President Bush's budget proposal includes an additional trillion dollars of tax cuts coupled with the elimination of 65 social programs and cuts to dozens of other programs such as vocational education, environmental protection, and local law enforcement.
The budget calls for a freeze on Pell college grants. The No Child Left Behind education program is underfunded by $9.4 billion compared to what the Congress and the president agreed to in 2001.
Funding for local and state first responders to homeland security threats has been slashed too, from $4.37 billion in 2004 to $3.56 in fiscal 2005. More than $1.5 billion in local law enforcement grants have also been eliminated. And just as communities in America are combating youth and gang violence, President Bush proposes to zero out $59 million in juvenile crime prevention block grants.
The president's budget makes it harder for children to learn, makes it more difficult for police to fight crime and terrorism, and takes away vital funding from programs that give low-income Americans hope and opportunity. These proposals should not stand.
Below is a list of some of the other programs that are proposed to be eliminated with their funding levels in 2004:
- Arts in Education Grants, $35 million
- Comprehensive School Reform Grants for Low-Income Schools, $234 million
- Eisenhower Math and Science Education Programs, $20 million
- Even Start Family Literacy, $247 million
- Community Development Block Grants, $334 million
- HOPE VI Public Housing Revitalization Grants, $149 million
- Juvenile Crime Prevention Block Grants, $59 million
The president's budget also proposes to make permanent tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of 2010, with a cost of more than $4 trillion through 2014.
It is morally wrong for the wealthiest one percent of Americans to get an average annual tax cut of more than $58,000 while at the same time cutting and eliminating funding for education, affordable housing, local police departments, and the environment.
According to David Walker, director of the General Accounting Office, every man, woman and child already owes $24,000 to pay down the current $7 trillion national debt. Including the country's commitments to Social Security and Medicare , that figure rises to $124,000.
Adding another $4 trillion dollars of debt only drives those numbers higher. By 2014 the average family's income will be an estimated $1,800 lower because of slower income growth that results when the government competes with private sector funding. And a family with a $250,000, 30 year mortgage will pay an additional $2,000 a year in higher interest rates. The average household, by 2014, will pay an additional $3,000 in added interest on the debt alone.
The federal budget includes a lot of numbers that may seem very abstract. But one thing is certain: Our federal budget is supposed to be a statement of national priorities. This budget does not reflect American values as I know them. We have a moral duty in this country to treat all Americans fairly. Burdening future generations with trillions of dollars of debt, giving tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of our children and the poor does not fulfill that responsibility.
