(no subject)
Here is the second part of post on the reasons why I think Bush is one the worst presidents we've ever had. Please take the time to read this and do your own research. I only present these posts under the guise that they are my opinions. Thank you.
::The Deficit:
Bush Claimed Tax Cut Would Not Lead To A Deficit, Even With Bad Economy. During a speech at Western Michigan University advocating tax cuts, Bush promised that his plan would not lead to deficits. "Tax relief is central to my plan to encourage economic growth, and we can proceed with tax relief without fear of budget deficits, even if the economy softens," Bush promised. [Bush Remarks at Western Michigan University, 3/27/01]
Actually...
Bush Budget Posted First Deficit Since 1997, Predicted Deficits Until 2005. In February 2002, Bush released his budget for fiscal year 2003, which included the first federal deficit since 1997. Bush's proposed budget would result in a $106 billion in deficit in FY 2002 and $80 billion in FY 2003. According to Bush administration estimates, the budget will not return to balance until FY 2005. Worse, an analysis of the Bush budget by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted the deficits between FY 2002 and 2005 would be $62 billion larger than White House figures. [Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003, Table S-1; Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003, Historical Tables, Table 1.1; CBO, An Analysis of the President's Budgetary Proposals for 2003, Table 1, 3/6/02]
2002 Deficit May Be $30 to $70 Billion Higher than Expected, GOP Budget Staff Director Questioned Bush's Commitment to Returning to Balance. The Washington Post reported that because individual tax receipts are running below projections, the deficit could be $30 billion to $70 billion higher than CBO's baseline estimate of the deficit for FY 2002, $46 billion. The baseline does not take into account expected new spending such as prescription drugs and national defense. G. William Hoagland, Republican staff director of the Senate Budget Committee, said the new numbers raise "some concern about the president's commitment to get back to balance in 2004." [Washington Post, 4/26/02]
CBO Reported $4 Trillion Lower Surplus In Just One Year, Bush Tax Cut was Single Largest Reason. A January 2002 CBO report found that the ten-year surplus had shrunk by $4 trillion, from $5.6 trillion estimated in 2001 to $1.6 trillion. CBO concluded that the Bush tax cut was the single largest reason for the deterioration of the surplus. During testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, CBO Director Dan Crippen was directly asked if the Bush tax cut accounted for almost 42 percent of the loss of the surplus. "Yes," Crippen replied. [CBO, Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2003-2012, 1/31/02, Summary Table 1; Crippen Testimony Before the Senate Budget Committee, 1/23/02]
::Social Security::
Bush Promised to Stop Social Security Trust Fund Raid. George W. Bush repeatedly promised that Social Security payroll taxes would not be tapped for general government spending. During the campaign Bush promised, "In my economic plan, more than $2 trillion of the federal surplus is locked away for Social Security. For years, politicians in both parties have dipped into the Trust Fund to pay for more spending. And I will stop it." In March 2001 he said, "Another priority is retirement systems of Americans. And so the budget I set up says that payroll taxes are only going to be spent on one thing, and that's Social Security. But the Congress won't be using the payroll taxes for other programs. Lockbox, I think, is the terminology they like to use up here." [Bush Speech, Rancho Cucamongo Senior Center, "A Defining American Promise," 5/15/00; Bush Remarks at National Newspaper Association 40th Annual Government Affairs Conference, 3/22/01]
Actually...
Bush Budget Will Spend the Entire Social Security Trust Fund Over Next Two Years. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bush uses "all the Social Security surpluses ... to fund the government for the next two years, and to spend well over $100 billion of Social Security funds in each of the following three years." [Wall Street Journal, 2/5/02]
Bush Raids Social Security Trust Fund of $1.6 Trillion. A House Budget Committee Democratic staff analysis of the Bush budget proposal found that over the next ten years $1.6 trillion of the Social Security Trust Fund is spent on other government operations. CBO found that without assuming any new spending - such as homeland security and prescription drug coverage for Medicare - the Social Security Trust Fund would be raided every year through FY 2009. After including Bush's spending proposals, CBO predicted a trust fund raid every year through 2012 and an on-budget deficit of $1.8 trillion. [House Budget Committee, Democratic Staff, "Return to Red Ink: Back to Budget Deficits," 2/8/02; CBO, Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2003-2012, 1/31/02, Summary Table 2; CBO, An Analysis of the President's Budgetary Proposals for 2003, Table 1, 3/6/02]
Bush Was on Track to Breach Social Security Trust Fund Before September 2001. Contrary to Bush and Republican rhetoric that the terrorist attacks of September 11 forced the raid of the Social Security Trust Fund, CBO reported as early as August 2001 that Bush was due to tap the Trust Fund. CBO also said the Bush administration would raid the Trust Fund again in FY 2003 and 2004. USA Today reported, "The White House is backing away from its pledge to protect every cent of Social Security reserves in the face of a report today that the government is tapping Social Security taxes for other programs." [Associated Press, 4/7/02; CBO, The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update, August 2001; USA Today, 8/28/01]
::National Debt::
Bush Promised to Reduce the National Debt. In March 2001, Bush said, "And after we fund important priorities in the ongoing operations of our Government, I believe we ought to pay down national debt. And so my budget pays down a record $2 trillion in debt over the next 10 years." [Bush Remarks to the American College of Cardiology, 3/21/01]
Actually...
Bush Administration Asked for $750 Billion Permanent Increase in Debt Ceiling. In December 2001, the Bush administration announced that it would be forced to ask Congress to increase the $5.95 trillion federal debt ceiling in order to avoid a breach. The Bush administration asked Congress to raise the debt limit by $750 billion. The Washington Post headline read, "In Switch, Administration Seeks to Boost Debt Ceiling Now" [Associated Press, 3/12/02; Washington Post, 12/4/01]
Bush Treasury Secretary Tapped Government Retirement Funds to Avoid Debt Limit Breach. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill announced that he would temporarily tap funds from government retirement programs for federal employees to avoid defaulting on the national debt. "The Secretary has today notified in writing the Congress and the Executive Director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board of his intention to suspend investments of securities in the Government Securities Investment Fund (G-Fund) beginning on April 4 and ending on or about April 18, 2002," the Treasury Department said. [Treasury Fact Sheet, 4/2/02; Washington Post, 4/3/02]
::Education::
Bush Pledged to "Spend More on Our Schools" As Part of Education Reform Law. At the bill signing ceremony for the bipartisan "No Child Left Behind" education law, Bush pledged to increase funding for education. "And so the new role of the Federal Government is to set high standards, provide resources, hold people accountable, and liberate school districts to meet the standards. ... We're going to spend more on our schools, and we're going to spend it more wisely," Bush said. [Remarks on Signing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 1/8/02]
Actually...
Bush Budget Cut $90 Million From "No Child Left Behind" Education Reform Law. According to an analysis of the Bush education budget by the House Education and the Workforce Committee, "Just one month ago, Congress and the President enacted the most important education reform legislation in 30 years. This bipartisan law is based on the principle that, with adequate resources, real reform is possible. But rather than building on this progress, the President's budget cuts initiatives in The No Child Left Behind Act by a net total of $90 million." [House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Democratic staff, The Bush Budget: Shortchanging School Reform, 2/12/02]
Sen. Kennedy Called Bush's Education Budget a "Severe Blow" to Schools. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who worked closely with Bush crafting the education reform law, criticized Bush's education budget. "This budget is a severe blow to our nation's schools. Just four weeks after the President signed the education bill into law, the Administration's budget cuts funding for it," Kennedy said. [Kennedy Press Release, 2/12/02]
Bush Education Budget Provided Smallest Funding Increase In Seven Years. President Bush proposed a 2.8 percent increase, roughly $1.4 billion, in education funding, the smallest increase in seven years. [House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Democratic staff, The Bush Budget: Shortchanging School Reform, 2/12/02]
::Medicare::
Bush Promised Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage for All Seniors. During the presidential campaign, Bush promised to provide prescription drug coverage for all 39 million Medicare recipients. "Another priority of the federal government will be to have a Medicare system of which we can be proud, a Medicare system that will include prescription drugs for all seniors, a Medicare system that understands that some seniors have to choose between food and medicine. That's not our vision for the country," Bush said. [Bush Remarks at Campaign Rally in Pittsburgh, PA, 11/4/00]
Actually...
Bush's Own Estimates Say His Plan Would Cover Only 3 Million Seniors. This year, by his own estimate, Bush's prescription drug plan fails to cover 7 million Medicare recipients. The White House estimated, "Approximately 10 million seniors and persons with disabilities have no prescription drug coverage." Only those below 150 percent of poverty - $17,910 for a family of two - are eligible for Bush's plan. "This proposal is expected to lead to coverage for up to 3 million Medicare beneficiaries who would otherwise not receive coverage until the Medicare drug benefit is fully implemented, which will require several years," the White House estimated. This year is the second in a row that Bush failed to detail a plan for all seniors. Once again, he merely issued "principles" under which they might receive coverage in the future. [White House Fact Sheet, 1/28/02; 7/12/01; Los Angeles Times, 1/29/02; 2002 HHS Poverty Guidelines (internal calculation)]
CBO Estimated that Bush's Plan Would Cover Only 6 Percent of All Medicare Beneficiaries. CBO Director Crippen said, "the total number of participants in the [Bush] program would gradually rise from about 900,000 in 2003 to 2.4 million by 2007; participants would constitute about 6 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries." [CBO Testimony, Projections of Medicare and Prescription Drug Spending, 3/7/02 (emphasis added)]
::Student Loans::
Bush Pledged to Make Higher Education Affordable. During the campaign, Bush said, "Every year, U.S. colleges attract the best and the brightest students from all over the world. I want to make sure that higher education is affordable and accessible to every American. And therein lie our greatest weaknesses: college tuition and the burden of student indebtedness. I am committed to helping families prepare for the cost of higher education." [Matrix: The Magazine for Leaders in Higher Education, 10/1/00]
Actually...
Bush Administration Proposed Ending Fixed Interest Rate, Consolidation Loan Program. The Bush administration proposed a plan to help ease the $100 billion federal budget shortfall by tapping $1.3 billion from a federal student loan program. OMB Director Mitch Daniels and GOP budget negotiators proposed preventing college students and graduates from consolidating their education loans at federally subsidized, fixed interest rates. The GOP plan would allow the consolidated loans to be offered only at variable rates, making the loans less appealing. [New York Times, 4/28/02]
Bush's Budget Proposed Eliminating State Scholarship Program - Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships. President Bush's 2002 budget proposed freezing funding for the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships (LEAP). His 2003 budget proposed eliminating the $67 million LEAP program, potentially affecting 1.2 million recipients. LEAP encourages states to establish need-based grant programs by requiring them to match federal funding dollar for dollar. By leveraging state dollars, LEAP provided $171 million to low-income students last year. [Associated Press, 2/11/02; House Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 2/5/02]
Bush's Budget Proposed Freezing Perkins Loan Funding. President Bush's 2003 budget proposed freezing funding for the Federal Perkins Loan, a low-interest 5 percent loan available to both undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate exceptional financial need. [www.ed.gov]
This is all I plan to post as of now. All these FACTS (yes all this information was taken from credible sources provided), in my opinion, clearly demonstrates Bush's inept abilities to lead our country to a productive future.
God bless America, and God help us all.
::The Deficit:
Bush Claimed Tax Cut Would Not Lead To A Deficit, Even With Bad Economy. During a speech at Western Michigan University advocating tax cuts, Bush promised that his plan would not lead to deficits. "Tax relief is central to my plan to encourage economic growth, and we can proceed with tax relief without fear of budget deficits, even if the economy softens," Bush promised. [Bush Remarks at Western Michigan University, 3/27/01]
Actually...
Bush Budget Posted First Deficit Since 1997, Predicted Deficits Until 2005. In February 2002, Bush released his budget for fiscal year 2003, which included the first federal deficit since 1997. Bush's proposed budget would result in a $106 billion in deficit in FY 2002 and $80 billion in FY 2003. According to Bush administration estimates, the budget will not return to balance until FY 2005. Worse, an analysis of the Bush budget by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted the deficits between FY 2002 and 2005 would be $62 billion larger than White House figures. [Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003, Table S-1; Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2003, Historical Tables, Table 1.1; CBO, An Analysis of the President's Budgetary Proposals for 2003, Table 1, 3/6/02]
2002 Deficit May Be $30 to $70 Billion Higher than Expected, GOP Budget Staff Director Questioned Bush's Commitment to Returning to Balance. The Washington Post reported that because individual tax receipts are running below projections, the deficit could be $30 billion to $70 billion higher than CBO's baseline estimate of the deficit for FY 2002, $46 billion. The baseline does not take into account expected new spending such as prescription drugs and national defense. G. William Hoagland, Republican staff director of the Senate Budget Committee, said the new numbers raise "some concern about the president's commitment to get back to balance in 2004." [Washington Post, 4/26/02]
CBO Reported $4 Trillion Lower Surplus In Just One Year, Bush Tax Cut was Single Largest Reason. A January 2002 CBO report found that the ten-year surplus had shrunk by $4 trillion, from $5.6 trillion estimated in 2001 to $1.6 trillion. CBO concluded that the Bush tax cut was the single largest reason for the deterioration of the surplus. During testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, CBO Director Dan Crippen was directly asked if the Bush tax cut accounted for almost 42 percent of the loss of the surplus. "Yes," Crippen replied. [CBO, Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2003-2012, 1/31/02, Summary Table 1; Crippen Testimony Before the Senate Budget Committee, 1/23/02]
::Social Security::
Bush Promised to Stop Social Security Trust Fund Raid. George W. Bush repeatedly promised that Social Security payroll taxes would not be tapped for general government spending. During the campaign Bush promised, "In my economic plan, more than $2 trillion of the federal surplus is locked away for Social Security. For years, politicians in both parties have dipped into the Trust Fund to pay for more spending. And I will stop it." In March 2001 he said, "Another priority is retirement systems of Americans. And so the budget I set up says that payroll taxes are only going to be spent on one thing, and that's Social Security. But the Congress won't be using the payroll taxes for other programs. Lockbox, I think, is the terminology they like to use up here." [Bush Speech, Rancho Cucamongo Senior Center, "A Defining American Promise," 5/15/00; Bush Remarks at National Newspaper Association 40th Annual Government Affairs Conference, 3/22/01]
Actually...
Bush Budget Will Spend the Entire Social Security Trust Fund Over Next Two Years. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bush uses "all the Social Security surpluses ... to fund the government for the next two years, and to spend well over $100 billion of Social Security funds in each of the following three years." [Wall Street Journal, 2/5/02]
Bush Raids Social Security Trust Fund of $1.6 Trillion. A House Budget Committee Democratic staff analysis of the Bush budget proposal found that over the next ten years $1.6 trillion of the Social Security Trust Fund is spent on other government operations. CBO found that without assuming any new spending - such as homeland security and prescription drug coverage for Medicare - the Social Security Trust Fund would be raided every year through FY 2009. After including Bush's spending proposals, CBO predicted a trust fund raid every year through 2012 and an on-budget deficit of $1.8 trillion. [House Budget Committee, Democratic Staff, "Return to Red Ink: Back to Budget Deficits," 2/8/02; CBO, Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2003-2012, 1/31/02, Summary Table 2; CBO, An Analysis of the President's Budgetary Proposals for 2003, Table 1, 3/6/02]
Bush Was on Track to Breach Social Security Trust Fund Before September 2001. Contrary to Bush and Republican rhetoric that the terrorist attacks of September 11 forced the raid of the Social Security Trust Fund, CBO reported as early as August 2001 that Bush was due to tap the Trust Fund. CBO also said the Bush administration would raid the Trust Fund again in FY 2003 and 2004. USA Today reported, "The White House is backing away from its pledge to protect every cent of Social Security reserves in the face of a report today that the government is tapping Social Security taxes for other programs." [Associated Press, 4/7/02; CBO, The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update, August 2001; USA Today, 8/28/01]
::National Debt::
Bush Promised to Reduce the National Debt. In March 2001, Bush said, "And after we fund important priorities in the ongoing operations of our Government, I believe we ought to pay down national debt. And so my budget pays down a record $2 trillion in debt over the next 10 years." [Bush Remarks to the American College of Cardiology, 3/21/01]
Actually...
Bush Administration Asked for $750 Billion Permanent Increase in Debt Ceiling. In December 2001, the Bush administration announced that it would be forced to ask Congress to increase the $5.95 trillion federal debt ceiling in order to avoid a breach. The Bush administration asked Congress to raise the debt limit by $750 billion. The Washington Post headline read, "In Switch, Administration Seeks to Boost Debt Ceiling Now" [Associated Press, 3/12/02; Washington Post, 12/4/01]
Bush Treasury Secretary Tapped Government Retirement Funds to Avoid Debt Limit Breach. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill announced that he would temporarily tap funds from government retirement programs for federal employees to avoid defaulting on the national debt. "The Secretary has today notified in writing the Congress and the Executive Director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board of his intention to suspend investments of securities in the Government Securities Investment Fund (G-Fund) beginning on April 4 and ending on or about April 18, 2002," the Treasury Department said. [Treasury Fact Sheet, 4/2/02; Washington Post, 4/3/02]
::Education::
Bush Pledged to "Spend More on Our Schools" As Part of Education Reform Law. At the bill signing ceremony for the bipartisan "No Child Left Behind" education law, Bush pledged to increase funding for education. "And so the new role of the Federal Government is to set high standards, provide resources, hold people accountable, and liberate school districts to meet the standards. ... We're going to spend more on our schools, and we're going to spend it more wisely," Bush said. [Remarks on Signing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 1/8/02]
Actually...
Bush Budget Cut $90 Million From "No Child Left Behind" Education Reform Law. According to an analysis of the Bush education budget by the House Education and the Workforce Committee, "Just one month ago, Congress and the President enacted the most important education reform legislation in 30 years. This bipartisan law is based on the principle that, with adequate resources, real reform is possible. But rather than building on this progress, the President's budget cuts initiatives in The No Child Left Behind Act by a net total of $90 million." [House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Democratic staff, The Bush Budget: Shortchanging School Reform, 2/12/02]
Sen. Kennedy Called Bush's Education Budget a "Severe Blow" to Schools. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who worked closely with Bush crafting the education reform law, criticized Bush's education budget. "This budget is a severe blow to our nation's schools. Just four weeks after the President signed the education bill into law, the Administration's budget cuts funding for it," Kennedy said. [Kennedy Press Release, 2/12/02]
Bush Education Budget Provided Smallest Funding Increase In Seven Years. President Bush proposed a 2.8 percent increase, roughly $1.4 billion, in education funding, the smallest increase in seven years. [House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Democratic staff, The Bush Budget: Shortchanging School Reform, 2/12/02]
::Medicare::
Bush Promised Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage for All Seniors. During the presidential campaign, Bush promised to provide prescription drug coverage for all 39 million Medicare recipients. "Another priority of the federal government will be to have a Medicare system of which we can be proud, a Medicare system that will include prescription drugs for all seniors, a Medicare system that understands that some seniors have to choose between food and medicine. That's not our vision for the country," Bush said. [Bush Remarks at Campaign Rally in Pittsburgh, PA, 11/4/00]
Actually...
Bush's Own Estimates Say His Plan Would Cover Only 3 Million Seniors. This year, by his own estimate, Bush's prescription drug plan fails to cover 7 million Medicare recipients. The White House estimated, "Approximately 10 million seniors and persons with disabilities have no prescription drug coverage." Only those below 150 percent of poverty - $17,910 for a family of two - are eligible for Bush's plan. "This proposal is expected to lead to coverage for up to 3 million Medicare beneficiaries who would otherwise not receive coverage until the Medicare drug benefit is fully implemented, which will require several years," the White House estimated. This year is the second in a row that Bush failed to detail a plan for all seniors. Once again, he merely issued "principles" under which they might receive coverage in the future. [White House Fact Sheet, 1/28/02; 7/12/01; Los Angeles Times, 1/29/02; 2002 HHS Poverty Guidelines (internal calculation)]
CBO Estimated that Bush's Plan Would Cover Only 6 Percent of All Medicare Beneficiaries. CBO Director Crippen said, "the total number of participants in the [Bush] program would gradually rise from about 900,000 in 2003 to 2.4 million by 2007; participants would constitute about 6 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries." [CBO Testimony, Projections of Medicare and Prescription Drug Spending, 3/7/02 (emphasis added)]
::Student Loans::
Bush Pledged to Make Higher Education Affordable. During the campaign, Bush said, "Every year, U.S. colleges attract the best and the brightest students from all over the world. I want to make sure that higher education is affordable and accessible to every American. And therein lie our greatest weaknesses: college tuition and the burden of student indebtedness. I am committed to helping families prepare for the cost of higher education." [Matrix: The Magazine for Leaders in Higher Education, 10/1/00]
Actually...
Bush Administration Proposed Ending Fixed Interest Rate, Consolidation Loan Program. The Bush administration proposed a plan to help ease the $100 billion federal budget shortfall by tapping $1.3 billion from a federal student loan program. OMB Director Mitch Daniels and GOP budget negotiators proposed preventing college students and graduates from consolidating their education loans at federally subsidized, fixed interest rates. The GOP plan would allow the consolidated loans to be offered only at variable rates, making the loans less appealing. [New York Times, 4/28/02]
Bush's Budget Proposed Eliminating State Scholarship Program - Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships. President Bush's 2002 budget proposed freezing funding for the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships (LEAP). His 2003 budget proposed eliminating the $67 million LEAP program, potentially affecting 1.2 million recipients. LEAP encourages states to establish need-based grant programs by requiring them to match federal funding dollar for dollar. By leveraging state dollars, LEAP provided $171 million to low-income students last year. [Associated Press, 2/11/02; House Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 2/5/02]
Bush's Budget Proposed Freezing Perkins Loan Funding. President Bush's 2003 budget proposed freezing funding for the Federal Perkins Loan, a low-interest 5 percent loan available to both undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate exceptional financial need. [www.ed.gov]
This is all I plan to post as of now. All these FACTS (yes all this information was taken from credible sources provided), in my opinion, clearly demonstrates Bush's inept abilities to lead our country to a productive future.
God bless America, and God help us all.