> FACT SHEET:
>
> Irresponsible Bush Budget Hurts Hispanic Families

Even as middle class Americans are struggling to achieve financial
security, the Bush budget ignores the very real challenges they are
facing. It fails to create jobs, and instead creates record deficits. It
shortchanges education, health care, veterans\' benefits, and small
business. Instead of helping working families, it provides additional
tax breaks for those who need them least and billions of dollars in new
giveaways to HMOs and other wealthy corporate interests.

**No action on job creation, with 1.4 million Hispanic workers still
looking for a job.** The Bush budget squanders an additional \$1
trillion over the next 10 years on additional tax cuts for the wealthy,
but President Bush's budget does nothing to create good-paying jobs here
at home. The unemployment rate for Hispanics jumped from 6.6 percent to
7.3 percent in one month, with 1.4 million Hispanics looking for work. 
This rate is 25 percent higher than when President Bush took office.

**Slashes funding for the Small Business Administration.** The Bush
budget cuts funding for the Small Business Administration, which helps
minority owned small businesses grow, by \$79 million. There are over 1
million Hispanic owned small businesses.

**Eliminates microloan program.** The Bush budget provides no resources
for the Microloan program, even though this program is critical to
aiding minority communities. Last year this vital program provided
\$26.5 million in loans, and over time has loaned more than \$112
million to start up newly established and growing small businesses.

**Breaks the promise of a better education.** More than 40 percent of
Hispanics over the age of 25 did not have a high school education in
2000. Over 27 percent of Hispanic students drop out of high school, yet
the President's budget eliminates funding for dropout prevention
programs. In addition, the President's budget [fails to provide \$9.4
billion in promised funding for education]{.underline} -- meaning that
2.4 million children will not get the help with reading and math they
were promised.

**Freezes bilingual education.** The Bush budget essentially freezes
funding for bilingual education for the third year in a row, even though
the number of students with limited English proficiency is growing
rapidly.

**Eliminates Even Start.** The President's budget eliminates the Even
Start program, which integrates early childhood education, adult
literacy, and parenting education into a unified family literacy
program. Currently, 50,000 families are served through the Even Start
program -- 23,000 of them Hispanic.

**Undermines after-school programs.** The Bush budget provides only half
of the funding promised to these programs, meaning that [1.3 million
children who were promised after-school services will not get
them]{.underline}.

**Guts Head Start.** There are 271,000 Hispanic children being served
through Head Start, including thousands of children of migrant workers,
but the President's budget eliminates the comprehensive educational,
health, and nutrition services that children in this program currently
receive. In addition, the program receives a funding increase of less
than 3 percent, even though Number range CHAPTERHead Start currently
only serves 60 percent of eligible preschoolers.

**Closes the door on a college education.** Only 11 percent of Hispanic
American adults have their bachelor's degree. Despite nationwide
increases in the cost of college, the Bush Administration has frozen
funding for Pell Grants and [cut funding for Perkins loans by nearly
\$100 million]{.underline}.

**Leaves veterans behind.** There are over 1.1 million Hispanic
veterans. The President's budget [raises health care costs for over
500,000 veterans]{.underline}, imposing new co-payments and enrollment
fees that will cost veterans over \$2 billion over five years. In fact,
over five years, the budget for veterans health care programs is \$[13.5
billion below]{.underline} the amount needed to maintain services at
current levels.

**Fails to make healthcare affordable for middle class families.** There
are over 12 million Hispanic Americans without health insurance and
millions more who can barely afford to pay their premiums, yet the Bush
budget does nothing to hold down costs. It includes \$70 billion for a
\$1,000 tax credit for individual coverage that covers only 5 percent of
the 44 million uninsured, and Health Savings Accounts that help only the
healthy and wealthy.

**Undermines Medicaid.** The Bush budget would transform a large portion
of Medicaid from an entitlement to a block grant, shifting the cost of
the program onto hard-pressed states. The Bush plan would encourage
states to limit their liability by cutting people from the rolls,
cutting benefits, and increasing cost sharing for some of our most
vulnerable citizens. Over 7 million Hispanics receive health care
through Medicaid.

**Cuts Office of Minority Health.** The President's budget cuts funding
for the Office of Minority Health by 15 percent from this year's enacted
level. This office supports disease prevention, health promotion,
service demonstration, and educational efforts that focus on health
concerns that cause the high rate of disease in racial and ethnic
minority communities.

**More for special interests, not seniors.** Barely one-third of
Hispanic seniors with chronic conditions have coverage for prescription
drugs. Although the Bush budget now includes [\$46 billion in special
payments to HMOs]{.underline} -- \$30 billion more than originally
estimated -- it does nothing to help seniors lower their prescription
drug costs. Despite this, Republicans are refusing to hold down drug
costs, refusing to let the government negotiate discounts for seniors,
and refusing to allow Americans to import less expensive drugs from
Canada.

**Democrats have different priorities.** We want to help all Americans
achieve financial security, invest in programs that create good paying
jobs, improve education, lower health care costs, make college more
affordable, help small businesses grow, support our veterans and
military retirees, and do more to protect our ports and borders from
terrorism.

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="0.6840277777777778in"
height="0.43680555555555556in"}
**[Office](http://www.housedemocrats.gov/) of the House Democratic
Leader Nancy Pelosi, February 6, 2004**
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