WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka expressed serious concern about the Budget for Fiscal Year 2008, proposed today by President George W. Bush.  Akaka said the budget shortchanges veterans, retirees, students, middle class families and the environment. 

"While these spending cuts are supposedly there to fight the huge deficit built during the first six years of this Bush administration, in reality this new budget does little to rein-in the uncontrolled spending that is threatening our nation's security," Akaka said.  Many of the perceived savings in the budget amount to nothing more than creative accounting, Akaka noted, and the budget still fails to account for the full costs of the war in Iraq.

Hawaii's 117,000 Veterans Could Be Hurt By VA Funding Shortfalls:    

 The budget requests approximately $34.2 billion for veterans health care, a mere 6 percent increase over the 2007 funding level of $32.3 billion in the Joint Funding Resolution expected to pass the Senate.  Once inflationary costs are subtracted from the Administration's budget, the real increase is far from adequate.  This budget will not allow for any new initiatives, including enhancements to mental health services desperately needed for our returning servicemembers. Without adequate funding, the VA health care system will find it more difficult to provide quality care for Hawaii's 117,000 veterans and troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senator Akaka said today he's especially concerned about out-of-pocket expenses veterans would be forced to pay under the Administration's new budget proposal.  "The doubling of drug copayments for veterans - who make as little as $28,000 a year - seems particularly cruel.  Take the example of a veteran living on Oahu, where the cost of living is so high, who takes seven different prescriptions each month: his out of pocket cost goes up by $600 a year.

"Why are we asking veterans to suffer in order to finance a war?  This Administration consistently fails to consider the cost of caring for veterans as part of the cost of war," Akaka said.

140,000 Hawaii Residents Could See Retirement Benefit Cuts Under President's Privatization Proposal:

President Bush has again included a Social Security privatization plan in his budget that, if enacted, would result in millions of middle-income workers receiving little or no Social Security benefits in retirement.  In Hawaii, 140,000 beneficiaries could be subject to an annual benefit cut of $7,229 under the President's private account plan, according to an analysis by the House Ways and Means Committee.

"I have opposed the privatization of Social Security, a program thousands of retirees across the islands depend on to survive.  I am frustrated that again, the President continues to push for private accounts, over the objections from millions of voters across the country," Akaka said.

Huge Cuts Would Endanger Hawaii's Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program Beneficiaries' Access to Quality Care                    

The administration's budget includes billions in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. This cuts would hurt both patients and health care providers.                                                  

"This administration continues to weaken our essential public health safety net programs. Instead of shortsighted cuts, we must strengthen these vital programs intended to ensure access to quality health care," Akaka said.

Our Keiki Would Be Shortchanged By Underfunding Educational Programs

Year after year, the President has underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act and this year is no different.  President Bush's new budget requests only $14.8 billion, adding up to a cumulative shortfall of $70.9 billion since NCLBA was enacted into law.  The failure to fully fund NCLBA means 9,818 needy children will be denied after-school programs in Hawaii.

President Bush's budget also targets students with disabilities, reducing funding for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by $291 million.  This would provide less than 40 percent of the level that Congress promised to commit to when IDEA was adopted 32 years ago.

"President Bush is putting the education of our children and our future in danger with his proposed budget cuts," Akaka said.                             

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