Bush released his new budget proposal and claims that it is fair and balanced, sort of like Fox "News". His budget fails to account for the $80 billion we will spend in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also fails to account for the several trillion dollars that his proposed Social Security "reform" will suck out of federal coffers. Senator Jim Jeffords pointed to the most glaring cuts:
* Environment. Cuts the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget by 5.6 percent from $8.02 billion to $7.57 billion, culminating in an almost 10 percent cut over two years. Most cuts come in efforts to maintain and improve the nation's clean water infrastructure.
* Veterans. More than doubles the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using the Veterans health care system.
* Health Care. Cuts Medicaid funding by $45 billion over 10 years and eliminates 28 health programs, totaling $1.36 billion. These programs range from rural hospital grants (cuts $39.5 million) to emergency medical services for children (cuts $20 million).
* Job Training. Cuts federal spending on job training by a half-billion dollars. Federal job training programs, including dislocated-worker training, will be cut by $200 million. Federal aid to states for job training, including funding to train veterans, will be cut by $300 million.
* Amtrak. Eliminates all funding for Amtrak, calling bankruptcy proceedings as the solution for our nation's rail system.
* Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP). Cuts LIHEAP by over 8 percent, from $2.2 billion to $2 billion.
* Parks. Cuts the National Park Service by 3 percent from $2.31 billion to $2.24 billion.
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Posted on: Monday, February 7th 2005
