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Bush Administration's Credibility Further Eroded by Budget Proposal    

(Washington, D.C.)  - Rep. Sander Levin released the following statement regarding President Bush's Fiscal Year 2005 Budget.

"Once again, President Bush and his Administration are not leveling with the American people.   

"In a few short years, the Administration's misguided economic policies have taken the federal budget from a healthy surplus to a record $521 billion deficit in 2004.  For 2005, the Administration forecasts a $364 billion shortfall. 

"The Administration's credibility is further eroded when they tell the American people not to worry because their plan will cut the deficit in half over 5 years.  They're not telling the American people the whole story.  What they don't say is that their budget does not include any additional funds for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Neither does it contain any provision to deal with the expensive problem of the Alternative Minimum Tax, which will force millions of working families to pay higher taxes if nothing is done about it.

"Also, the President's budget continues the practice of using the Social Security Trust Fund surpluses to hide the true size of the deficit.  In 2004 alone, Social Security is expected to post a surplus of $154 billion, but every dollar of this is used to cover the ballooning budget shortfall caused by the Administration's economic policies.  If we roped off the Social Security surplus, the actual deficit for 2004 soars to $675 billion.

"The reality is that the reckless budget policies of the Bush Administration are making certain that there aren't funds for important investments, including education, (Bush budget request for No Child Left Behind falls $9.4 billion short of what was promised in 2005), jobs, transportation, and environmental protection."

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