Public Employee Press

Political Action 2007
3 budgets: How they affect you
Bush funds Iraq war and cuts health care

American voters last November overwhelmingly rejected the George Bush agenda of tax breaks for the wealthy and massive spending for the war in Iraq. Released Feb. 5, the president’s new budget for 2008 clearly demonstrates that despite his stunning electoral defeat, Bush is still not listening to the American people.

“This budget shows that President Bush remains painfully out of touch with the economic insecurities faced by so many Americans,” said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, DC 37’s national union. “This is not the time to cut taxes for the rich and neglect programs that serve the middle class and working poor.”

Bush’s plan to offer tax breaks to individuals buying private health insurance would cost hospitals in New York City $350 million while overpaying private Medicare plans to entice them to provide coverage, while traditional Medicare cost less.

“These cuts would take $350 million from HHC at a time when private hospitals are closing and our public hospitals will have to deal with the overflow,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, who joined Senator Hillary Clinton Feb. 5 at Bellevue Hospital for a news conference protesting the cuts.

The budget also calls for the government to reduce its overall spending on Medicare and Medicaid by a total of $280 billion during the 10-year spending plan.

The 2008 budget also “targets healthcare for low and middle-income children,” said Roberts. Rather than fund the state Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover more uninsured children, the president’s budget would not even provide enough funding for current enrollment levels. Families of three with incomes as low as $36,000 who now receive S-CHIP would fall into the ranks of the uninsured under Bush’s budget.

Under pressure from labor andlocal political leaders, Bush has agreed toallocate $25 million in health benefits for first responders to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Sen. Clinton called the funding an important first step but said it was “not enough to meet our growing need.”

“The new Bush budget for fiscal year 2008 shows that this administration still isn’t listening to working Americans and instead insists on plowing ahead with skewed priorities and misguided policies despite a clear call for anew direction in the November elections,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

— Alfredo Alvarado