Domestic Agencies Face Cuts in Bush Budget
WASHINGTON - Domestic priorities like federal aid to schools and health research are squeezed under President Bush’s proposed budget for next year, but funding for the Pentagon, the war in Iraq and anti-terrorism efforts get impressive increases…. Judging from his recent record, Bush should largely get his way in clamping down on the budgets for domestic agencies that are passed each year by Congress. Last year, despite resistance from Democrats and old-school lawmakers in his own party, Bush got Congress to accept a freeze or a slight cut in almost every domestic agency budget.
I’ve always been fascinated with the federal budget process. Though a President may talk a good ballgame, I’ve always found that the budget a President sends to Congress says much more about his priorities than any speech or sound bite could possibly convey. Once again, it appears that the federal government will have more than enough money to wage the never-ending war on terror and to rebuild Iraq. Rebuilding this country, the one Our Glorious Leader was elected to serve, may prove to be another story.
If you’re a poor American, you can pretty well forget about the government being of any meaningful assistance. If you’re a poor Iraqi, however….hold on, help is on the way, y’all….
Even though domestic non-entitlement programs take only one-sixth of all federal spending, they are in the administration’s bulls eye as it tries to reel in the growing deficit.
The National Institutes of Health’s budget is frozen at this year’s level and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is being asked to take a 2 percent cut. Both programs lose ground as Bush puts a higher priority on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricane relief.
The Pentagon would receive a nearly 5 percent increase in its budget, to $439.3 billion, defense officials said, with an additional $120 billion earmarked for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those war funds would be spread over both the current budget year and fiscal 2007, which begins Oct. 1.
It would seem that “Compassionate Conservatism” is indeed a contradiction in terms….
In his Saturday radio address, Bush pitched his “American competitiveness initiative,” which would double funding for basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years and improve training and recruitment of math and science teachers.
Bush also warned Congress last week he wants to eliminate or cut more than 140 programs to save $14 billion in 2007 alone. Last year, he succeeded in saving $6.5 billion with a similar request, winning from Congress about two-fifths of the spending cuts he sought.
Some of the new proposed cuts, such as eliminating the $107 million Commodity Supplemental Food Program, are likely to get a chilly reaction on Capitol Hill. The program provides food to low-income mothers and children under 6 years old, as well as to the elderly poor.
There’s nearly universal agreement that policymakers eventually will have to tackle tackling runaway Medicare costs and Bush takes a politically perilous first step in that direction in his budget.
There’s something horribly wrong with a federal budget that allocates adequate funding to wage war and then to rebuild Iraq, but leaves the rebuilding process along the Gulf Coast pretty much high and dry (no pun intended). Yes, I understand that the war on terror is a priority, but the war in Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror, and those who disagree are merely deluding themselves.
What does it say about a President who cares more about rebuilding Iraq than New Orleans? Who cares more about elections in Iraq than in assisting the Gulf Coast in putting communities and lives back together? Didn’t Our Glorious Leader stand in Jackson Square and pledge to work to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast?
Shouldn’t taxpaying Americans be the priority? Not that fixing Iraq isn’t important (after all, we did break it), but it angers me to see untold billions flowing into Iraq when so many along the Gulf Coast wonder when, or even if, they’ll be able to go home again, and even if they can go home, whether or not they’ll be able to rebuild their homes and lives.
Yes, Our Glorious Leader’s budget truly is representative of his priorities and his perceived responsibilities to the Americans who elected him. What this budget is likely to (and probably should) be perceived as saying to Americans is “Go f—k yourself. I’ve got a war to pay for!”
