Older women will also pay the price for the Bush tax cuts and budget proposal. The Bush budget and tax cut would decrease the solvency of both Social Security and Medicare, and result in a completely inadequate prescription drug benefit. No doubt the president expects his daughters to be safe at school and at home. If only he showed the same concern for other families' children. Bush proposes to cut the discretionary portion of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, freeze funding for Safe and DrugFree Schools and for 21st Century AfterSchool Centers, and eliminate entirely the School Counselors Program that provides someone to whom children can turn.
Every mother is a working mother.
Most mothers are also in the waged workforce, but Bush's budget proposal shortchanges these women. Like the president's wife when she was a teacher and a librarian, more than half of women in the waged workforce are in lowpaying jobs, in the income brackets least likely to benefit from the proposed tax cuts. And, the Bush budget decreases funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission below the level needed to maintain current services by this agency. Women who own small businesses will pay for the president's tax cuts through higher loan costs and new taxes disguised as fees, while critical programs spurring minorityowned businesses will be eliminated. The Bush budget slashes funds for the Small Business Administration and restricts access to capital, already difficult for women.