Bush's New Budget Hits Law Enforcement, Firefighters, The Poor

[blueturk]

Everybody from police to firefighters to American Indian kids are under the axe in Dubya's proposed budget. Note that Dubya wants to eliminate $300 billion that states receive to incarcerate illegal aliens who commit crimes. This guy covers all the bases!

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=474798

[Nickdfresh]

Typical. Let's invade another country so we can get into the dreaded "nation-building" Bush proclaimed he hated so much so we can send our dollars abroad and short change our domestic spending! Does anyone believe this asshole is at all a fiscal conservative anymore?

[blueturk]

The price of the Presidential yacht Dubya wanted would probably pay to heat a home or two.

[LoungeMachine]

Just like his SOTU speech where he asked us rhetorically "where we were going to come up w/ the 200 billion for SS"

Funny, didnt we JUST spend that?

He's a liar and a hyocrite.

Great thread turk, now we can sit back and watch BBB and Elvis roll their eyes and call us unpatriotic pessimists

[FORD]

Originally posted by blueturk
The price of the Presidential yacht Dubya wanted would probably pay to heat a home or two.

I believe the pricetag on that one was $2 million, so that would heat a neighborhood or two.

[academic punk]

A large neighborhood. And fund their schools too.

[Nickdfresh]

Not to mention the $40 million wartime inauguration!

[blueturk]

Let's not forget that this budget omits the costs of Dubya's Social Security "plan" and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.



"There may be some tough times here in America. But this country has gone through tough times before, and we're going to do it again." —George W. Bush, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

[academic punk]

Actually, I don't mind the inauguration festivities.

I guarantee Kerry would've had one if he'd won, and we'd all have celebrated that (well, except for el and BBB). And besides, it's a celebration of our government.

And a damn good way to build funds for your party's warchest from donors. (why people choose to donate to a party rather than donate to, say, after-school programs or MS research is beyond me, but it's their money to spend, so it's not for me to say)

[blueturk]

Originally posted by academic punk


(why people choose to donate to a party rather than donate to, say, after-school programs or MS research is beyond me, but it's their money to spend, so it's not for me to say)

Because the party will look after them later on, in very profitable ways.

[blueturk]

More details....

Bush Seeks $2.57 Tln Budget to Slow Spending Growth (Update3)
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush sent Congress a $2.57 trillion budget today that would slash spending for agriculture, housing and many other domestic programs, while allowing growth in defense to continue more slowly.

Bush projected a deficit of $390 billion starting Oct. 1, without even including all the costs of the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to those costs, the Defense Department would get a 4.8 percent increase to $419.3 billion; spending on homeland security would rise by 1.2 percent.

With the budget limiting overall increases for the spending Congress controls to 2.1 percent, not enough to keep pace with inflation, many other popular programs are facing significant cuts. As a result, the budget is ``going to face an incredible amount of opposition on Capitol Hill,'' said Stanley Collender, managing director of Financial Dynamics Inc., a Washington consulting firm.

Non-defense discretionary spending amounts to less than 20 percent of annual federal spending; Bush's request would cut the budgets of 12 of 23 major federal agencies. Among his proposed cuts are reductions of almost $600 million in farm commodity payments and elimination of Amtrak's $1.2 billion annual subsidy. Airline passengers and veterans would pay new user fees under the president's proposal.

Housing, Agriculture

Spending would decline for housing by 11.5 percent, agriculture by about 10 percent, transportation by 6.7 percent, environment by 5.6 percent and education by almost 1 percent.

Lawmakers will reject proposed cuts and unexpected spending such as disaster relief will deepen the deficit, Collender said. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California called Bush's plan ``an assault on our values.''

Bush said his budget is ``lean'' and is focused on programs that work. ``Sometimes it's harder to eliminate a program that sounds good,'' he said at a Cabinet meeting. ``But by getting people to focus on results, and saying `show us the results as to whether or not this program is working,' I think we'll get a pretty good response.''

Democrats already have called for rolling back part of Bush's $1.85 trillion in tax cuts to pay for domestic programs.

``Republicans want to regain some fiscal responsibility credibility,'' said Eric Engen, a former Federal Reserve economist and now resident scholar at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute. Congress will draft a non-binding resolution as early as March that's a road map for 13 annual spending bills. ``That's when the big issues come to a head,'' Engen said.

Iraq Money

Budget chief Joshua Bolten said the administration would send Congress a request shortly for an additional $81 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bolten said the money, to be spent over five years, was reflected in the budget sent to Congress today and into 2006. An additional spending request for Iraq is likely about a year from now, Bolten said.

The budget doesn't include costs of creating Social Security private accounts, a centerpiece of Bush's domestic agenda.

The budget deficit for fiscal 2006 beginning Oct. 1 would fall 8.6 percent to $390 billion, excluding all the Iraq war costs, the White House said, equal to 3 percent of the gross domestic product. That compares with a record shortfall of $427 billion this year, or 3.5 percent of the GDP.

Last year's deficit was a record $412 billion. The deficit, measured as a percentage of the gross domestic product, peaked at 6 percent in fiscal 1983 under President Ronald Reagan.

`Misleading Picture'

``This budget paints a misleading picture,'' said Representative John Spratt of South Carolina, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Because the budget omits the costs of Social Security privatization, taxes, and operations in Iraq, the proposals would add ``more than $4 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years,'' Spratt said in a statement.

The costs of Bush's plan to allow younger workers to invest part of their Social Security taxes in private accounts fall outside Bush's five-year budget. The White House says the cost of conversion is $754 billion for the first 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office says borrowing for a transition may grow the deficit from $1 trillion to $2 trillion.

``If Bush needs to buy votes for Social Security, he can use the budget as he bargains over the spending cuts,'' Collender said.

Bush's budget projects halving the deficit to $233 billion by 2009, or 1.5 percent of the GDP, from a projected peak of $521 billion last year. ``The evolution in Iraq, and not just this year but in coming years, just makes the deficit reduction target tougher to hit,'' Engen said.

White House officials told reporters in a Jan. 25 briefing that they couldn't offer a reasonable estimate of Iraq war costs a year from now.

Targeting Programs

Today's request would cut or scrap 150 programs that the administration says are duplicative or failing.

``In order to control deficits we must rein in and control federal spending,'' House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, and Iowa Republican, said. ``The president's proposal to eliminate programs that are no longer serving their purpose is a step in the right direction.''

The White House forecast that the gross domestic product would grow 3.6 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2006. The inflation rate is forecast at 2.4 percent this year and 2.3 percent next year, according to the budget office. That's down from the 3.3 percent inflation rate for all of 2004.

Red Ink

The U.S. posted a budget surplus of $128 billion in fiscal 2001, when Bush entered office. Bush, who has never used his presidential veto, blames the Sept. 11 attacks, recession, corporate scandal, wars and corporate scandals for erasing the surplus. A deficit of $158 emerged in fiscal 2002, rose to $378 billion in fiscal 2003 and $412 billion in 2004.

Bush's fiscal 2006 request for defense shows a change in priorities: spending more on ground troops and weapons needed in guerrilla combat and less on ships and aircraft designed for conventional war.

The shift may benefit companies such as General Dynamics Corp., United Defense Industries Inc., and Boeing Co., all major contractors on Army programs. Projected spending on Lockheed Martin Corp. fighter planes and Northrop Grumman Corp. ships would decline.

The proposed fiscal 2006 budget is less than was projected last year, reflecting the Pentagon's commitment to cut a total of $30 billion by 2011 to reduce the deficit.

Airline Fees

Even so, ``this budget continues the build-up of defense spending that began in 1999 when the budget stood at about $292 billion,'' said Steven Kosiak, a defense budget analyst for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Bush proposed increasing the security fee assessed against airline passengers, from $2.50 to $5.50 for a one-way ticket. For passengers who change planes to complete their one-way journey, the fee would go from $5 to $8. Wealthier, non-disabled veterans would see their co-payments for prescription drugs rise from $7 to $15, and also would be charged a $250 enrollment fee to use veterans' hospitals.

Users of the St. Lawrence Seaway would be charged fees to cover the agency's operating costs; kennel owners, animal research centers and humane societies would be charged for animal welfare inspections; the meat, poultry and egg industries would pay for all of the overtime incurred by government inspectors; makers of explosives would be charged two cents a pound; and companies offering pensions would have their payments to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. rise from $19 per participant to $30, with future fees indexed to wage growth.

Electricity Rates

Bush also proposed charging market rates for the electricity produced by the four power marketing administrations -- Bonneville, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western Area -- which sell power produced at federal water projects.

The president backed off his veto threat and agreed to spend $284 billion on highways over the next six years, as proposed by the House. Bush initially threatened to veto any allocation over $256 billion. The Senate has voted to spend $318 billion.

Bush would fund the Department of Housing and Urban Development at $28.6 billion, an 11 percent cut. Housing funds for disabled persons would be slashed almost in half to $120 million from $238 million; housing programs for AIDS patients would be reduced by 5 percent to $268 million; and block grants for Indian housing would be reduced 3 percent to $583 million.

Block Grants

Community development block grants, aimed at improving urban areas, would be moved from HUD to the Commerce Department and consolidated with 17 community and economic development grant programs from five different agencies. Total funding for the 18 programs would be $3.7 billion. Funding for community development block grants alone is $4.7 billion this year.

In health care, Bush seeks $142 billion over 10 years to pay for refundable tax credits to purchase health care policies, tax incentives for health-care savings accounts and aid to small businesses who contribute to workers' health-savings accounts.

Bush also is seeking $587 million in cuts in farm commodity payments in the budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Over 10 years, Bush proposes cutting agricultural subsidies by $5.7 billion, setting up a likely fight with lawmakers such as Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. There will be ``a heck of a fight'' if the administration pushes for amending the 2002 farm law to reduce subsidies, Chambliss, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said last week.

``Farmers and ranchers make their investment decisions'' based on the subsidy levels in that legislation, said Chambliss. Peanut and cotton farmers in his state collected $182.7 million in 2003, according to Environmental Working Group, a Washington- based group that opposes the subsidies.




Last Updated: February 7, 2005 15:02 EST

[Warham]

Originally posted by academic punk
Actually, I don't mind the inauguration festivities.

I guarantee Kerry would've had one if he'd won, and we'd all have celebrated that (well, except for el and BBB). And besides, it's a celebration of our government.

And a damn good way to build funds for your party's warchest from donors. (why people choose to donate to a party rather than donate to, say, after-school programs or MS research is beyond me, but it's their money to spend, so it's not for me to say)

Yep, if Kerry would have had an inauguration, NO Democrat would be complaining that he was paying $40 million for it.

Mind you, the $40 million would be PRIVATELY donated money, not tax money.

[blueturk]

This isn't really about the inauguration, but since it's being brought up:

No one is disputing the fact that private money paid for MOST of the costs of the inauguration (excluding security costs, which was taxpayer money). Dubya lifted the limit on contributions from $100,000 to $250,000 so he could have the best inauguration money could buy, and now tells the American people that they need to bite the bullet. Well,Americans in certain income brackets anyway.