Bush 2006 Budget is Immoral Travesty

George Bush's fiscal 2006 budget proposal, released this morning to Congress, is a wholly-destructive travesty, financially and morally, for the United States.

I will write much more on it as the details become clear. In the meantime, from American Progress Action....

"President Bush will submit a 2006 budget to Congress today that cuts everything from bioterrorism protection and police funding to veterans' health care and heating assistance for the poor. Noticeably off the table in the president's search to "cut the deficit in half by 2009": massive tax cuts for the wealthy and a $2 trillion Social Security privatization scheme.

Wrong Choices. Wrong Priorities. Conservative priorities have made the struggle of the middle class even more of a challenge: jobs are going overseas; wages are stagnant; quality health care is increasingly out of reach; and the tax system is rigged to help big corporations and the top 1 percent of earners. And what does the president want to do? He wants to make it worse. More tax cuts for the wealthy. A $2 trillion dollar plan to privatize Social Security. More foreign borrowing. And big budget cuts for the rest of us. Americans know these are the wrong choices and the wrong priorities.

Relying on budget cuts to finance an irresponsible tax cut and a mismanaged war in Iraq short changes investment in what helps America stay strong - a vibrant and thriving middle class. Your community; your safety; your schools; your health care will be sacrificed to pay for President Bush's wrong choices. It's our veterans, seniors, kids, and the poor who will have to suffer for the president's wrong priorities. The degree to which America is fulfilling its promise as a country is measured by the health, safety, security and opportunity of the middle class. By that measure, President Bush's budget fails to invest in critical ways to keep our country strong.

With this budget, Americans now see what President Bush and his conservative allies really value: Wealth over work. Corporations and the wealthy over the middle class. At a time when the president is asking American soldiers and middle class taxpayers to sacrifice for the country, he is telling corporations and the wealthy that they owe nothing and have no obligation to support the national interest. He's giving them tax breaks for doing nothing. We now know who and what the president truly values. Unfortunately, it's not what Americans signed up for."