Some big goals Bush set in 2000 were met. Others sank in Congress.
- Promises made since Bush took the oath of office were not included in this analysis, so issues that have arisen as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the war on terrorism, and the invasion and occupation of Iraq are not included. Plus, the wars on terrorism and in Iraq put added strains on the federal budget, diverting money that might have been used to fulfill some of his campaign proposals.
+ Promise kept - Promise not kept
Abortion
Prohibit federal dollars for international family-planning groups that provide abortion-related services.
+ By a directive issued Jan. 22, 2001.
Sign legislation banning a procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion.
+ On Nov. 5, 2003.
Budget
Reserve half of the budget surplus to strengthen Social Security by establishing personal retirement accounts.
- The surplus disappeared under pressure of war, recession and tax cuts, and Bush has not pushed his Social Security plan before Congress.
Pay down the national debt to the lowest level since the Great Depression as a percentage of the gross domestic product.
- The budget surplus Bush inherited has turned into an annual deficit, and the federal debt has increased from $5.7 trillion in September 2000 to $7 trillion this month. The debt is 65 percent of GDP, up from 57.6 percent when he took office.
Return one-fourth of the budget surplus through broad-based tax cuts.
+ Bush met his target of a $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut.
Campaign-finance legislation
Prohibit unions and corporations from giving soft money to political parties.
+ Part of the campaign-finance bill Bush signed March 27, 2002.
Give workers the right to block the use of their union dues for political activities.
- Blocked by Congress.
Require timely disclosure of contributions on the Internet.
+ The Federal Election Commission is working on details.
Prevent incumbents from transferring excess money from a previous federal campaign to a subsequent campaign for a different office. -
Prohibit federally registered lobbyists from contributing to members of Congress while Congress is in session. -
Charity
Establish an Office of Faith-Based Organizations in the White House to make it easier for such organizations to participate in government programs.
+ By executive order in 2001.
Children
Provide states with$1 billion more over five years to help prevent child abuse or neglect.
- Congress cut Bush's request in half.
Require states to conduct criminal-background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents.
+ Signed June 25, 2003.
Provide $300 million over five years for college or vocational-education vouchers of up to $5,000 for youths who reach college age in foster care.
- Congress cut Bush's financing requests.
Congress
Adopt two-year budgets.
- Blocked in Congress.
Support a bipartisan Commission to Eliminate Pork-Barrel Spending. -
Seek legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority.
+ However, Bush has not made it a priority, and Congress has not acted.
Courts
Impose stiffer penalties for frivolous lawsuits. Lawyers who file suits as a form of harassment would have to pay the other side's expenses and could face other sanctions.
- Postponed action in the face of congressional opposition.
Eliminate the private use of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act for civil suits. Lawyers have used the law to seek bigger judgments by accusing companies of racketeering.
- Postponed action in the face of congressional opposition.
Take steps to make sure national class-action lawsuits are heard in federal court to prevent lawyers from shopping for friendly state judges.
- Postponed action amid congressional opposition.
Crime
Increase prosecutions under federal gun laws. +
Increase financing for state gun-law enforcement.
+ A $50 billion program was signed into law in 2001.
Impose a lifetime ban on gun possession for juvenile weapons offenders. -
Establish Project Sentry, a federal-state program to prosecute juvenile weapons violations. +
Defense
Prohibit putting U.S. troops under U.N. command. +
Pay U.N. dues in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs. +
Increase military pay by $1 billion a year.
+ Signed into law Jan. 10, 2002.
Deploy national and theater ballistic-missile defense as soon as possible.
+ Bush has ordered deployment in 2004.
Reduce the number of U.S. nuclear weapons.
+ The 2001 Treaty of Moscow promised to scrap about two-thirds of the U.S. nuclear arsenal over 10 years.
Renovate military housing.
+ The military has upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 more homes this year.
Disabilities
Triple the federal Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers' budget for technologies to assist the disabled.
- Financing has fallen short of the goal.
Create a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled.
+ Financed at $5 million.
Provide $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home.
+ Signed into law in 2001.
Provide $5 million to help small businesses comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
- Blocked in Congress.
Establish a $100 million matching-grant program for community-based transportation alternatives.
+ Blocked in Congress.
Increase financing for special education to meet the federal obligation under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
- Financing has fallen short of the goal.
Make it easier for disabled peopleto vote.
+ Legislation signed Oct. 29, 2002, requires states to make polling places more accessible.
Education
Provide cash subsidies in the form of vouchers to low-income students in persistently failing schools to help with costs of attending private schools.
- Blocked by Congress. A pilot program in Washington, D.C., awaits Senate action.
Increase maximum Pell grant, a need-based college scholarship, from $3,300 to $5,100 for first-year students.
- The maximum increased to $4,000 in 2002, but Bush has not requested any further increase.
Establish a $1 billion math and science partnership program.
+ Bush is working toward his five-year financing goal.
Establish a $3 billion Education Technology Fund.
- Blocked by Congress.
Increase federal financing for minority colleges and universities by $437 million over five years.
- Financing has fallen behind the goal.
Launch a $5 billion, five-year Reading First program to ensure every disadvantaged child reads by the third grade. +
Require annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight. +
Establish a $500 million fund to reward states and schools that improve student performance.
- Blocked by Congress.
Provide $181 million over five years to expand the use of bonds for public school construction. -
Provide school-by-school accountability report cards.
+ School districts are taking steps to meet the requirement.
Establish 2,000 charter schools, double the current number, within two years by providing $3 billion in loan guarantees.
- Blocked by Congress.
Provide $1.5 billion to help states pay for merit scholarships. -
Establish a $2.4 billion fund to help states enact teacher-accountability systems. +
Let teachers deduct from their taxable income up to $400 in out-of-pocket classroom expenses.
- A temporary measure that allowed teachers to deduct $250 for out-of-pocket classroom expenses was enacted in 2001 and expired Dec. 31, 2003.
Establish a uniform reporting system to monitor school safety. +
Require districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools. +
Require schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption. +
Enact a Teacher Protection Act to protect teachers from discipline-related lawsuits. +
Expand the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs.
+ Signed into law in 2001.
Provide vouchers to lower-income students for after-school activities. +
Energy
Earmark a portion of federal oil and gas royalty payments for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program when energy prices increase. -
Double financing for weatherization programs by adding $1.4 billion over 10 years.
+ Financing on track.
Open 8 percent - 1.5 million acres - of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.
- Stalled in Congress.
Support tax credits for electricity produced from renewable and alternative fuels at a cost of $1.4 billion over 10 years
- Stalled in Congress.
Establish a comprehensive federal policy for gas and oil pipeline transportation.
- Stalled in Congress.
Provide $2 billion over 10 years for "clean coal" research.
+ Financing is slightly below but consistent with the goal.
Require emission reductions by electric utilities for carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants.
- Bush abandoned his commitment to regulate carbon dioxide amid intense industry opposition.
Create a Home Heating Oil Reserve to protect against future shortages.
+ The reserve was actually created during the Clinton administration, but Bush has financed it.
Environment
Convert the $35 million brownfields cleanup loan fund into a block-grant program.
- Blocked in Congress.
Require all federal facilities to meet all environmental standards.
- The administration has repeatedly sought exemptions for defense facilities.
Fully finance the $900 million Land and Water Conservation Fund.
- Blocked in Congress, but critics say Bush's proposal would have shifted money from other environmental accounts.
Offer capital-gains tax relief for land sold for conservation purposes.
- Stalled in Congress.
Foreign policy
Substantially increase financial assistance to help Russia dismantle nuclear weapons. -
Support a moratorium on nuclear testing.
+ But the Pentagon is developing weapons that may soon require testing.
Improve relations with India.
+ Bush and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee committed to a strategic partnership in 2001.
Government
Shrink the federal government by not replacing 40,000 senior and middle managers who will retire over the next eight years.
- That goal has been abandoned, but each agency was ordered to draft a five-year plan to restructure itself with fewer managers.
Create a governmentwide chief information officer to coordinate Internet services.
+ Appointed April 16, 2003.
Establish a bipartisan sunset review board to recommend elimination of unnecessary programs. -
Convert federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so the contractor has measurable performance goals. +
Establish performance-based incentives for the civil service.
- This is under study.
Health care
Enact a patients' bill of rights.
- Stalled in Congress.
Provide a 100 percent tax deduction for long-term-care insurance premiums. -
Raise the personal tax exemption by $2,750 for those who provide home care for elderly family members. -
Provide a tax credit of up to $2,000 a year for health insurance for families that earn less than $30,000 a year. -
Establish the Healthy Communities Innovation Fund, to provide $500 million in grants over five years to target specific health risks, such as childhood diabetes. -
Double the National Institutes of Health's research budget. +
Immigration
Establish a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications.
+ With goal of full implementation by 2005.
Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization.
+ Both new agencies are within the Homeland Security Department.
Provide $500 million more over five years to improve immigration services.
+ First installment of $100 million was signed into law Nov. 28, 2001.
Medicare
Guarantee that all senior citizens can keep the current benefits if they choose, instead of selecting alternatives offered as part of any reforms.
+ Included in the Medicare bill Bush signed Dec. 8, 2003.
Give seniors the option of selecting plans that better fit their health-care needs. +
Cover the full cost of health insurance, including prescription-drug coverage, for seniors with incomes at or below 135 percent of the poverty level. Cover some of the cost for seniors with incomes up to 175 percent of poverty. +
Pay at least 25 percent of premiums for prescription-drug coverage for all seniors.
- There is a gap in coverage for costs between $2,250 and $5,100.
Cover all catastrophic Medicare expenses in excess of $6,000 annually for all seniors.
- The law lowered the threshold to $5,100 but covers only 95 percent of expenses over that amount.
Poverty
Establish Individual Development Accounts for low-income Americans. Give banks tax credits for matching up to $300 in deposits by low-income customers. -
Establish the American Dream Down Payment Fund to give low-income families up to $1,500 in matching funds toward home ownership.
+ Signed Dec. 16, 2003.
Social Security
Reserve half of the projected surplus for strengthening Social Security.
- Bush has postponed action in the face of congressional opposition. It remains a goal.
Guarantee current benefits for seniors at or near retirement.
- Bush has postponed action amid congressional opposition. It remains a goal.
No increase in payroll taxes. +
Give workers the option of investing in private retirement accounts.
- Bush has postponed action in the face of congressional opposition. It remains a goal.
Wall off the Social Security surplus from the rest of the budget by legislation.
- Bush has not pushed for it.
Tax cuts
Cut income tax rates. +
Change income tax from a five-rate to a four-rate structure: 10, 15, 25 and 33 percent.
- Congress lowered the rates but rejected Bush's rate structure.
Double the child tax credit to $1,000. +
Reduce the marriage penalty by restoring the 10 percent deduction for two-earner families. +
Increase the annual contribution limit on education savings accounts, or Education IRAs, from $500 to $5,000 per child.
- Congress increased the limit to $2,000.
Grant a deduction for charitable contributions to taxpayers who do not itemize.
- Stalled in Congress.
Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $7,500.
+ Credit increased to $10,000.
Permit families to make charitable contributions from IRAs without being taxed on the withdrawal.
- Stalled in Congress.
Eliminate the estate tax.
+ Will phase out and disappear in 2010 but will return a year later unless Congress makes the elimination permanent.
Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans. +
Technology
Allow a dramatic increase in the number of H-1B visas for temporary high-skilled workers.
+ The annual cap increased from 115,000 to 195,000 after Bush took office but dropped to 65,000 for fiscal year 2004. Demand for visas has fallen off with the downturn in the technology sector.
Permanently extend the tax credit for research and development.
- Blocked by Congress.
Establish more than 2,000 community technology centers providing free Internet access, computer-literacy training, and professional skills development.
-Blocked by Congress.
Teen pregnancy
Provide at least $135 million for abstinence education, equal to the amount for teen contraceptive programs.
- Financing reduced by Congress.
Trade
Admit China into the World Trade Organization and continue working to open key export markets to U.S. goods.
+ China joined the WTO in 2001.
Restore presidential authority to speed trade treaties through Congress.
+ Signed into law Aug. 6, 2002.
Tighten restrictions on military-technology exports and ease the restrictions on exports of civilian technologies.
- Blocked by Congress.
0roo0roo
No Lifer
- Sep 21, 2002
- 64,795
- 84
- 91
reality.
voting for nadar is like not using your gun against the germans charging your position because you don't think you quite polished it enough yet.
its a winner take all system. to pretend otherwise is to live in fantasy.
http://www.repentantnadervoter.com/
not to mention many "nadar" voters have no idea what he's really about anyways. just was the vote for the outsider i feel so rebelious vote
voting for nadar is like not using your gun against the germans charging your position because you don't think you quite polished it enough yet.
its a winner take all system. to pretend otherwise is to live in fantasy.
http://www.repentantnadervoter.com/
not to mention many "nadar" voters have no idea what he's really about anyways. just was the vote for the outsider i feel so rebelious vote
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