Federal Budget Disaster

[MegaRock]

Got this in an e-mail from the local newspaper. Seema vital services are being attacked but where the hell is all this money going?

Homeland Security

The Bush 2006 budget cuts $420 million to state and local funding for homeland security, including a $20.3 million cut for Missouri. These cuts will take police and firefighters off your streets.

The Bush budget cuts the COPS program, which has put 2,305 officers on Missouri streets, by 96 percent.

Health Care

The Bush budget cuts $45 billion from Medicaid, enough to provide health care to 1.8 million children. Missouri's share of these cuts is $1 billion.

Bush's budget cuts the very same community and rural health care programs he touted during the campaign, even though more than 96,000 Missouri residents have lost their health care coverage since Bush took office due to his failures.

Education

Bush underfunds his own No Child Left Behind Act by $13.1 billion in his budget. In Missouri, that means a shortfall of $197.3 million, leaving behind 40,890 Missouri children.

Bush promised to fund Pell Grants in his State of the Union address, but his budget is $6.6 billion short. That's $120.3 million less than what's needed in Missouri, a real burden for the 91,673 students in Missouri who receive the grants.

Other Priorities

Bush cuts $22.5 million from Missouri job training programs in his 2006 budget.

The Bush budget would require many veterans to pay a new $250 annual "user fee" to use the Veterans Administration health care system, and would double the prescription drug co-payment for the 592,271 Missouri veterans.

Bush cuts Missouri clean water programs by $10.7 million.
Bush's 2006 budget also cuts the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program -- which helps low-income families afford heating fuel in the winter -- by $234.4 million, including $5.3 million cut for Missouri residents.

And Bush's irresponsible budget is a record $427 billion in the red, increasing each Missouri family's share of the federal debt by $37,389.