THE PROGRESS REPORT
by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin
with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde
February 7, 2005
BUDGET
BUDGET
Swinging the 'Meat Ax'
The conservative ideological agenda on the economy has hit full stride: aggressively slash taxes on the wealthy; run up huge budget deficits; then push for massive cuts in critical domestic spending under the guise of fiscal responsibility. President Bush will introduce a budget today that is so callous Vice President Cheney felt compelled yesterday to assure viewers of Fox News that "it's not something we've done with a meat ax." Just as with its push for privatizing Social Security, the White House plans "an elaborate marketing strategy to sell the cuts to voters and lawmakers." The message: they aren't cutting government programs for the needy, they are "centralizing government services and saving tax payer money." America doesn't need to be sold another product. America needs a responsible budget that allocates resources to where they are most needed. (Share your thoughts on the budget at ThinkProgress.org.)
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." Bush is also pushing to extend his tax cuts for the wealthy at a cost of $2 trillion over the next nine years. The bottom line: President Bush's promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009 is a fantasy.
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 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." Three years later Bush is seeking to decimate vital funding for police officers and firefighters. 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 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." Now, Bush's budget will cut a "range of public health programs, including several to protect the nation against bioterrorist attacks 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 (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. Last year's funding for LIHEAP was 23 percent lower than in 2001. For continually updated information on the Bush administration's budget, check out our 2006 Budget page.
Under the Radar
BUDGET – "SCHIZOPHRENIC FISCAL POLICY": In order to make a molehill out of a mountainous federal budget deficit, President Bush is relying on some highly manipulative math tricks to meet his far-reaching goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009. To begin with, though he has vowed to cut the 2004 deficit in half, he is not starting with the actual 2004 deficit but rather "the projected $521-billion deficit" from the OMB's year-old estimate. By using the estimated figure, President Bush conveniently is dealing with a deficit that is $54.5 billion less. Another example is that the proposed deficit halving is "not in dollars but as a share of the economy," which makes the incredible shrinking deficit decline when the economy grows, as it is expected to, "even if it does not shrink by a single dollar." On top of all this, the budget does not include the $80 billion supplement for Iraq and Afghanistan nor the $754 billion costs of the proposed Social Security private investment accounts. As Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution puts things, "It doesn't quite compute." Conveniently, more and more conservatives are now turning their backs on fiscal discipline; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and unofficial White House advisor, now claims, "The deficit is merely the uninteresting difference between two very interesting numbers."
CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE RIGHT-WING QUOTE OF THE DAY: "In Omaha on Friday, a divorced single mother named Mary Mornin tells the president, 'I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters.' 'Fantastic,' the president exclaims...Later, the 57-year old Mornin tells Bush that she works three jobs, which the president deems 'uniquely American' and 'fantastic.' He asks her if she gets any sleep."
CORRUPTION – DISAPPEARING DONATIONS: The Arizona Republic reports that roughly $70,000 in political contributions intended for 26 politicians – including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) – have vanished from the books. The missing donations were part of $300,000 the Tigua Indians had written and bundled for Jack Abramoff, "widely recognized as one of the top lobbyists on Capitol Hill until his downfall began a year ago, and his secret partner, public relations operative Michael Scanlon," former press secretary to Rep. DeLay. The funds were then to be "parceled out at Abramoff's instruction." Where the money actually ended up "is among a multitude of questions criminal investigators and a U.S. Senate committee are asking in what has become one of the biggest lobbying scandals in U.S. history."
IMMIGRATION – CURB ON STUDENT VISAS UNDERMINING NATION'S BUSINESSES: Last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates warned that the United States curb on student visas was "so severe it is threatening to undermine America's position in the global software industry." Now, his words are being echoed by the head of another major corporation, General Electric Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt. In remarks made in London, Immelt described the post Sept. 11 visa regime as "a case where our policy to close down on access boomerangs." The backfire is not only threatening the business community. Universities across the nation have faulted the restrictions for the "sharp drop in the number of foreign students studying engineering and computer science." In summation of the concerns shared by the business and academic worlds, Gates bemoaned that "the US's status as 'the IQ magnet of the world' was in jeopardy."
ENVIRO – EVANGELICALS GO GREEN: Times have changed since James G. Watt, the conservative interior secretary under President Reagan, argued that the imminent return of Jesus made environmentalism unnecessary. "God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back," Watt told Congress in 1981. These days, the Washington Post reports, evidence "in polling and in public statements of church leaders" shows that a "growing number of evangelicals view stewardship of the environment as a responsibility mandated by God in the Bible." Though evangelicals sometimes rely on different terms – "creation care" instead of "environmentalism" – and emphasize particular environmental ills – for example, the health effects of mercury pollution on developing fetuses – the basic progressive principles are the same. "The environment is a values issue," says the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals, whose members will meet in March to develop a position on global warming.
with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde
February 7, 2005
BUDGET
BUDGET
Swinging the 'Meat Ax'
The conservative ideological agenda on the economy has hit full stride: aggressively slash taxes on the wealthy; run up huge budget deficits; then push for massive cuts in critical domestic spending under the guise of fiscal responsibility. President Bush will introduce a budget today that is so callous Vice President Cheney felt compelled yesterday to assure viewers of Fox News that "it's not something we've done with a meat ax." Just as with its push for privatizing Social Security, the White House plans "an elaborate marketing strategy to sell the cuts to voters and lawmakers." The message: they aren't cutting government programs for the needy, they are "centralizing government services and saving tax payer money." America doesn't need to be sold another product. America needs a responsible budget that allocates resources to where they are most needed. (Share your thoughts on the budget at ThinkProgress.org.)
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." Bush is also pushing to extend his tax cuts for the wealthy at a cost of $2 trillion over the next nine years. The bottom line: President Bush's promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009 is a fantasy.
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 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." Three years later Bush is seeking to decimate vital funding for police officers and firefighters. 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 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." Now, Bush's budget will cut a "range of public health programs, including several to protect the nation against bioterrorist attacks 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 (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. Last year's funding for LIHEAP was 23 percent lower than in 2001. For continually updated information on the Bush administration's budget, check out our 2006 Budget page.
Under the Radar
BUDGET – "SCHIZOPHRENIC FISCAL POLICY": In order to make a molehill out of a mountainous federal budget deficit, President Bush is relying on some highly manipulative math tricks to meet his far-reaching goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009. To begin with, though he has vowed to cut the 2004 deficit in half, he is not starting with the actual 2004 deficit but rather "the projected $521-billion deficit" from the OMB's year-old estimate. By using the estimated figure, President Bush conveniently is dealing with a deficit that is $54.5 billion less. Another example is that the proposed deficit halving is "not in dollars but as a share of the economy," which makes the incredible shrinking deficit decline when the economy grows, as it is expected to, "even if it does not shrink by a single dollar." On top of all this, the budget does not include the $80 billion supplement for Iraq and Afghanistan nor the $754 billion costs of the proposed Social Security private investment accounts. As Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution puts things, "It doesn't quite compute." Conveniently, more and more conservatives are now turning their backs on fiscal discipline; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and unofficial White House advisor, now claims, "The deficit is merely the uninteresting difference between two very interesting numbers."
CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE RIGHT-WING QUOTE OF THE DAY: "In Omaha on Friday, a divorced single mother named Mary Mornin tells the president, 'I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters.' 'Fantastic,' the president exclaims...Later, the 57-year old Mornin tells Bush that she works three jobs, which the president deems 'uniquely American' and 'fantastic.' He asks her if she gets any sleep."
CORRUPTION – DISAPPEARING DONATIONS: The Arizona Republic reports that roughly $70,000 in political contributions intended for 26 politicians – including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) – have vanished from the books. The missing donations were part of $300,000 the Tigua Indians had written and bundled for Jack Abramoff, "widely recognized as one of the top lobbyists on Capitol Hill until his downfall began a year ago, and his secret partner, public relations operative Michael Scanlon," former press secretary to Rep. DeLay. The funds were then to be "parceled out at Abramoff's instruction." Where the money actually ended up "is among a multitude of questions criminal investigators and a U.S. Senate committee are asking in what has become one of the biggest lobbying scandals in U.S. history."
IMMIGRATION – CURB ON STUDENT VISAS UNDERMINING NATION'S BUSINESSES: Last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates warned that the United States curb on student visas was "so severe it is threatening to undermine America's position in the global software industry." Now, his words are being echoed by the head of another major corporation, General Electric Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt. In remarks made in London, Immelt described the post Sept. 11 visa regime as "a case where our policy to close down on access boomerangs." The backfire is not only threatening the business community. Universities across the nation have faulted the restrictions for the "sharp drop in the number of foreign students studying engineering and computer science." In summation of the concerns shared by the business and academic worlds, Gates bemoaned that "the US's status as 'the IQ magnet of the world' was in jeopardy."
ENVIRO – EVANGELICALS GO GREEN: Times have changed since James G. Watt, the conservative interior secretary under President Reagan, argued that the imminent return of Jesus made environmentalism unnecessary. "God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back," Watt told Congress in 1981. These days, the Washington Post reports, evidence "in polling and in public statements of church leaders" shows that a "growing number of evangelicals view stewardship of the environment as a responsibility mandated by God in the Bible." Though evangelicals sometimes rely on different terms – "creation care" instead of "environmentalism" – and emphasize particular environmental ills – for example, the health effects of mercury pollution on developing fetuses – the basic progressive principles are the same. "The environment is a values issue," says the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals, whose members will meet in March to develop a position on global warming.
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 9:46 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home