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March 11, 2005
President Bush's fiscal irresponsibility and wrong priorities are apparently contagious conditions on Capitol Hill. Working with a budget plan that the Congressional Budget Office says will increase the federal deficit by $1.6 trillion over the next decade, conservative ideologues are seeking to make matters worse and cut vital programs in the process.
- The budget represents the wrong choices and wrong priorities for America. Both the Senate and House budgets go even further than the president's in stiffing the middle class and low income families. The chairman of the Senate Finance committee wants to cut Medicaid by up to $15 billion over five years while the House is pursuing cuts to health care funding for the poor by as much as $20 billion and nutrition programs for low-income families by as much as $5.3 billion. Choosing bloated tax cuts for the wealthy over Medicaid and health care for children is not the way forward for America.
- President Bush and his conservative allies cannot manage the nation's finances. Despite the president's claim that, "We're fixing the deficit," his proposal to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will hasten the nation's declining fiscal health. The projected $1.6 trillion additional shortfall understates the scope of the fiscal crisis because the president's budget excludes all costs for continued operations in Iraq and Afghanistan – expected to cost at least $300 billion over the next 10 years.
- Continued fiscal irresponsibility threatens America's economic strength. Borrowing more and more to finance handouts to the nation's most well off, the nation's conservative leadership has done everything in its power to turn America into a "debtor" nation. The net result for middle class Americans: low job growth, declining wages, fewer benefits, and rising costs for basic necessities like health care and education.
For more on the budget, visit "Making the Wrong Choices: The 2006 Budget"
Daily Talking Points is a product of the American Progress Action Fund. |
Daily Talking Points is a product of the American Progress Action Fund. |
