Bush Budget: A Lump of Coal

December 19, 2007

President Bush has already vetoed health care for 10 million kids through the Children’s Health Insurance Program. And he vetoed the health care, education, veterans and cancer research programs contained in the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill. Now Bush is refusing to sign any appropriations bill that invests more than he requested – which is less than what’s needed -- in critical funding for millions of hardworking Americans. The following is a good synopsis from the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities on Bush’s budget. In short, the American people got scrooged:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an ‘omnibus’ appropriations package that funds the 11 appropriations bills that have yet to pass for fiscal year 2008. The bill adheres to President Bush’s requested domestic funding levels, but shifts funds to better reflect our priorities as a country. The omnibus takes important steps to reverse cuts to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), housing programs, and the President’s plan to cut $654 million in grants to community action agencies that help lower-income Americans. But the bill falls far short of funding the critically needed programs so many Americans rely on. President Bush may have gotten his way on the spending levels in the omnibus bill, but he shouldn’t declare victory just yet – not unless victory means fewer children with health care, less funding for schools and teachers, less investment in cancer and disease research, and lower investment in our country’s infrastructure.