Bushwhacked_ Life in George W. Bush's America Large Print - Molly Ivins [128]
This is what government regulators now decide needs even less regulation? One single hedge fund has already come close to wiping out the entire world financial system. We should let them get away with even more?
Bush called for “fair and balanced election and campaign reforms” in his 2001 address, then vetoed $400 million passed by Congress for that purpose, meaning no money is going to election reform in the wake of the Florida mess. In 2002 he promised to “expand patrols at our borders.” He held a photo op to sign legislation for more staff and facilities, but his budget provides no money for this, and he also vetoed $6.25 million in pay increases for the agents.
How proudly we hailed his announcement in his 2003 State of the Union address (what else was there to hail?) that we would spend a magnificent $15 billion to fight AIDS in Africa. Oops, turns out that wasn’t $15 billion in new dollars; that was just the money we were already contributing (far less than the usual suspects in Europe, of course) switched from multilateral to unilateral efforts, to no one’s benefit. And the dying children of Africa thank the highly Christian President George W. Bush for that particular sleight of hand.
Here’s one of my favorites. When he came into office, Bush proposed a package of charitable-giving tax cuts that would cost $90 billion over ten years. In the 2004 budget, even as huge new tax windfalls for the rich are proposed, the charitable-giving component has been whittled down to a mere $20 billion. We wouldn’t want B Rapoport, the generous capitalist, giving away too much of his tax cut.
The mess in the country’s visa system actually had more to do with September 11 than did failures by the FBI or the CIA. The folks at Immigration and Naturalization sent a student visa to Mohammad Atta and another hijacker six months after September 11. Bush promised to use new technology to track arrivals to and departures from the country. Immigration and Naturalization asked for an increase of $52 million to pay 441 more agents to pursue foreigners who overstay their visas. The request was refused. In August 2002 Bush vetoed $25 million for the same purpose. In January 2003 the Justice Department issued a report highly critical of the INS, stating that the agency had failed to initiate needed security reforms largely because it had not made airport safety a top priority but had instead bowed to pressure from the airline industry.
Here’s a dandy. In January 2002 Bush visited the Youth Opportunity Center, a job-training program in Portland, Oregon. He spent a half hour visit and photo op talking with unemployed workers, visiting a class of students working to get GEDs, and looking over the shoulders of people checking out job listings at computer terminals. He praised the center and its staff. A month later he cut it out of the budget.
One of the great applause lines of his 2001 speech was “No senior in America should have to choose between buying food and buying prescriptions.” Under Bush’s plan, a widow living on $15,000 a year would get no help until she had already paid $6,000 for prescription drugs.
In his 2002 address Bush promised to work for broader home ownership, “especially among minorities.” His 2003 budget proposes eliminating low-income housing programs in HUD, including Empowerment Zone programs and the rural Housing and Economic Development Program. He also cut $400 million (15 percent) from the public-housing