Bush Admin. Makes Case for Eliminating or Reducing 151 Programs

[babylonsister]

White House pushes for cuts in federal programs

By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — First lady Laura Bush read Goodnight Moon by video hookup at last year's awards gala for Reading Is Fundamental, a $25 million federal program that distributes books to low-income children.

Five months later, President Bush wants to say good night to the program.

The Bush administration lays out its case today against 151 federal programs it proposes to eliminate or reduce, including Reading Is Fundamental, even though Bush's success rate in Congress has declined steadily since the 2006 fiscal year.

A week after proposing a $3.1 trillion budget for 2009, the White House will detail its reasons for proposing that 103 programs be scuttled and 48 others significantly reduced. The effort would save $18 billion — less than 1% of the budget.

Since the administration gave a priority three years ago to targeting programs it deemed wasteful, 91 programs have been terminated and 71 reduced, for a savings of $10.1 billion. That's barely 0.1% of federal spending in that period.

"We are calling out as ineffective some sacred cows," says Clay Johnson, deputy director for management at the White House budget office. "It's not enough to say, 'Isn't it lovely?' We want it to be a lovely program that works."

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-11-bushcuts_N.htm

[ixion]

1. eliminate TSA and DHS, if you want to eliminate bad programs

that would do wonders.

[KamaAina]

4. Then, move on to the War on Some Drugs

free up some much-needed prison space for the corporate criminals while we're at it.

[DCKit]

2. It's odd that they don't make the same argument for these other ineffective programs...

that they make for military spending: "They need more money to become effective."

[tanyev]

3. Gosh, I think Clay Johnson called Mrs. Bush a cow.

:rofl:

[Ohio Joe]

5. I think this is an important story

From the article:

"Forty-seven programs are slated for elimination at the Department of Education alone."

The religious right has been working as hard as they can to dumb down America as much as they can. I see this as another attempt to further their goals.

[earth mom]

6. Meanwhile, as everyone slugs it out in GD-P, * & Co are up to their dirty tricks again

right under our noses! :argh: