Public Employee Press

BushWatch: More deaths in Iraq and more cuts in public services

War costs rose in lives and money: Latest figures show 1,415 American soldiers killed in Iraq as of Feb. 1 and another 156 in Afghanistan. On Feb. 14, President Bush requested $82 billion in supplemental funding from Congress, primarily for the war.

The $82 billion would push the total spent on the war over $200 billion. The request came on top of a federal budget deficit projected at $368 billion for 2005.

The government admitted that despite the increase in military spending in the past four years and a $400 billion defense budget, the Pentagon has failed to spend enough on life-saving armor to protect front-line troops and their transport vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Soldiers who use the unarmored vehicles for transport across treacherous terrain have dubbed them “cardboard coffins.”

Education and health care suffer: The request for supplemental funds for the war came one week after President Bush submitted his $2.57 trillion federal budget to Congress for fiscal year 2006, which starts July 1. The proposed budget unveiled Feb. 7 includes massive funding cuts in health care, education, veterans and worker training programs.

Overall, some 150 federal programs would be eliminated or drastically scaled back. One-third of those are education programs, including vocational education, anti-drug efforts and literacy programs.

New York City faces the loss of its $207 million Community Development Block Grant, which pays for day care centers, housing, services for the elderly and literacy training for the poor. The city also stands to lose about $31 million from after-school programs and English classes for immigrants. “This is going to be brutal for New York City,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer.