Bush Budget Targets Poor and Vulnerable
Today President Bush sends a budget to Congress that, despite record spending of about $2.5 trillion, "calls for billions of dollars in cuts that will touch people on food stamps and farmers on price supports, children under Medicaid and adults in public housing."
About one third of the of the programs being targeted for elimination are in the Education Department, "including federal grant programs for local schools in such areas as vocational education, supporting drug-free schools and Even Start, a $225 million literacy program." Spending on the military, the biggest part of discretionary spending, is on target to rise by 4.8 percent in 2006 to $419.3 billion.