Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie said today that President Bush's veto of the 2008 Labor, Health & Human Services, Education Appropriations Bill clearly demonstrate his 'take it or leave it' approach to government services for the public.  President Bush vetoed the funding for the operations and services of the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education, the product of extensive negotiations between the House and Senate.

"Not only did the President's original budget proposal to Congress slash funding for human services in Hawaii and the other states, but when Congress disagreed with his priorities and restored the budget cuts, the President vetoed the legislation," said Abercrombie.  "He says it is wasteful and too expensive; wasteful and too expensive to fund public education — including his own No Child Left Behind program, special education for disabled children, job training for dislocated workers, high school and community college vocational and career education, medical research into life threatening diseases and community block grants that help our most vulnerable citizens with housing assistance, nutritional and health services. At the same time, he continues to spend more than $10 billion a month on Iraq, all of it borrowed."

"The real cost of the President's take it or leave it approach to governing lands on the American middle class," Abercrombie said.  "His indifference to the lives and needs of everyday people robs Hawaii and many of its families of hope and makes the job of providing a brighter future for our children even tougher."

If President Bush gets his way, if Congress doesn’t stand up to him, the working families of Hawaii will be the losers:

Program                                                                              Bush Budget Cut             
Public education, including funding for reading math              $1, 215,000
instruction and teacher quality grants.

Special Education                                                                $2, 637,000

Career and Technical Education                                           $2, 925,000

Dislocated Worker Training                                                  $   396,000

Community Development Block Grants                                 $2,139,058

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