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Item #1: CEO pay: sky high
gets higher: war
profiteering? http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/26/news/economy/ceo_pay/index.htm Census: 1.1
million more Americans slipped into poverty last year, 37
million total, or 12.7% of the population http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/30/news/economy/poverty_rate.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes Greenspan: end of housing boom inevitable http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/27/news/newsmakers/greenspan_housing.reut/index.htm #2. Coinciding with a lame
duck president earning historically low approval numbers hiding from war
protestors, “when
Congress returns from its August break next Tuesday, congressional committees
will be charged with cutting approximately $35 billion
from mandatory spending programs through an annual process called
budget reconciliation. Vital programs important to the daily lives of many
Americans, such as Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, student loans, and other
forms of government assistance, are likely to suffer drastic and consequential
cuts. The budget-cutting measures are necessitated by, as President Bush
noted, a need to "reduce our deficit." In turn, the
deficit-cutting measures are needed because the Bush tax cuts, which predominantly favor the wealthy without providing much
economic stimulus, have played such a large role in creating the
deficit, and Bush is stubbornly refused to rolling them back
(instead, Bush is calling for the tax cuts to be made
permanent). Even conservatives, such as Brian Riedl of
the Heritage Foundation, acknowledge that "[budget] reconciliation will be painful." One Senate veteran of budget fights said
the battles this fall over budget cuts could "become an explosive cocktail" for Congress. #3. Just as energy prices and consumer debt are catching
up with more Americans, “the Senate Agriculture Committee is considering cutting
$600 million from food stamps. Early this month, 68 minority House members
wrote a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte
stating, "There is no way to reduce food
stamp spending without eliminating the eligibility for vulnerable groups of people or
lowering benefits in ways that increase the threat of hunger for millions of
struggling families, seniors, and people with disabilities." Also, Senate
aides are "crafting legislation to cut $7
billion from the federal student loan program" just as students return to college.
Groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are
weighing in against increasing federal pension insurance premiums by
billions of dollars as part of the reconciliation package, calling that plan
"a steep tax increase on pension
providers." And another fight that may be brewing, according to
Congressional Quarterly, is whether the reconciliation package will include cuts to welfare programs or omit
increases for child care funding. Funding for Section 8 housing is also on
the chopping block. The Gulf Coast
wetlands form a "natural buffer that helps protect New Orleans from
storms," slowing hurricanes down as they approach from sea. When he came
into office, President Bush pledged to uphold the "no net loss" wetland policy his father initiated. He
didn't keep his word. Bush rolled back tough wetland policies set by the
Clinton administration, ordering federal agencies "to stop protecting as many as 20
million acres of wetlands and an untold number of waterways nationwide." Last
year, four environmental groups issued a joint report showing that
administration policies had allowed "developers to drain thousands of acres of
wetlands." The result? New Orleans may be in even greater danger:
"Studies show that if the wetlands keep vanishing over the next few decades,
then you won't need a giant storm to devastate New Orleans -- a much weaker, more common kind of
hurricane could destroy the city too." (items 2-4 c/o American
Progress 083005) |
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