On Monday, President Bush unveiled a $2.77 trillion budget for fiscal 2007 (which begins 1 October), with record defense spending, domestic spending cuts, deficit spending and no on-budget acknowledgement of the ongoing costs of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 2007 budget includes a request of $439 billion for defense, a record figure that does not include the cost of the Iraq-Afghanistan conflicts, which have ranged from $4.4 - 7.1 billion per month since fiscal year 2003.
Last week, Bush asked Congress for another $70 billion this year for Iraq and Afghanistan, pushing 2006 annual costs to $120 billion, "the highest since the Sept. 11 attacks." The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that the Iraq war will cost American taxpayers $179-392 billion over the next 10 years.
The bulk of the "savings" comes from cuts in Medicaid: $36 billion over the next five years and $105 billion over the next 10. However, last week — after one month of operation — the Administration projected the cost of its Medicare prescription plan at $678 billion over the next 10 years, considerably more than the $400 billion it promised Congress when the bill was enacted.
Deficits Are Us
In January 2001, the CBO projected a federal budget surplus greater than $5.6 trillion between 2002 and 2011. The 2006 budget now has a projected deficit of $423 billion.
The CBO now projects that deficits for the five years starting 1 October 2006 will exceed $2.2 trillion. "Over the past 40 years, deficits have averaged 2.3 percent of G.D.P.; last year they ran at 2.6 percent. This year the deficit will be 3.2 percent," according to the New York Times.
Contributing to the deficits: Bush wants to make permanent his tax cuts, which would reduce federal income an estimated "$178.6 billion over the next five years and $1.35 trillion over the next decade."
Domestic Programs
In this, his sixth budget, Bush gives the Department of Homeland Security, now in its fourth year, a 6 percent boost, to $43 billion. And a new program, the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), would cause a 7.8 percent increase in funding for the National Science Foundation, 14 percent for the Department of Energy, and 18 percent for the National Institute for Standards and Technology, which helps industry develop new technologies.
Article comments
1 - Maurice
Good job listing the budget changes.
If Bush could run again he would probably win easily. He is putting our money where his mouth is.
2 - Dave Nalle
Maurice, these 'cuts' are ludicrous. They're nowhere near enough and don't hit nearly as many programs as they should. I'll give him points for going after farm subsidies fairly hard, but there's so much more fat still to be cut. Even with these tiny cuts the budget is still more than 3% higher than it was last year.
Dave
3 - kathy
Thanks, Maurice.
Dave -- the budget is more out-of-balance than your post indicates because it does not include the cost of Iraq-Afghanistan conflict NOR is there new $ for infrastructure -- and the "old" money for infrastructure has either been pissed away (squandered) or used to fight "insurgents."
I'd trade you one day of Iraq money for EPA's ability to enforce the Clean Air Act or help subsidize residential energy upgrades.
Kathy
4 - Dave Nalle
I did an article a few weeks ago on where real cuts could be made. It was clearly wishful thinking, but such is life.
As for the war spending business, that's a frequently raised issue by those who complain about the budget, but the fact is that it is NOT an off-budget item. Most of the spending is included in the budget, and prior special funds for the war which are being presented as 'off budget' are included in the subsequent budget. So this budget includes the extra spending congress approved last year, just as last year's included the extra war spending from 2004.
Dave
5 - gonzo marx
the bullshiot with the pensions alone should be enogh reason to toss these bastards out of office...
notice the Justice Department under this Administration has executed NO prosecutions for this one...but allowed these businesses to reap profits, pay the CEO's outrageous salaries...while shafting the employees to pennies on the dollar for their pensions and tossing that cost onto the american taxpayer
way too much in this Post to take step by step...the Author does a fantastic job of laying it all out clearly...AND with the proper links to the actual FACTS and numbers from definitive sources
those who are Fiscal Conservatives should be fucking screaming...those who think that People shoudl come before rampant Pork spending should be about ready to revolt
most Americans , looking at these
Facts and what these numbers mean...should be about sick in the depths of their hearts...
your mileage may vary
Excelsior!
6 - gonzo marx
another nice set of Facts and concerns from a Texas newspaper can be found....here
for those interested in Reality rather than spin
yer welcome
Excelsior!
7 - Maurice
"the bullshiot with the pensions alone should be enogh reason to toss these bastards out of office..."
What about the Social Security Trust Fund that the politicians are always robbing?
8 - Dave Nalle
I must have misread something in the budget, because it sure looks like it does the right thing on pensions. It includes provisions to limit the damage to the pension fund so that people would be able to keep getting pensions even when their companies go belly up The PBGC has been running a huge deficit. The budget requires companies to fulfill their past unfulfilled obligations to the fund to a total of some $450 billion, plus it adds new safeguards to make sure that pension obligations are met in the future and that those funds are protected. It also includes a billion dollar increase in funding for veterans pensions.
What's the problem with all that, Gonzo?
Dave
9 - Nancy
How come we Americans aren't out in the streets rioting against Congress & the administration for all this stealing & mis-spending? This administration, and congress in general, have the most fucked-up, twisted priorities ... or maybe these ARE their priorities, in which case they are world-class traitors to the American public.
10 - lumpy
There is only one priority that matters and that's reducing taxes and the bloated government bureucracy they feed.