Alarming Budget Surprises
The president's budget has now been public for four days. For months the American people knew that it would be bad: cuts to vital domestic investments and services for the middle class, unsustainable tax cuts for the wealthy, and expanding deficits were all expected. The budget release on Monday, however, brought even more bad news to light. Specifically, the White House sprung three budget surprises on the American people:
Proposed more tax cuts for the wealthy. Americans already knew that the president wanted to make his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, an act that would cost well over $1 trillion. What they found out this week is that the president is looking for even more tax cuts—cuts that would cost $117 billion over the next ten years. Eliminating two obscure tax provisions known as "PEP" and "PEASE" would overwhelmingly benefit the well-off: ninety-seven percent of savings would go to households making more than $200,000 a year.
Took even more money "off-budget" and rolled it into an upcoming supplemental request. For months the administration has said that it will request $80 billion in additional funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and that it will not account for the money in the budget. More recently it revealed that it will also seek supplemental funding for tsunami relief efforts and aid to the Palestinian Authority. Although few debate the merits of such funds, at a time of soaring deficits the president owes it to the American people to fully account for this money.
Slipped unpopular policies in through the backdoor. The president—never one to shy away from trying to sneak unpopular policies through the legislative system—is up to his old tricks again in this budget. He proposes further exploration of "bunker buster" nuclear bombs and counts on funding from drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge—two policies that Congress has explicitly rejected in the past. In addition, numerous provisions were surreptiously inserted that would make severe cuts in Medicaid, Americorps, the Veterans Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and - most ironically in light of the 2004 election - cuts in farm subsidies.
Proposed more tax cuts for the wealthy. Americans already knew that the president wanted to make his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, an act that would cost well over $1 trillion. What they found out this week is that the president is looking for even more tax cuts—cuts that would cost $117 billion over the next ten years. Eliminating two obscure tax provisions known as "PEP" and "PEASE" would overwhelmingly benefit the well-off: ninety-seven percent of savings would go to households making more than $200,000 a year.
Took even more money "off-budget" and rolled it into an upcoming supplemental request. For months the administration has said that it will request $80 billion in additional funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and that it will not account for the money in the budget. More recently it revealed that it will also seek supplemental funding for tsunami relief efforts and aid to the Palestinian Authority. Although few debate the merits of such funds, at a time of soaring deficits the president owes it to the American people to fully account for this money.
Slipped unpopular policies in through the backdoor. The president—never one to shy away from trying to sneak unpopular policies through the legislative system—is up to his old tricks again in this budget. He proposes further exploration of "bunker buster" nuclear bombs and counts on funding from drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge—two policies that Congress has explicitly rejected in the past. In addition, numerous provisions were surreptiously inserted that would make severe cuts in Medicaid, Americorps, the Veterans Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and - most ironically in light of the 2004 election - cuts in farm subsidies.
