Bush's Budget

I'm all for a disciplined and balanced budget. The congress can't seem to put one together that guts enough of what Bush wants.

Bush said he would veto that budget. He said that restraining spending was crucial to cutting the deficit in half by 2009 as he has promised.

Here's a better idea:

1) Stop corporate welfare payments

2) Manage the war in Iraq responsibly (fiscally speaking, for example, investigating lost money, putting oversight back in the spending, etc.)

3) Repeal the tax cuts.

I think those three things would do a lot better for the country and the budget than gutting more social and economic programs like Bush wants to do. Reducing medicaid spending is a bad thing. Reducing Amtraks budget is a bad thing. The Prescription Drug Benefit Bill is a bad thing. Cutting $1 billion out of law enforcement is a bad thing. We could do a lot more to fix things by working on the problems, not cutting their funding.

Here's a piece about the law enforcement budget cutting I think you guys will find appalling.

Shelby calculated that the administration proposal would cut aid to local police by 51 percent. "When taken in total, it is difficult for me to understand how you expect to carry out your collective missions when you have proposed a budget which cripples current services," he said.

[US Attornery General Alberto]Gonzales said the cuts were a "difficult decision" that reflected a desire to focus on the most effective uses of taxpayer money.

"A decision was made that we ought to be more focused on the priorities of this administration," Gonzales testified.

The balls on that Gonzales.

God help us.