Bush plans a 4 percent rise in discretionary spending, which excludes such mandatory expenses as Social Security, Medicare and debt interest. That's barely enough to account for inflation, let alone population growth, meaning some programs will be pinched. For the past week, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., has been warning of upcoming cuts in meals for seniors, nutritional programs for infants, heating assistance for the poor and job training for the unemployed. Federal budget experts at the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have produced an analysis concluding that the president's highest fiscal priority is the package of tax cuts he has proposed over the next decade, not any function of government. At best, the plan misses an opportunity to use our extraordinary prosperity to address enduring problems, particularly the costs of paying for the retirement of the baby-boom generation.
Republicans dismiss such criticism.
Nevertheless, in an apparent bid to counter criticism, administration officials broke their tight secrecy on budget details last week in order to tell a Washington Post reporter that Bush planned 7 percent spending increases for the fight against AIDS and for federal efforts to improve women's health. This material shall not be published or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.