Watch What Bush Does, Not What He Says

One of the frustrating parts of listening to the State of the Union address was how his words seem disconnected from his actions.

"And we will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants." In 2003, he imposed eligibility changes that would eliminate 84,000 students from the program and reduce the number receiving awards by one and a half million. I suppose if you reduce the number of students receiving Pell Grants that much, it is easier for each grant to be larger.

"America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government. I welcome the bipartisan enthusiasm for spending discipline." This president is talking about spending discipline? The Cato Institute has a nickname for him that expresses some doubts.

The Bush administration's newly released budget projections [July 2003] reveal an anticipated budget deficit of $455 billion for the current fiscal year, up another $151 billion since February. Supporters and critics of the administration are tripping over themselves to blame the deficit on tax cuts, the war, and a slow economy. But the fact is we have mounting deficits because George W. Bush is the most gratuitous big spender to occupy the White House since Jimmy Carter. One could say that he has become the "Mother of All Big Spenders."

"To make our economy stronger and more productive, we must make health care more affordable, and give families greater access to good coverage, and more control over their health decisions." Then why is the Michael Leavitt, the new secretary of health and human resources doing this?

the nation's top health official fleshed out proposals to cut $60 billion from the projected growth of Medicaid, the federal-state health program for low-income people, in the next decade.

"My Clear Skies legislation will cut power plant pollution and improve the health of our citizens. " The
National academy of Sciences is not so sure.

"The Bush administration's bill to curb air pollution from power plants would reduce air pollution less than the current Clean Air Act rules, according to a preliminary report by the National Academy of Sciences released yesterday."

"Personal retirement accounts should be familiar to federal employees, because you already have something similar, called the Thrift Savings Plan, which lets workers deposit a portion of their paychecks into any of five different broadly based investment funds. It is time to extend the same security, and choice, and ownership to young Americans." Thrift Savings Plans sound great to me. Those federal employees that use them, however, are not reducing their Social Security benefits by participating in them. Offering such plans, or increasing the amount an employee can contribute to their 401K seems like a good idea. Americans don't save enough, and it seems like a good idea to encourage more savings.

But what does that have to do with the problems facing Social Security? The problem is that down the road there will be more money being paid out than is being paid in. Dealing with that means either bringing in more money or paying out less. The president's plan would immediately reduce the amount of money that comes in (since cash that is diverted into the private accounts is not available to be paid to out) while he also promises that there will be no changes to the amount that is paid out to those who are over 55. So the crisis is not averted, it is hastened. The LA Times reports "A Bush aide, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, was more explicit, saying that the individual accounts would do nothing to solve the system's long-term financial problems."

"Because courts must always deliver impartial justice, judges have a duty to faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench." Unless I need help to be elected, then the Supreme Court can change the way they have always interpreted the equal protection clause while claiming their decision only effects my case and does not set a precedent for any future cases.

"Because one of the deepest values of our country is compassion, we must never turn away from any citizen who feels isolated from the opportunities of America." Then yesterday...

Facing the prospect of record deficits, Bush administration officials laid out proposals on Thursday for deep cuts in spending on housing and community development.

"Tonight I propose a three-year initiative to help organizations keep young people out of gangs, and show young men an ideal of manhood that respects women and rejects violence." Maybe he changed his approach since last June.

Washington, June 1 – National law enforcement leaders today urged a full assault on rising gang violence with a proven strategic plan to cut crime and keep more kids from joining gangs. The leaders also said the 40 percent cut proposed by the White House to federal juvenile crime prevention funds would pull the plug on effective local programs to reduce gang and youth violence.

"I propose increasing our support for America's fine community colleges, so they can train workers for the industries that are creating the most new jobs." How does he explain this?

His 2003 budget proposal cut out $476 million from the job training programs. His 2004 budget contained a proposed 25 percent cut ($300 million) to federal funding for vocational education. In addition he proposed consolidating job training grants to states for adult services into a single grant program, thus reducing by $60 million the amount of grants given a year ago. In the 2004 budget he presented in 2003, he proposed eliminating all funding for Youth Opportunity Grants, a program that gives job training to young people. In 2002 that program was funded at $225 million, in 2003 he proposed funding only $45 million ($43.5 million was actually funded) and in the 2004 budget, he proposed its elimination. Congress accepted his recommendation and funding has been eliminated.

"Soon I will send to Congress a proposal to fund special training for defense counsel in capital cases, because people on trial for their lives must have competent lawyers by their side." He sure was not concerned about this when he was Governor. One of the problems with the new Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (of the torture memo fame) was how he failed in his duty as Gov. Bush's legal counsel to thoroughly brief Bush on the 152 death warrants he signed.

The reports Gonzales presented could not be more cursory. Take, for example, the case of Terry Washington, a mentally retarded man of thirty-three with the communication skills of a seven-year-old. Washington's plea for clemency came before Governor Bush on the morning of May 6, 1997. After a thirty-minute briefing by Gonzales, Bush checked "Deny"— just as he had denied twenty-nine other pleas for clemency in his first twenty-eight months as governor.

But Washington's plea for clemency raised substantial issues, which called for thoughtful, fair-minded consideration, not the least of which was the fact that Washington's mental handicap had never been presented to the jury that condemned him to death. Gonzales' legal summary, however, omitted any mention of Washington's mental limitations as well as the fact that his trial lawyer had failed to enlist the help of a mental health expert to testify on his client's behalf. When Washington's postconviction lawyers took on his defense, they researched deeply into his childhood and came up with horrifying evidence of abuse. Terry Washington, along with his ten siblings, had been beaten regularly with whips, water hoses, extension cords, wire hangers, and fan belts. This was mitigation of the strongest kind, but Washington's jury never heard it. Nor is there any evidence that Gonzales told Bush about it.

Maybe some of the money for training lawyers should be spent on our new Attorney General.