- Jul 25, 2002
- 10,053
- 0
- 71
Chop . . . Hack . . . Mutiate . . .
Last night I was watching a 'News Program' and they were talking about how wonderful
it was that the Bush Administration was spending around $ 160 Million to have Halliburton
build a sewage systeem for the slum part of Baghdad that is known as Sadr City.
Pity that we can't invest in our own Infrastructure like that. There are many places within our borders that could do with a portion of $ 160 Million of taxpayers money to
apply to law enforcement, bridges, education, health care, child care assistance . . .
Instead the plan is to gut the programs here at home that help U.S. Citizens, put even more out of work, and build the 52nd State in Iraq. (Puerto Rico is the 'unofficial' 51st)
That Billion a week in Iraq would go a long way for our own programs, even maybe help those who have had to pay for some of it.
<Here's the CLIP>
President Bush's budget will propose slashing grants to local law enforcement agencies and cutting spending for environmental protection, American Indian schools and home-heating aid for the poor, The Associated Press learned Saturday.
Bush molded the roughly $2.5 trillion spending plan for 2006 as a response to a string of record federal deficits, and is sends it to Congress on Monday.
The budget, the toughest he has written since entering the White House four years ago, seeks about half the increase for school districts in low-income communities he requested last year and a slight reduction for the National Park Service.
Many proposals face an unclear fate in Congress, where members of both parties are sure to defend favorite initiatives. Democrats blame the cuts on the tax reductions Bush has enacted and say that other items his budget omits ? a Social Security overhaul and costs for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ? will only make matters worse.
"What it will lead to is growing pressure for draconian cuts," Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the Senate Budget Committee's top Democrat, said Saturday. "It's inescapable, the course he's led us on, whether it's this year or next year, is for very, very heavy cuts."
Bush has said his budget will assemble federal resources for war, domestic security and other priorities and cull inefficient or redundant programs. Administration officials have said he will hold overall nondefense spending ? excepting domestic security ? to less than next year's expected 2.3% increase in inflation, meaning the programs will lose purchasing power.
"I stand with the president that we need to eliminate wasteful spending and we need to look through all the programs," said House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa. "There's no question that's not the easiest thing to do in Washington."
The details obtained Saturday are the latest in a budget that will also seek savings from programs ranging from Amtrak and farmers' subsidies to Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor and disabled.
According to figures obtained by the AP, Bush would slice a $600 million grant program for local police agencies to $60 million next year. Grants to local firefighters, for which Congress provided $715 million this year, would fall to $500 million.
He would eliminate the $300 million the government gives to states for incarcerating illegal aliens who commit crimes. It's a proposal he has made in the past and one that Congress has ignored. Also gone would be assistance for police departments to improve technology and their ability to communicate with other agencies.
The Environmental Protection Agency's $8.1 billion would drop by $450 million, or about 6%, with most of the reductions coming in water programs and projects won by lawmakers for their home districts.
The Bureau of Indians Affairs would be sliced by $100 million to $2.2 billion. The reduction would come almost entirely from the agency's effort to build more schools.
The $2.2 billion program that provides low-income people ? in large part the elderly ? with home-heating aid would be cut to $2 billion. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the reduction would be "wrong-headed an inappropriate," especially with this season's jump in oil prices. White House budget office spokesman Chad Kolton said Bush has added hundreds of millions of dollars to the program since taking office and said his budget will provide "adequate resources to make sure we can assist low-income Americans."
The park service's budget would drop nearly 3% to $2.2 billion, largely due to a reduction in its construction account.
Last night I was watching a 'News Program' and they were talking about how wonderful
it was that the Bush Administration was spending around $ 160 Million to have Halliburton
build a sewage systeem for the slum part of Baghdad that is known as Sadr City.
Pity that we can't invest in our own Infrastructure like that. There are many places within our borders that could do with a portion of $ 160 Million of taxpayers money to
apply to law enforcement, bridges, education, health care, child care assistance . . .
Instead the plan is to gut the programs here at home that help U.S. Citizens, put even more out of work, and build the 52nd State in Iraq. (Puerto Rico is the 'unofficial' 51st)
That Billion a week in Iraq would go a long way for our own programs, even maybe help those who have had to pay for some of it.
<Here's the CLIP>
President Bush's budget will propose slashing grants to local law enforcement agencies and cutting spending for environmental protection, American Indian schools and home-heating aid for the poor, The Associated Press learned Saturday.
Bush molded the roughly $2.5 trillion spending plan for 2006 as a response to a string of record federal deficits, and is sends it to Congress on Monday.
The budget, the toughest he has written since entering the White House four years ago, seeks about half the increase for school districts in low-income communities he requested last year and a slight reduction for the National Park Service.
Many proposals face an unclear fate in Congress, where members of both parties are sure to defend favorite initiatives. Democrats blame the cuts on the tax reductions Bush has enacted and say that other items his budget omits ? a Social Security overhaul and costs for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ? will only make matters worse.
"What it will lead to is growing pressure for draconian cuts," Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the Senate Budget Committee's top Democrat, said Saturday. "It's inescapable, the course he's led us on, whether it's this year or next year, is for very, very heavy cuts."
Bush has said his budget will assemble federal resources for war, domestic security and other priorities and cull inefficient or redundant programs. Administration officials have said he will hold overall nondefense spending ? excepting domestic security ? to less than next year's expected 2.3% increase in inflation, meaning the programs will lose purchasing power.
"I stand with the president that we need to eliminate wasteful spending and we need to look through all the programs," said House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa. "There's no question that's not the easiest thing to do in Washington."
The details obtained Saturday are the latest in a budget that will also seek savings from programs ranging from Amtrak and farmers' subsidies to Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor and disabled.
According to figures obtained by the AP, Bush would slice a $600 million grant program for local police agencies to $60 million next year. Grants to local firefighters, for which Congress provided $715 million this year, would fall to $500 million.
He would eliminate the $300 million the government gives to states for incarcerating illegal aliens who commit crimes. It's a proposal he has made in the past and one that Congress has ignored. Also gone would be assistance for police departments to improve technology and their ability to communicate with other agencies.
The Environmental Protection Agency's $8.1 billion would drop by $450 million, or about 6%, with most of the reductions coming in water programs and projects won by lawmakers for their home districts.
The Bureau of Indians Affairs would be sliced by $100 million to $2.2 billion. The reduction would come almost entirely from the agency's effort to build more schools.
The $2.2 billion program that provides low-income people ? in large part the elderly ? with home-heating aid would be cut to $2 billion. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the reduction would be "wrong-headed an inappropriate," especially with this season's jump in oil prices. White House budget office spokesman Chad Kolton said Bush has added hundreds of millions of dollars to the program since taking office and said his budget will provide "adequate resources to make sure we can assist low-income Americans."
The park service's budget would drop nearly 3% to $2.2 billion, largely due to a reduction in its construction account.
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