While media attention is captured by war, national priorities are being locked-in through arcane maneuvering making the ten-year Federal budget plan, further entrenched through Executive Orders, regulations, and court appointments that will have fundamental effects on the tenor and direction in the US and in the world. Dramatic changes could not have been made without the fears from September 11, 2001 terrorism and the military road taken by the Administration to combat it.
The budget casualties are the majority of Americans, especially the less advantaged and their children's generation, as well as countless others in the world community.
The proposed package requires over $500 billion cut primarily from health, education, child, environmental, and income security programs over 10 years. Defense has the largest increase, rising to $500 billion in 2009 to maintain troops in 85 countries-not counting $20-$80 billion yearly for occupation and reconstruction in Iraq. Child care cuts will mean that 268,000 fewer children will be served in 2013 than today. Food stamp cuts will mean the amount will drop from 91 to 84 cents per meal; currently, only 20 of 33 million. eligible people get food stamps. The net fiscal effect is to add almost $2 trillion to projected deficits in the next decade.
The central unspoken strategy of the Plan devolves policy and financing to states and the corporate and religious private sector while centralizing military and security control; deregulates commercial and religious groups but not other non-profits and labor unions, and defunds Federal government programs by reducing revenues to force program cuts. Meanwhile, wealth and power are being concentrated. Some examples:
- The effect of huge new tax cuts will make almost all investment income tax exempt, leaving wage earners to pay almost all taxes. Half of taxpayers get less than $100 in cuts; those earning $1 million get over $90,000.
- The de-unionization of 170,000 jobs at the new Dept. of Homeland Security will allow staff reductions and "outsourcing" of DHS tasks to nonunion commercial firms.
-
Enforcement funds in the Dept. of Labor are to monitor new regulations requiring unions to itemize every expense above $2000 spent on organizing and strike services, lobbying or political activities
- Enforcement funds for the Office of Safety and Health Administration are cut, limiting monitors of violations of minimum wage, family and medical leave, and child labor laws
- Dept. of Housing & Urban Development newly requires "equal treatment" of faith-based organizations for grant making under a new Presidential Order, and unprecedently allows partial funding of construction of facilities to be used for both religious and government-funded purposes.
Funds are being re-routed from international agencies and placed under Federal executive control. Although $10 billion in new AIDS money is budgeted for the decade, there is to be less than $1 billion in 2004, but a half billion is cut from international child health programs. AIDS monies are to be administered by the US, while only $200 million will go to the Global Fund for AIDS, which has a delivery system but is short of over $2 billion in promised funds from donor nations.
- The Global Gag Rule, which restricts foreign voluntary organizations who need US birth control funds from using their own, non-US funds to provide legal abortion services, has been expanded to include programs that support maternal and child health, sexually-transmitted diseases, AIDS, and violence-against-women services.
- The Administration has withdrawn $34 million from UN Family Planning Association and added $33 million to its domestic abstinence-until-marriage "sex-education" program in the welfare program
- Information output by the Dept of Health and Human Services is now centralized under a new Deputy Secretary , a longtime religious conservative who did not like CDC's health education materials about gay sex and portrayed condoms for disease prevention; he ordered them removed from the Website.
The proffered new America augurs less economic, health, welfare, and environmental security, less secure civil liberties, less public accountability, and at best, uncertain international relations, law, trade and global finance.
Selected Sources:
Military: http://www.fcnl.org
New York Times: 3-12-03
CED, 3-03: Exploding Deficits, Declining Growth
budget costs: http://www.cbpp.org, 3-26, 28-03
tax changes: http://www.cbpp.org 1-15-03
New York Times 3-30-03
food stamps: FRAC: 2-03
AIDS: World Economic Forum. Davos. 1-2003 http://www.africaaction.org
Medicaid: http://www.FamiliesUSA.org
2-13-03
Courts: American Prospect. 3-03
Civil liberties: http://www.publicintegrity.org
Campaign and Media Legal Center 2-03 http://www.camlc.org
Information: http://www.OMBwatch.org
3-24-03
New York Times 2-5-03
While media attention is captured by war, national priorities are being locked-in through arcane maneuvering making the ten-year Federal budget plan, further entrenched through Executive Orders, regulations, and court appointments that will have fundamental effects on the tenor and direction in the US and in the world. Dramatic changes could not have been made without the fears from September 11, 2001 terrorism and the military road taken by the Administration to combat it.
The budget casualties are the majority of Americans, especially the less advantaged and their children's generation, as well as countless others in the world community.
The proposed package requires over $500 billion cut primarily from health, education, child, environmental, and income security programs over 10 years. Defense has the largest increase, rising to $500 billion in 2009 to maintain troops in 85 countries-not counting $20-$80 billion yearly for occupation and reconstruction in Iraq. Child care cuts will mean that 268,000 fewer children will be served in 2013 than today. Food stamp cuts will mean the amount will drop from 91 to 84 cents per meal; currently, only 20 of 33 million. eligible people get food stamps. The net fiscal effect is to add almost $2 trillion to projected deficits in the next decade.
The central unspoken strategy of the Plan devolves policy and financing to states and the corporate and religious private sector while centralizing military and security control; deregulates commercial and religious groups but not other non-profits and labor unions, and defunds Federal government programs by reducing revenues to force program cuts. Meanwhile, wealth and power are being concentrated. Some examples:
Funds are being re-routed from international agencies and placed under Federal executive control. Although $10 billion in new AIDS money is budgeted for the decade, there is to be less than $1 billion in 2004, but a half billion is cut from international child health programs. AIDS monies are to be administered by the US, while only $200 million will go to the Global Fund for AIDS, which has a delivery system but is short of over $2 billion in promised funds from donor nations.
The proffered new America augurs less economic, health, welfare, and environmental security, less secure civil liberties, less public accountability, and at best, uncertain international relations, law, trade and global finance.
Selected Sources:
Military: http://www.fcnl.org
New York Times: 3-12-03
CED, 3-03: Exploding Deficits, Declining Growth
budget costs: http://www.cbpp.org, 3-26, 28-03
tax changes: http://www.cbpp.org 1-15-03
New York Times 3-30-03
food stamps: FRAC: 2-03
AIDS: World Economic Forum. Davos. 1-2003 http://www.africaaction.org
Medicaid: http://www.FamiliesUSA.org 2-13-03
Courts: American Prospect. 3-03
Civil liberties: http://www.publicintegrity.org
Campaign and Media Legal Center 2-03 http://www.camlc.org
Information: http://www.OMBwatch.org 3-24-03
New York Times 2-5-03