Iraq/Afghan/Soc Sec/Alt Min?)$2.5 Trillion Budget Plan Cuts Many Programs

[papau]

Missing from the Budget - Iraq, Afghanistan, the Social Security plan, and the Alt Min Tax Fix.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3319-2005Feb6.html?sub=AR



$2.5 Trillion Budget Plan Cuts Many Programs
Domestic Spending Falls; Defense, Security Rise
By Mike Allen and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 7, 2005; Page A01


President Bush plans to unveil a $2.5 trillion budget today eliminating dozens of politically sensitive domestic programs, including funding for education, environmental protection and business development, while proposing significant increases for the military and international spending, according to White House documents.

Overall, discretionary spending other than defense and homeland security would fall by nearly 1 percent, the first time in many years that funding for the major part of the budget controlled by Congress would actually go down in real terms, according to officials with access to the budget. The cuts are scattered across a wide swath of the government, affecting a cross-section of constituents, from migrant workers to train passengers to local police departments, according to officials who read portions of the documents to The Washington Post.

About 150 programs in all would be shuttered or radically cut back to help meet Bush's goal of shaving the budget deficit in half by 2009. One out of every three of the targeted programs concerns education. Medicaid funding would be reduced significantly and even major military weapons programs would be scrapped to make more resources available for the war in Iraq.

The spending blueprint for fiscal 2006 and beyond promises to touch off a wrenching debate about national priorities in the months ahead.

Some congressional officials pronounced many of the proposed cuts dead on arrival. One lawmaker involved in the negotiations said that House and Senate leaders have told the White House that no more than two dozen of the 150 proposals are likely to be accepted, although Congress might agree to reductions in some programs targeted for elimination. <snip>

[Inland]

1. "Set off a debate over national priorities"?

Wasn't all that settled by the election and the Bush Mandate? After debating whether Kerry deserved five medals or four, after debating whether homosexuality is genetic or learned, after debating whether or not to forget Poland, wasn't all that priority stuff settled by an informed electorate?