3-11-08, 9:58 am

Important committees in both the House and Senate passed separate budget resolutions that stand in stark contrast to the Bush administration's budget proposal. While the Bush budget demands huge cuts to education, S-CHIP and Medicaid, anti-poverty programs, job re-training for displaced workers, and the like, it also continues on a path of massive deficit spending adding hundreds of billions to the national debt.

The congressional Democrats, however, are offering something quite different. According to analysis offered by the Coalition on Human Needs, congressional proposals protect funding for 'education, public housing and rental assistance, job training and employment services, Head Start and some child care, public health programs, home energy assistance, and many social and community services.'

Since 2005, the Bush administration's slash and burn policies, aided by a compliant Republican Congress for most of that time, have targeted dozens of social programs for cuts without producing any movement toward a balanced budget. Mainly the cuts paid for tax cuts for the very wealthy and large corporate donors to the Republican Party and for portions of the reckless war in Iraq.

Calling the Bush-Republican tax policy 'irresponsible,' a statement by the Center on Budget Policy Priorities rejected Republican pretense that the Democratic proposals contain a tax increase. 'This claim is inaccurate, just as the same claim was inaccurate with regard to the budget resolution the Congress adopted last year,' said the CBPP statement.

Part of the Republican tax policy, the so-called sunset clause, states the CBPP, was designed to hide the true cost to the national debt – and the future tax burden on Americans – imposed on the country in Republican budgets passed in 2001-2003.

Bush-Republican budget policy also obsessed over cutting funding for programs that aided working families. Following the federal dollars allocated to 100 social programs since 2005, a Coalition for Human Needs study found that over that time frame, only 11 of them were funded at a rate that kept pace with inflation, while 86 were cut or eliminated, and the remaining three saw effective cuts by having their funding frozen.

The congressional budget resolutions also provide additional funding for the S-CHIP program, whose reauthorization George W. Bush vetoed twice in 2007, aided by the efforts of John McCain, now Republican nominee for president.

Additionally, the Democratic proposals eliminates other Bush's cuts to Medicaid imposed through executive order that amount to new bureaucratic barriers to accessing the program by working families who in the current recession may be seeking public assistance to cover lost health care insurance.

The Democratic budgets also reserve funds for job displacement assistance needed as a result of free trade policies, child support enforcement, improving access to higher education, tax relief, affordable housing needs, investment in infrastructure, veterans benefits, energy efficiency, conservation, Medicare improvements, and health care related needs.

The Senate resolution goes further in helping working families harmed by the recession by setting aside reserve funds for a second targeted economic stimulus aimed expanding unemployment compensation benefits, home energy assistance, and food stamps.

The slow congressional budget process, which usually takes well into the fall or winter to complete, is not quick enough to help working families now say some advocates. In testimony before a joint congressional committee, Christine L. Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said, 'Congress should enact a federal extension of employment benefits now, and not wait until well into or after a recession, when the unemployment rate increases substantially.'

In a statement, Senate Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad (D-ND) praised the work of his committee in passing the budget resolution, saying, “This budget will strengthen the economy, create jobs, and make America safer. It will allow for additional stimulus for the economy to respond to the current economic downturn. It provides tax relief for the middle class.'

'It makes needed investments in energy, education, infrastructure, and health care,' he added. 'It supports our troops, cares for our veterans, and protects the homeland.'

“This budget charts a new direction for America,” said House Budget Committee Chair John Spratt (D-SC). “In returning to balance and funding critical priorities, it strengthens our economy and makes America safer.”

Fending off inaccurate Republican criticisms about the cost of the budget resolution and the need for tax increases, Spratt said, “This is a balanced budget with balanced priorities.'