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WASHINGTON - Senator Joe Lieberman today criticized President Bush’s budget for Fiscal Year 2008 for making deep cuts in important federal programs in areas such as education, health care and community development that put those who are most vulnerable in Connecticut and across the country further at risk. Lieberman complained that favoring tax cuts for the rich over prudent investments in programs critical to our nation’s future is not sound budgeting.
“Across the board, the President’s budget has cut funding or under-funded critical federal programs to help hard working Americans and our nation’s neediest citizens while renewing his plan to make permanent his tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. These are the wrong priorities,” Lieberman said. “Shortchanging vital investments in education and training, medical care and community development means that kids in Connecticut and across the country will suffer at school, families will have to scrape by to own homes and doctors and hospitals may have to think twice before providing care to senior citizens. I will fight these ill-advised proposed cuts in critical programs for the people of my state.”
As the centerpiece of his budget policy, President Bush calls for the wholesale extension of the irresponsible tax cuts he signed into law in 2001 and 2003. Permitting these tax cuts to continue past their 2010 expiration date would cost America nearly $3.4 trillion over the 2008-2017 period. These cuts are heavily weighted to the rich. Under the president’s plan, households with incomes above $1 million will receive an average tax break of $160,000 each year. Meanwhile, the middle 20 percent receive only $840. In terms of the tax cuts’ total value, the top 1% of households will receive 31%, while the bottom 60% of households would receive 12%.
The President’s cuts in federal education programs and his failure to adequately fund the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act come at a time when schools in Connecticut and across the country are striving, often without adequate resources, to meet the requirements of NCLB. The President also proposes cuts in college tuition aid programs. With tuition at the University of Connecticut up 38% over the past four years, the administration’s proposed cuts in student aid will put college further out of reach for many Connecticut students. The President is also proposing a cut in payments to the Medicare entitlement, including cuts to hospice and long term care, to home health programs and to acute care hospitals which take care of the sickest of the sick. The President’s budget cuts the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The CDBG program supports physical, economic, and social development activities for local communities and the block grants can be used to provide adequate housing, a suitable living environment and expanded economic opportunities, principally for low and moderate income persons.
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