And it makes quite large actual cuts in many areas to fund things like the Education Department increases and a natural disaster fund that may not be used. This is not to say Congress should shun the natural disaster fund. The basic contract between American citizens and our government says the commonweal requires the kind of aid only government can deliver when catastrophe strikes from the skies or the earth. Bush is attempting to make an improvement. But glossing over the tradeoffs involved serves the public discussion as poorly as does the willy nilly status quo of pretending there will be no unforeseen costs for disaster assistance.
Wisdom resides in candor that citizens can respect.