iraq. As the New York Times opines, "Mr. Bush's argument that this is a bad time to set a timetable for withdrawal obscures the very immediate need to set goals, and to make it clear to the Iraqis that the continued presence of American forces depends on their meeting those goals." His speech "was yet another feel-good paean to freedom and democracy that did little to show the American people an exit strategy for United States troops, or to show the Iraqis what we expect from them next."
with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde
.February 3, 2005
STATE OF THE UNION
STATE OF THE UNION
The 16 Word Contest
During last night's comprehensive coverage of the State of the Union on ThinkProgress.org, Center for American Progress CEO John Podesta issued a challenge. "Everyone remembers the classic 'sixteen words' from the 2003 State of the Union that came back to haunt the Bush Administration – 'The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,'" he wrote. "What sixteen words from tonight's State of the Union will come back to haunt President Bush tonight? Use this post to nominate your sixteen words." Thanks to everyone who wrote in. And sixteen words or not, here are some of the better entries we've received so far: "The principle here is clear: a taxpayer dollar must be spent wisely, or not at all" (del99); "By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt" (Judy, David, Monni); "I will cut the budget deficit in half by 2009" (Pat); "And best of all, the money in the account is yours, and the government can never take it away" (HSR, Lee, Newell); and "In Iraq, 28 countries have troops on the ground" (Pvt Bledsoe). Check out the rest of the nominees here – even better, add your own. The winner, to be announced later in the day on ThinkProgress.org, will receive a stylish American Progress vest.
STATE OF THE UNION
Groundhog Day
President Bush delivered his fourth State of the Union address last night – there was, unsurprisingly, "a great deal that was very familiar" from the previous three addresses. In fact, you could be forgiven for checking your calendar and making sure it really was 2005, and not 2004, when President Bush was brandishing yet another rationale for the war in Iraq, or 2003, when the president said he would do something about AIDS, or 2002, when Bush pledged fiscal responsibility and said he would increase funding for first responders. The president did pepper his speech with a couple of new promises, such as increased attention to gang violence in cities, and some details of his plan for Social Security. Unfortunately, the facts of the president's first-term record do not inspire confidence in his new second-term proposals.
GANGING UP ON AMERICAN YOUTH: President Bush said he wanted to increase his focus on giving "young men in our cities, better options than apathy, or gangs, or jail." Time to finally put his money where his mouth is. The president has proposed a 40 percent cut in federal juvenile crime prevention funds, which would effectively "pull the plug" on local programs that reduce gang and youth violence. He consistently has attempted to eliminate all funding for Youth Opportunity Grants, a program that gives job training to young people. In 2002 that program was funded at $225 million, in 2003 he proposed funding only $45 million ($43.5 million was actually funded) and in the 2004 budget, he proposed eliminating the program. Congress accepted his recommendation and funding has been eliminated. Finally, two federal banking agencies headed by Bush appointees are trying to change laws that would cripple the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination by banks against people who live in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
A CAPITAL DEFENSE: Last night, the president proposed a special training for defense counsel in capital cases, "because people on trial for their lives must have competent lawyers by their side." As the Los Angeles Times writes, "If only he'd been so concerned about poor lawyering when he was overseeing all those executions as governor of Texas." Bush recently promoted White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to the position of the nation's attorney general. As chief legal counsel for then-Gov. Bush in Texas, Gonzales was responsible for writing a memo on the facts of each death penalty case – Bush decided whether a defendant should live or die based on the memos. An analysis of these memos by the Atlantic Monthly concluded that "Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence." In his first term, the president also delayed the Innocence Protection Act, which provided funding for post-conviction DNA testing and higher-quality defense counsel, even after it passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support. His administration wrote a 22-page letter saying the bill was the end of the world. He eventually signed it after some of its most important provisions had been badly diluted.
LOW ENERGY: President Bush also outlined his goals to resolve the nation's energy problems, saying, "To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy." In fact, in his first presidential budget, Bush proposed cutting $277 million out of renewable energy research, while spending an additional $2 billion on coal-related programs. His FY2004 budget tried to "slash funding for numerous clean energy and energy efficiency programs, including funding for bioenergy, wind and geothermal electricity sources." (Those cuts "were announced less than a week after the president announced his goal of energy independence in the State of the Union address.") And his tax cuts include provisions that actually make the energy situation worse. His tax bill included a provision creating a $100,000 tax write-off (subsequently trimmed to $25K) for large SUVs like the Hummer, which gets just 10 miles to the gallon.
THE STATE OF SOCIAL SECURITY: President Bush unveiled some details of his plan for privatizing Social Security last night, saying, "your account will provide money for retirement over and above the check you will receive from Social Security." But in fact, "the plan is more complicated." Under the proposal, "the check you receive from Social Security" would likely be reduced sharply from what it is now. Meanwhile, workers who opt to divert some of their payroll taxes into individual accounts would "ultimately get to keep only the investment returns that exceed the rate of return that the money would have accrued in the traditional system… In effect, the accounts would work more like a loan from the government, to be paid back upon retirement at an inflation-adjusted 3 percent interest rate." The Congressional Budget Office predicts an average of 3.3 percent gains, leaving most workers "with nothing but the guaranteed benefit." In other words, even assuming the market stays stable, unless workers received an unusually high rate of return on their investments, they would face significant cuts to their Social Security benefits.
THIS YEAR'S RATIONALE FOR WAR: In 2002's State of the Union, President Bush unveiled Iraq as part of the axis of evil. 2003 brought sixteen false words about uranium and Niger. Last year, the rationale was all about Iraq's (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction. In 2005, the rationale for sending our men and women to fight in Iraq: "Our men and women in uniform are fighting terrorists in Iraq, so we do not have to face them here at home." Like all the other rationales, this one is a lot of hot air. According to a recent report by the CIA's think tank, "Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of 'professionalized' terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council. In fact, Iraq provides terrorists with 'a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills,' said David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats. 'There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries.'"
STILL NO EXIT STRATEGY: President Bush last night failed to give any details for an exit strategy in Iraq. As the New York Times opines, "Mr. Bush's argument that this is a bad time to set a timetable for withdrawal obscures the very immediate need to set goals, and to make it clear to the Iraqis that the continued presence of American forces depends on their meeting those goals." His speech "was yet another feel-good paean to freedom and democracy that did little to show the American people an exit strategy for United States troops, or to show the Iraqis what we expect from them next."
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 11:43 AM
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