screw the poor

[Guest guest]

President Bush outlines his priorities for federal spending as he

addresses the Economic Club of Washington, at the J.W. Marriott

Hotel in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005. Bush pointed to

education, health care, and social security as targets for reform.

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON Oct 26, 2005 — House Republicans voted to cut student

loan subsidies, child support enforcement and aid to firms hurt by

unfair trade practices as various committees scrambled to piece

together $50 billion in budget cuts.

 

More politically difficult votes to cut Medicaid, food stamps and

farm subsidies are on tap Thursday as more panels weigh in on the

bill. It was originally intended to cut $35 billion in spending over

five years, but after pressure from conservatives, GOP leaders

directed committees to cut another $15 billion to help pay the cost

of hurricane recovery.

 

President Bush met with House and Senate GOP leaders and said he was

pleased with the progress. He also appeared to endorse a plan by

House Speaker Dennis Hastert's plan for an across-the-board cut in

agency budgets, perhaps including the Pentagon, by the end of the

year.

 

" I encourage Congress to push the envelope when it comes to cutting

spending, " Bush said.

 

Dozens of issues are at play as Republicans in both the House and

Senate cobble together the sprawling budget bill. The measure is the

first in eight years to take aim at the automatic growth of federal

spending programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.

 

In the Senate, the Budget Committee voted along party lines to

bundle together the work of eight legislative committees into a bill

that will be debated next week by the full Senate. The Congressional

Budget Office said the Senate measure would save $39 billion over

five years $4 billion more than the budget passed last spring.

 

Pressed to produce more savings than the Senate, House committees

took more political chances in drafting the $50 billion House plan,

which has become a rallying point for the GOP's conservative wing

and its anxiety about hurricane relief worsening the deficit.

 

The House Education and the Workforce panel, for example, was told

to generate $18 billion in savings over five years. On Wednesday it

approved squeezing lenders in the student loan program and raising

premiums to employers for government insurance of their employees'

and retirees' pension benefits.

 

 

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain

other

sets of people are human: Aldous Huxley