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Bush Sends Congress
$2.2 Trillion Budget
Even though hundreds of other government programs would be squeezed, the
president projects the deficit will still hit record highs of $304 billion
this year and $307 billion in 2004. Over the next five years, deficits
would total $1.08 trillion.
Bush's budget plan for fiscal 2004 that begins Oct. 1 will set off months
of heated debate in Congress. Democrats attacked the tax cuts as a boon
for the wealthy that will do little to help the economy but will rob
Social Security of the money needed for baby boomers' retirements.
"Instead of offering the nation a plan for long-term economic prosperity,
the Bush budget burdens us, and our children, with trillions of dollars of
new debt," said Sen. Kent Conrad D-N.D.
"His plan will push up interest rates, retard economic growth and create
massive problems for the soon-to-be retiring baby boom generation," said
Conrad, the Senate Budget Committee's top Democrat.
The president blamed the deficits "on a recession and a war we did not
choose." He said his budget would impose "spending discipline" through
such efforts as reshaping the government's big health care programs,
Medicare and Medicaid, along more conservative lines.
"The budget for 2004 meets the challenges posed by three national
priorities — winning the war against terrorism, securing the homeland and
generating long-term economic growth," Bush said in his budget message to
Congress.
Bush sent Congress a 5-inch stack of books, weighing 13 1/2 pounds,
spelling out his proposal. The five separate documents, featuring a
bright blue line drawing of the White House, included one extra book this
year analyzing the efficiency of hundreds of federal programs, part of a
Bush management initiative.
The budget was released two days after the Columbia space shuttle
disaster. In the NASA section, prepared before the accident, the
administration proposed a 23.9 percent increase in spending on the shuttle
next year, to $3.97 billion. That would follow a 1.9 percent cut in the
shuttle program for this year, when the administration anticipated
spending $3.21 billion.
In its management assessment of NASA, the administration said of the
shuttle program: "Shuttle operations are well managed but investments to
improve the shuttle suffer from inadequate planning and poor cost
management."
Bush's $670 billion economic stimulus tax cuts include eliminating the
double taxation of stock dividends, plus making permanent his 2001 tax
cuts that are now set to expire after 2010. Taken together, all the new
tax cuts Bush is proposing would add up to $1.3 trillion over the next
decade, on top of the $1.35 trillion tax reduction passed in 2001.
Democrats have vowed to fight the new tax reductions, saying the
country can't afford them when the nation is preparing for possible war
with Iraq.
The defense budget would increase by a sizable 4.2 percent. However, that
does not include money for a war with Iraq. The proposed increase,
combined with an even bigger 11 percent boost in the current year, is the
biggest defense buildup since President Reagan's in the 1980s.
The $15.3 billion boost in defense spending represents half of the $30
billion the president's budget is seeking in new money for the operation
of all federal agencies. These increases do not include automatic spending
for the government's huge benefit programs such as Social Security and
Medicare, which account for two-thirds of the entire federal budget.
The $2.23 trillion total spending for next year reflects a 4.2 percent
increase. The budget proposal projects that revenues will rise by 4.7
percent to $1.92 trillion. That would leave a deficit of $304 billion for
2004.
The president also sets aside a large increase for the government's newest
agency, the Department of Homeland Defense, created just 10 days ago,
which would see its spending rise to $23.9 billion in 2004, an increase of
8 percent over the amount expected to be spent this year.
Other favored initiatives in the president's budget include education for
disabled students, aid to school districts serving large numbers of poor
students and a global AIDS initiative, veterans health care and assistance
for U.S. allies in the fight against terrorism.
Outside of the favored programs, hundreds of other government agencies
would be forced to make do with increases of around 2 percent, essentially
in line with expected inflation.
"One conclusion is inescapable: The federal government must restrain
the growth in any spending not directly associated with the physical
security of the nation," Bush's budget book states.
In social programs, Bush proposes spending $400 billion over the next
decade to overhaul Medicare, the government's health program for the
elderly and disabled, including adding a prescription drug benefit.
The administration's initial idea to limit the drug benefit to
participants in managed care plans, less than 15 percent of the nearly 40
million Americans who receive Medicare, has drawn heavy criticism in
Congress.
Bush also proposed overhauling Medicaid, which provides health care to the
poor, by offering $12.7 billion over the next seven years to states
willing to undertake reforms. Critics say the changes would greatly
restrict access to the program.
In addition, Bush seeks broad changes in the Head Start program, giving
states more flexibility in administering it.
Source:
Yahoo! News
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