New data shows new investments in Michigan health care, education, job training, other priorities are a tiny fraction of Iraq War spending every month.

Lansing, MI - Michigan Citizen Action today released a report with new data revealing the cost of the Iraq War to Michigan. Michigan taxpayers have spent $12.1 billion of the $456 billion in total funding for the Iraq war.

The report, titled "Getting U.S. Back on Track" and authored by the USAction Education Fund, illustrates, how Michigan's cost of war could have provided health insurance for more children, funded Head Start and provided more college scholarships here in Michigan.

The report also finds that the modest new investments in priorities such as health care and education to be debated this fall between Congress and President Bush would amount to a fraction of what is spent every month on the war.

"This data highlights how the Bush administration's upside-down priorities have shortchanged Michigan families and communities," said Erin Knott, Program Director, Michigan Citizen Action. "For a fraction of what Michigan taxpayers have spent in Iraq, we could be addressing priorities like providing more health care and college scholarships for families in Michigan."

The small boosts in funding - representing just a fraction of the $10 billion U.S. taxpayers are spending in Iraq every month include:
 

Cost of restoring Michigan job training funds ($37.3 million) = about 2 hours 45 minutes of Iraq war spending

Cost of restoring Michigan child care funds ($14 million) = a little over one hour of Iraq war spending

Cost of restoring Michigan child support funding ($51.7 million) = about 2 hours 45 minutes of Iraq war spending

Cost of restoring Michigan K-12 education funding ($127.8 million) = less than 10 hours of Iraq war spending

"Every dollar spent on the war in Iraq is a dollar that can't be spent on education here at home. Federal money is being diverted from providing a quality education and funding programs like No Child Left Behind. The federal government is not fully funding many of the programs mandated by NCLB," said Linda Myers, Michigan Education Association. "For example, after six years of NCLB, Michigan has lost out on more than $1.5 billion in promised federal funding. Last year alone, Michigan's students were shortchanged by $436 million - think about what that kind of money could by, given our current budget crisis," continued Myers.

Bush administration officials and Republican leaders have suggested they would shut down the government before passing even modest increases in funding for these vital priorities.

"It is unconscionable for President Bush and GOP leaders to threaten to shut down the government over a fraction of what they are spending on the endless war in Iraq," said Knott. "We ask Congressman Rogers to vote to override President Bush's veto of new funding that makes a down-payment toward fully funding children's health care, job training, education and other priorities that have been neglected for far too long."

With Presidential Veto Looming, Michigan Citizen Action Rejects Partisan Politics

Kalamazoo, MI - With a showdown between Congress and the White House over the 2008 budget looming, two new studies by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reveal the true partisanship behind President Bush's reckless veto threats of important domestic funding bills, notably the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill. The new leadership in the House and Senate has just begun to reverse course after six years of the most irresponsible fiscal policies in the history of the nation, passing important domestic appropriations bills that make modest increases in funding for health care, education, nutrition and home energy assistance, homeland security and other needs for working- and middle-class Americans. President Bush has threatened to veto many of these appropriations bills, falsely saying that the boost in funding for Americans in need is "excessive."

Two CBPP studies show that the president's veto threats are politics as usual. After adjusting for inflation and population growth, many of the domestic appropriations bills the president has called "excessive" and "irresponsible" would actually cost less in 2008 than the corresponding bills cost on average from 2002-2006, when Republicans controlled Congress and Bush signed into law every single appropriations bill the Republican Congresses sent him.

"Bush's veto threats are baseless and reckless. President Bush has tried to spin these small increases as 'huge' new spending bills, but in reality Congress has only proposed a $5 billion increase in domestic spending, or 1.4 percent. What the president's spin-machine is desperately trying to hide is that the president's proposal would cut $16 billion from these important programs, all while continuing his tax cuts for millionaires and corporate interests and funding his reckless war in Iraq," said Erin Knott, Program Director, Michigan Citizen Action.

Vetoing the Labor-HHS-Education bill would deny millions of Americans increased funding in necessary healthcare and education programs. The President says these critical programs need to be cut to stop "runaway spending," but the CBPP study finds that the five appropriations bills the President is likely to sign are, on average, increasing at a far greater rate and cost than the seven appropriations bills-including the Labor-HHS-Education appropriation-that he has threatened to veto.

KEY FINDINGS:

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' study can be viewed online at http://www.cbpp.org/7-18-07bud.htm and http://www.cbpp.org/6-21-07bud.htm
 

1.) Despite the administration's sharp criticism of the planned congressional appropriations levels, the overwhelming bulk of the $53.1 billion increase in appropriations that Congress plans for 2008 - 81 percent of it - consists of increases the administration itself has requested in military and homeland security programs.

2.) The main dispute between the administration and Congress is over a $21 billion difference in domestic appropriations.

3.) The administration proposes to cut these programs $16 billion below the 2007 levels (after adjusting for inflation) and threatens to veto bills that do not contain these cuts. Congress would reject these cuts and instead provide a modest increase for these programs of $5 billion, or 1.4 percent. The main dispute between Congress and the administration is thus whether to cut programs funded in domestic appropriations bills, not whether to make large increases in them.

4.) Under the funding levels that Congress plans, domestic discretionary programs would grow more slowly than revenues, and thus would not create pressure for tax increases.

5.) The administration has threatened to veto the Labor-HHS-Education bill and six other appropriations bills, purportedly on fiscal grounds. Yet these bills would cost less in 2008 than they did in 2002-2006, on average, after adjusting for inflation and population growth.

6.) The Labor-HHS-Education bill, which funds such programs as Head Start, child care, Pell Grants, and the National Institutes of Health, averaged $158 billion in 2002-2006. (This amount is adjusted for inflation and population growth.) For 2008 the Senate and House would reduce this amount to $152 billion and $154 billion, respectively. The President has proposed a much larger cut, to $141 billion.

6.) At the same time, the administration has not threatened to veto five other appropriations bills that would cost considerably more than those bills averaged in 2002-2006.

7.) Thus, it is difficult to conclude that the planned vetoes are motivated by a desire to restore fiscal discipline by vetoing bills with "excessive" funding levels.

Michigan Citizen Action August 1, 2007

Greetings!

Sincerely,
Linda Teeter, Executive Director
Michigan Citizen Action

Flint, MI - Linda Teeter, Executive Director, Michigan Citizen Action, will be joining Terri Winegarden from the Center for Civil Justice, and Lisa Williams from Michigan Acorn at the MTA Customer Service Center to urge Rep. Kildee and other members of the 110th Congress invest in Michigan's future by rejecting the Bush Administration's proposed FY 2008 budget. A new report, First Things First Michigan, will be released that analyzes the impacted of the proposed budget on Michigan citizens. MORE >>

President Bush's 2008 budget could not be any farther from meeting the needs and priorities of residents of Saginaw. Despite the administration's claims of a strong economy, in Saginaw the rich are getting richer while hardworking middle class and low-income folks are barely getting by. We deserve better then the president's budget, which cuts billions of dollars from programs that impact Michigan families mst in need - cuts to education, nutrition, child care, health care, affordable housing, job training, heating and cooling assistance, and in community and rural development.MORE >>