jeffords.senate.gov...
Does he think we don't notice?
President Bush is rashly piling up debt our nation can't afford even as he knows the really big bills are about to come due. The Congressional Budget
Office forecasts a $300 billion deficit this fiscal year -- an all-time record. Some economists believe the deficit could approach $500 billion
dollars in the near future. That's edging close to a troublingly high percentage of the economy. But the real problem is not this year or next.
Rather, it's the long-term cost, combined with the budgetary hit coming just around the corner, when the baby boomers start to retire and put new
huge demands on Social Security and Medicare.
The administration highlighted this problem in its own budget documents, describing the real fiscal danger as the 18 trillion dollar shortfall -- yes,
trillion with a "T" -- projected in those two programs.
At the same time, it was recently disclosed the Bush administration shelved a report commissioned by its own Treasury Department that shows the U.S.
currently faces future budget deficits totaling at least $44 trillion.
The Bush tax cut will threaten the country's long-term well-being by starving the federal government of revenue for essential services, such as
homeland security, transportation infrastructure, education and health care. Our States are bearing the brunt of our dismal economic conditions, and
these cuts will brutalize them.
One of the most disturbing effects of the economic downturn is the lack of state and federal funding for our educational system - where States are
laying off teachers, cutting school days and eliminating early childhood programs - most of which have only just started. The President's advisors
tell him to endlessly repeat "No Child Left Behind."
But in the 17 months since that policy became law, we've seen something very different. Too many children are being left behind. President Bush says
the new law will lead to stronger schools. I say it is all part of a quiet plan to starve our public schools so this country can move to vouchers and
private school choice.
As the President pushes tax cut after tax cut, his Administration still can not find the funding to fulfill the federal government's commitment to
special education - where we still fall $12 billion short on a commitment we made to the States more than 25 years ago, to help them finance this
federal constitutional mandate. According to school boards across the nation, the number one thing the federal government can do to support education
is fully fund special ed.
While pretending to have compassion for our schoolchildren, the approach of No Child Left Behind is heartless. It chronically under-funds our schools,
it sets unattainable goals for our teachers and it steals from schoolchildren the quality education they deserve. Once again, the Bush administration
says one thing and does another.
Does he think we don't notice?
I tend to listen to people's opinions when they endure great hardships to express them....and greater hardships to maintain them. The proof? Do a
search on how this former Republican conservative was villified for dropping the 'Republican' part, once he saw the party shift hard right. Sen. Jim
Jeffords is the real deal
