Progress Report: Swinging the 'Meat Ax'

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Mon, 7 Feb 2005 14:21:04 -0800 (PST)

Progress Report: Swinging the 'Meat Ax'

 

The Progress Report

 

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde

..February 7, 2005

 

 

 

BUDGET Swinging the 'Meat Ax'

IRAQ Rumsfeld's Empty Words

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

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BUDGET

Swinging the 'Meat Ax'

 

The conservative ideological agenda on the economy has hit full

stride: aggressively slash taxes on the wealthy; run up huge budget

deficits; then push for massive cuts in critical domestic spending

under the guise of fiscal responsibility. President Bush will

introduce a budget today that is so callous Vice President Cheney felt

compelled yesterday to assure viewers of Fox News that " it's not

something we've done with a meat ax. " Just as with its push for

privatizing Social Security, the White House plans " an elaborate

marketing strategy to sell the cuts to voters and lawmakers. " The

message: they aren't cutting government programs for the needy, they

are " centralizing government services and saving tax payer money. "

America doesn't need to be sold another product. America needs a

responsible budget that allocates resources to where they are most

needed. (Share your thoughts on the budget at ThinkProgress.org.)

 

TRILLIONS FOR TAX CUTS AND PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY: Don't believe

the fiscal responsibility hype. That isn't what's motivating the

budget cuts. The administration is pushing to add trillions to the

deficit to push its ideological agenda of privatizing Social Security

and extending tax cuts for the very rich. Vice President Cheney

acknowledged yesterday that " trillions of dollars in future borrowing

may be needed to cover the cost of private retirement accounts. " Bush

is also pushing to extend his tax cuts for the wealthy at a cost of $2

trillion over the next nine years. The bottom line: President Bush's

promise to cut the deficit in half by 2009 is a fantasy.

 

JOB TRAINING CUT BY $500 MILLION: At a time when overseas outsourcing

has left many American workers – especially in the manufacturing

sector – out of work, President Bush will propose cutting 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.

 

FUNDING FOR POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS SLASHED: On 2/2/02, President Bush

appeared at the New York Police Department Command Center and said,

" Police and firefighters of New York, you have this nation's respect,

and you'll have this nation's support. " Three years later Bush is

seeking to decimate vital funding for police officers and

firefighters. The administration's budget is expected to reduce

federal grants to local police forces from $600 million to $60

million. Grants to local firefighters would be cut by $215 million

dollars.

 

DRUG CO-PAYMENTS FOR VETERANS DOUBLED: The Bush administration's idea

of fiscal responsibility is making veterans pay more for medication.

The Bush budget " would more than double 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 government healthcare. "

Richard B. Fuller, legislative director of the Paralyzed Veterans of

America, calls the $250 fee " a health care tax, designed to raise

revenue and to discourage people from enrolling. "

 

BIG CUTS IN BIOTERRORISM PROTECTION: On 6/12/02, President Bush told

the American people, " bioterrorism is a real threat to our

country...It's important that we confront these real threats to our

country and prepare for future emergencies. Protecting our citizens

against bioterrorism is an urgent duty of...American governments. "

Now, Bush's budget will cut a " range of public health programs,

including several to protect the nation against bioterrorist attacks

and to respond to medical emergencies. " Funding for the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be reduced by 9 percent

under Bush's plan. Specifically, " the public health emergency fund of

the [CDC], which helps state and local agencies prepare for bioterror

attacks, would be cut 12.6 percent. "

 

LEAVING THE POOR IN THE COLD: Prices for home heating oil are

skyrocketing. Nevertheless, Bush's budget proposes cutting the

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP), which helps people

pay their heating bills, by 8.4 percent. At last year's funding

levels, only one-sixth of low-income families who qualified for the

program were able to receive assistance. Last year's funding for

LIHEAP was 23 percent lower than in 2001. For continually updated

information on the Bush administration's budget, check out our 2006

Budget page.

 

IRAQ

Rumsfeld's Empty Words

 

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld blanketed the airwaves yesterday,

appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, CNN's Late Edition, CBS's Face the

Nation and ABC's This Week. But although he did a lot of talking, the

secretary of defense had remarkably little to say. Rumsfeld stubbornly

refused to accept any responsibility for missteps in the U.S. policy

in Iraq. He was just as obstinate in refusing to discuss any details

for an exit strategy to secure the country and bring American men and

women in uniform home. And his ploy when confronted by statements he

didn't want to address was to deny. Asked about the Iraqi intelligence

services director who said on 1/3/05 that the insurgency numbered more

than 200,000, Rumsfeld replied, " Who said that?... Yeah, I've never

seen that number and I don't know where it came from. " He was also

asked about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's characterization of

the Geneva Conventions as " quaint, " to which Rumsfeld replied, " I've

never heard that. "

 

NO TIMETABLE: Rumsfeld refused to outline an exit strategy, saying

that it would depend on " whether or not Iraqis are capable of managing

the security situation there. " He was unable to answer the most basic

of questions about the Iraqi security forces. How many are trained?

Last year, Rumsfeld boasted there were more than 200,000 troops ready

to take up the fight; yesterday he stuck to the line that " talking

numbers is not terribly useful. " Are they sufficiently trained?

Rumsfeld warned that the numbers being tossed around don't take into

account the skill level of the Iraqi troops, and that some of them are

" green as grass. " He was unable to give a number on how many were

trained. How many need to be trained before U.S. soldiers can come

home? Rumsfeld's response: " We need as many as are needed. "

 

NO MISTAKES: One of the primary criticisms of the war in Iraq is that

the Pentagon did not send an adequate number of troops in the first

place to put down the nascent insurgency and stop looting. The former

head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Paul Bremer, for

instance, said the U.S. " paid a big price " for not sending enough

troops to secure the peace and blamed an inadequate U.S. military

presence after the invasion for the rampant looting after the

invasion. On Meet the Press yesterday, Rumsfeld took no responsibility

for the inadequate troop levels. Asked if, in hindsight, he wished

he'd sent in more troops on the ground in Iraq in the first place, he

replied, " The answer to your…question is no. "

 

NO STRESS CRISIS: The U.S. military has been stretched thin by the

wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recruiting of reservists is down – the

Army National Guard Chief Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz told the House Armed

Services Committee that the Guard met only 56 percent of its quota

last month. And the Marines missed their recruiting goal last month

for the first time since 1995. Secretary Rumsfeld admitted yesterday

that the military is " clearly stressed " but denied the situation is

critical and said the Pentagon had no plans to change the current

operating methods to reduce stress on the military.

 

NO ECONOMIC CRISIS: Yesterday, Rumsfeld acknowledged that one factor

in putting down the insurgency was " economic progress, " which he felt

was " going forward in such good style. " Unfortunately, the

reconstruction of Iraq has been bungled from the beginning. Less than

one-fifth of the $18 billion in reconstruction funds has been spent so

far. And as a " scathing " new audit shows, " Coalition Provisional

Authority (CPA) administrator L. Paul Bremer is unable to account for

nearly $9 billion in reconstruction funds. " Two years after the

invasion, Iraqis are suffering from major food shortages and the

country is producing less electricity than it was before the war. In

addition, the deterioration of water and sewage systems has led to the

spread of hepatitis and outbreaks of typhoid fever.

 

IRAQ'S CONSTITUTION: In 2003, Secretary Rumsfeld announced the United

States would not tolerate an Iran-style theocracy in Iraq, saying, " If

you're suggesting, 'How would we feel about an Iranian-style

government with a few clerics running everything,' the answer is it's

not going to happen. " The New York Times reported this weekend that

that possibility is on the table, as top Shiite clerics in Iraq are

" pushing for Islam to be recognized as the guiding principle of the

new constitution. " Asked about this, however, Secretary Rumsfeld

dodged the question: " The first thing we have to begin with is that

Iraq belongs to the Iraqis. And the Iraqis are going to have a

solution for Iraq that's Iraqi solution [sic]. "

 

 

Under the Radar

 

BUDGET – " SCHIZOPHRENIC FISCAL POLICY " : In order to make a molehill

out of a mountainous federal budget deficit, President Bush is relying

on some highly manipulative math tricks to meet his far-reaching goal

of cutting the deficit in half by 2009. To begin with, though he has

vowed to cut the 2004 deficit in half, he is not starting with the

actual 2004 deficit but rather " the projected $521-billion deficit "

from the OMB's year-old estimate. By using the estimated figure,

President Bush conveniently is dealing with a deficit that is $54.5

billion less. Another example is that the proposed deficit halving is

" not in dollars but as a share of the economy, " which makes the

incredible shrinking deficit decline when the economy grows, as it is

expected to, " even if it does not shrink by a single dollar. " On top

of all this, the budget does not include the $80 billion supplement

for Iraq and Afghanistan nor the $754 billion costs of the proposed

Social Security private investment accounts. As Isabel Sawhill of the

Brookings Institution puts things, " It doesn't quite compute. "

Conveniently, more and more conservatives are now turning their backs

on fiscal discipline; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax

Reform and unofficial White House advisor, now claims, " The deficit is

merely the uninteresting difference between two very interesting numbers. "

 

CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE RIGHT-WING QUOTE OF THE DAY: " In Omaha on

Friday, a divorced single mother named Mary Mornin tells the

president, 'I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and

I have two daughters.' 'Fantastic,' the president exclaims...Later,

the 57-year old Mornin tells Bush that she works three jobs, which the

president deems 'uniquely American' and 'fantastic.' He asks her if

she gets any sleep. "

 

CORRUPTION – DISAPPEARING DONATIONS: The Arizona Republic reports that

roughly $70,000 in political contributions intended for 26 politicians

– including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and former Senate

Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) – have vanished from the books. The

missing donations were part of $300,000 the Tigua Indians had written

and bundled for Jack Abramoff, " widely recognized as one of the top

lobbyists on Capitol Hill until his downfall began a year ago, and his

secret partner, public relations operative Michael Scanlon, " former

press secretary to Rep. DeLay. The funds were then to be " parceled out

at Abramoff's instruction. " Where the money actually ended up " is

among a multitude of questions criminal investigators and a U.S.

Senate committee are asking in what has become one of the biggest

lobbying scandals in U.S. history. "

 

IMMIGRATION – CURB ON STUDENT VISAS UNDERMINING NATION'S BUSINESSES:

Last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates warned that the United States

curb on student visas was " so severe it is threatening to undermine

America's position in the global software industry. " Now, his words

are being echoed by the head of another major corporation, General

Electric Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Immelt. In remarks made in

London, Immelt described the post Sept. 11 visa regime as " a case

where our policy to close down on access boomerangs. " The backfire is

not only threatening the business community. Universities across the

nation have faulted the restrictions for the " sharp drop in the number

of foreign students studying engineering and computer science. " In

summation of the concerns shared by the business and academic worlds,

Gates bemoaned that " the US's status as 'the IQ magnet of the world'

was in jeopardy. "

 

ENVIRO – EVANGELICALS GO GREEN: Times have changed since James G.

Watt, the conservative interior secretary under President Reagan,

argued that the imminent return of Jesus made environmentalism

unnecessary. " God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is

felled, Christ will come back, " Watt told Congress in 1981. These

days, the Washington Post reports, evidence " in polling and in public

statements of church leaders " shows that a " growing number of

evangelicals view stewardship of the environment as a responsibility

mandated by God in the Bible. " Though evangelicals sometimes rely on

different terms – " creation care " instead of " environmentalism " – and

emphasize particular environmental ills – for example, the health

effects of mercury pollution on developing fetuses – the basic

progressive principles are the same. " The environment is a values

issue, " says the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member

National Association of Evangelicals, whose members will meet in March

to develop a position on global warming.

 

DAILY GRILL

 

" People in Congress on both sides of the aisle have said, 'Let's worry

about the deficit.' I said 'Okay, we'll worry about it again.' "

 

– President Bush, 2/4/05

 

VERSUS

 

" Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged Sunday that the federal

government would need to borrow trillions of dollars...to cover the

cost of the private retirement accounts at the heart of President

Bush's plan to revamp Social Security. "

 

– Washington Post, 2/7/05

DAILY OUTRAGE

 

The White House-ordered inquiry into faulty intelligence about Iraq's

weapons of mass destruction won't hold anyone accountable for mistakes.