11-14-07, 2:09 pm

Bush issued just the sixth veto of his presidency on a bill that funds an array of social programs that aid working families. He is demanding huge cuts to programs ranging from education, health, nutrition, and low-income assistance.

Among the programs Bush wants to slash are funding for K-12 education, child care programs, about 34,000 slots for Head Start, medical research for cancer treatment and traumatic brain injuries, community health centers, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which aids hundreds of thousands of families afford skyrocketing heating costs during winter months, and the Home-Delivered Nutrition Services Program, which provides additional food to home-bound low-income seniors.

Another program Bush is seeking to cut is funding for federal Title X family planning programs. According to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Bush's proposed cuts to this federal program would end services for about 139,000 women. Funding cuts would eliminate resources that could help prevent 24,000 unintended pregnancies and 10,000 abortions.


Title X family planning programs provide critical funding needed for family planning services for millions of low-income patients, in areas such as contraceptive services, breast and cervical cancer screening, sexually transmitted infection and HIV prevention, testing and education, and related counseling services.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards described Bush's veto as an indication of his lack of concern for the health needs of women and families.

'This veto is another example of President Bush's practice of putting politics ahead of women and families. Every dollar invested in family planning and preventive care helps women and couples prevent unintended pregnancy and plan strong, healthy families,' said Richards.

According to the Office of Family Planning in the Department of Health and Human Services, Title X family planning funds provide services to approximately 5 million people through a network of more than 4,400 community-based clinics, including safety-net providers like Planned Parenthood.

A position statement by the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN) on Bush's veto stated, 'The difference between the President’s and Congress’ funding levels will be played out in the lives of millions.'

Important programs such as funding for community health centers that would allow 1.2 million more underinsured people to receive health care are at stake. Bush's veto and demands for more cuts would deny access to health care to these 1.2 million people.

The CHN paper also strongly criticized compromise language in the congressional version of the bill that represents an attack on undocumented immigrant workers. The new language uses administrative measures to make it more difficult for undocumented workers to earn credit for work performed in the US toward winning legal status.

The veto override vote, which may take place as early as this week, will be close. The bill that outlays the funding for these various programs, known as the Labor-HHS-Education bill, was passed by large majorities earlier in the summer.

The confrontation with Bush over spending on social programs that benefit working families signals the sharp contrast between the free market, anti-worker ideology of the Bush administration along with his ultra-right Republican friends in Congress and the pro-working families agenda mandated by the people's upsurge that changed control of Congress in the 2006 elections.

Until this year, Bush never vetoed congressional spending bills even as the deficit grew to record levels and the federal debt topped $9 trillion. Bush did not veto spending bills that gave huge tax cuts to the very richest people and subsidies to Big Oil. Still further, a recent congressional report shows that Bush's failed war in Iraq will cost more than $1.6 trillion, or close to $20,000 for every American.

Why do Bush and his congressional Republican allies prioritize a failed war over the needs of working families? For them, it is ideological; war and the wealthy and powerful come first.

Working families sent a message in 2006 that enough is enough. But the changes that have taken place since then have not been complete. Anti-working families members of Congress still have too much power. Bush's administration will have to be replaced with one that will fight along with working families for peace, different priorities, and a new direction for the country.

You can click here to send a message to your congressional representatives and demand they stand with working families.

--Reach Joel Wendland at