Bush would boost Pentagon, cut farm payments, nuclear waste storage

[Bozita]

http://www.detnews.com/2005/politics/0502/05/politics-80395.htm

Saturday, February 5, 2005



Bush would boost Pentagon, cut farm payments, nuclear waste storage

By Libby Quaid / Associated Press


WASHINGTON -- President Bush will propose a nearly 5 percent increase for next year's defense spending while calling for cuts in payments to farmers and work on a nuclear waste storage site in Nevada, according to documents and federal officials.
Bush also will propose boosting the size of Pell grants for low-income college students as he seeks to abolish a widely used college loan program and to shrink federal subsidies for banks that lend money to students.

Those details and others emerged Friday about the roughly $2.5 trillion budget for 2006 the president will ship Congress on Monday. Including a smaller defense boost than was planned a year ago, the proposals underscore how Bush is responding to a string of record federal deficits by paring expenditures across the breadth of government.

"The people in Congress on both sides of the aisle have said, 'Let's worry about the deficit,"' Bush said Friday in Omaha, Neb., as he barnstormed the country for his Social Security plan. "I said, 'OK, we'll worry about it again.' My last budget worried about it, this budget will really worry about it."

more...

[merwin]

1. But, but... Bush told me that he liked farmers!!!

[Bozita]

2. He likes farmers a lot -- Think mega-farms or factory farms

Think political contributions.

It's simple. Follow the money.

ADM has a lot bigger voice than America's farmers in toto.

[Erika]

3. Cut welfare to corporate farmers?

His Republicans running in 2006 would wet themselves. The rednecks in the red states have always depended on the GOP to keep their welfare subsidies continued and hefty.

[Robbien]

4. Yep, that was my first thought also.

Bush no longer needs to get elected. But Dennis Hastert does.

This will be interesting to watch.