Budget Smackdown

[Sapphire Blue]

Budget Smackdown

February 14, 2006

Nothing says “I love you” this Valentine’s Day like the President’s budget – that is, if you happen to be big business. If you are a student, veteran, poor or middle-class individual, you will not find much love in the President’s latest budget. From cuts to student aid, giveaways to big oil, and increases in health care costs for vets, Bush’s budget has its priorities in the wrong place. (For the best coverage of the latest budget news, visit American Progress' new Budget Blog.)

Bush’s budget bodes well for big business. Buried in the Interior Department’s just-released budget is a $7 billion giveaway to the oil and gas industry. That figure comes from the projected amount of royalties oil and gas companies will be exempt from paying the federal government. At a time of record gas prices and record profits for oil companies, it is unbelievable that the administration is giving away billions of dollars to them.

Bush’s budget takes aim at students and veterans. Bush’s budget hits federal programs that help pay for higher education. "The Perkins Loan program would be eliminated, and Pell grant funding for college students would drop by $4.6 billion." Veterans younger than 65 would pay up to two or three times more for the military's health care program "under a controversial set of fee increases" proposed in the latest budget.

Bush’s budget cuts vital health care programs. Bush’s budget ended funding for the National Children's Study, a landmark study of the "health and development of more than 100,000 children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. Bush’s budget would also zero out popular health projects that supporters say target more mundane, but more certain, killers: inner-city Indian health clinics, defibrillators in rural areas, an educational campaign about Alzheimer's disease, centers for traumatic brain injuries, and a nationwide registry for Lou Gehrig's disease.

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=699965&ct=1980945

Much info on the budget cuts can also be found @ the Coalition on Human Needs website: http://www.democracyinaction.org