Budget plan comes at high price
Bush’s tax cut does anything but protect children, environment

By Brandon Ortiz

“It’s a budget that protects taxpayers, protects children, protects our surplus. It’s a budget that recognizes there are some good programs in Washington that need to be funded.”

Great line, Mr. President.

Now let’s take a closer look at your budget.

Bush’s budget does protect taxpayers (rich ones), but it does so at the expense of children and the surplus. It recognizes a handful of programs, then cuts funding for many others.

Ten of the government’s 25 major agencies will be cut under the president’s budget sent to congress. The Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, among others, will see reduced funds.

Way to fund those programs that need to be funded, George.

But we can all find relief in knowing that NASA and the Pentagon will both see more money as a result of the Bush budget.
Way to cut the pork, W.

Bush sets out to protect our children by cutting a $235 million program for pediatric training in his budget. Apparently that isn’t a good program in Washington that needs to be funded, so Bush is going to do us all a favor and trim some fat.

George W. goes even further by cutting programs to provide child care and prevent child abuse. He cuts federal assistance to states for child care by $200 million, an 18 percent cut. These are funds designed to help states investigate child abuse and neglect.
Compassionate conservatism at its finest.

Bush’s budget eliminates a whole program entirely — the “early learning fund.” The program aims to improve the quality of child care and education among pre-schoolers.

Who ever said pre-schoolers needed to be protected?

Bush sets out to protect our children’s children by cutting $2.3 billion on environmental programs. Looks like Bush doesn’t think children need to be protected from filthy air and contaminated water.

The president also reduced funding for renewable energy sources such as solar and fuel cell technology. He does this at a time when Vice President Dick Cheney is leading a task force to solve the country’s energy crunch.

But no need to worry. With NASA’s increased budget, we’ll be able to drill for oil on the moon.

At least we’ll have budget surpluses and pay off some of the national debt. Granted Bush thought the same thing in Texas, where some senators are talking about repealing his tax cut to block a tidal wave of red ink. But hey, he’s bound to be right this time.

But probably not.

Maybe Bush should revise his quote to sound like this:

“It’s a budget that protects the rich, protects big business, protects our big polluters. It’s a budget that recognizes there are some good programs in Washington that don’t need to be funded.”

Brandon Ortiz is a freshman news-editorial journalism major from Fort Worth.
He can be reached at (b.p.ortiz@student.tcu.edu)

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