The Lasting Effects of Katrina

The Lasting Effects of Katrina

October 5, 2005

At a press conference on the White House lawn yesterday, President Bush expanded upon his plans for funding post-Katrina reconstruction efforts. Bush said he will ask Congress to make deeper cuts in mandatory spending programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. (The category also includes a few smaller program related to income security such as unemployment insurance and school lunches.) In other words, President Bush wants the poor, the sick and the elderly to pay for Katrina reconstruction by giving up their health care and retirement security. At the same time, the president is moving forward with billions in new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

• The White House has the wrong priorities at the wrong time. In calling for reduced federal funding for Medicaid, the president will force more Americans to become uninsured by undercutting the ability of states to pay for the program. Further cuts will force states to decrease their coverage and deepen the growing health care woes everyday Americans already endure. By calling for deeper cuts in Medicaid, the president continues to ignore growing bipartisan calls to remedy the American health care system.
  
  
• The president’s privatization of Social Security would explode the deficit at a time when we cannot afford massive new debt. Despite the president’s call for cuts in mandatory spending, his legislative priorities, such as Social Security, would only increase federal spending. The president’s plan would cost more than $700 billion in the next decade and possibly more afterwards. Regardless of the worth one finds in the president’s plan, by no means will it save Americans money.
  
  
• The less fortunate should not have to pay for Katrina. By repealing the tax cut for the wealthy, returning to long-term fiscal discipline and cutting spending on giveaways to corporations, the less fortunate in our country would not have to shoulder the burden of Katrina reconstruction. American Progress has a plan that reflects these progressive ideas.