By Karen Dolan, Institute for Policy Studies
1. "Tonight with a healthy, growing economy, with more Americans going back to work..." One needs to realize that we are still experiencing a jobless recovery. The unemployment rate is still high at 5.2% and most of the new jobs added to the economy in Bush's tenure pay, on average, about 30% less than the jobs they are replacing. Almost 2 million people have been added to the already artificially low ranks of poverty. Real wages are stagnating or falling. Last year added 2.3 million jobs to the economy, an improvement over his other years in office, but he neglected to mention that 2 million jobs need to be added each year simply to keep up with new entries into the work force. These are not additional jobs.2. "America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government." He goes on to say "I will send you a budget that holds the growth of discretionary spending below inflation, makes tax relief permanent,and stays on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009" He then proposes to reduce or cut some 150 government programs and, we know from leaks as recently as this week and as far back as last spring that his 2006 Budget virtually freezes domestic social spending. What we don't hear is the truth that spending on domestic social programs, necessary to the well being of Americans, is only 15% of the budget deficit, while the cost of his tax cuts account for 48% of the deficit and costs of defense, homeland security and other intentional spending account for 37% of the deficit. Freezing, reducing and eliminating funding for domestic programs will not cut our historically high deficit in half by 2009 or 2099. Making permanent these enormously expensive tax cuts to America's wealthiest will not cut the deficit in half by 2009 or 2099. We have to be serious about rolling back tax cuts to the wealthy, cutting overblown defense budget and funding a war in Iraq to the tune of $5 billion a month.
3. "Under the No Child Left Behind Act, standards are higher, test scores are on the rise, and we are closing the achievement gaps for minority students." This is the basis for his push to expand NCLB by pushing for certain standards and test score results in high schools. While there are state in which test scores are on the rise and some where gaps for minority students are indeed closing, there are as many where the opposite is true. There is no study that shows an aggregate improvement, and none that attributes an aggregate improvement to NCLB. The truth is that this act has proven very controversial among states and school districts, forcing mandates on schools without supplying enough funding to fulfill them. Further, the standards are a one-size fits all kind-of "fix" which does not account for differences in populations and needs and has not proven to raise achievement among students.
4. "Justice is distorted and our economy is held back by irresponsible class actions and frivolous asbestos claims." That there are some frivolous lawsuits is not in dispute. But this assertion is wildly overblown. Just where is the evidence that "our economy is held back" by these?? Further, most of the cases prosecuted in these areas are neither irresponsible or frivolous. 100,00 Americans die unnecessarily each year due to medical errors.This assertion by Bush is simply a thinly veiled attempt to protect business and reduce the power of trial lawyers who, on the whole, are large contributors to the Democratic party.
5. "...we must make healthcare more affordable and give families greater access to good coverage and more control over their health decisions." No argument here! Would that this were the outcome. However, one must understand "washingtonese" and realize that the codeword here is "control." In conservative rhetoric, this means privatization. Bush's call for improved technology (provided it doesn't encroach on privacy rights) to reduce medical error and his call for a community health center in every poor county are laudable enough. We'll have to wait for the details. But the golden nugget for Bush of this statement is the "health savings accounts," along the lines of what Health and Human Services secretary Mike Leavitt introduced two days ago with regard to reducing Medicaid costs. Based on the faulty premise that the entitlement program is being abused by state governments, that unnecessary costs are inflated the prices, this call for health savings accounts would pass risks onto individuals and take away some currently guaranteed services for our most vulnerable, especially the disabled. We should instead be looking at the soaring prices of prescription drugs and the absence of sufficient prevention care.
6. "Four years of debate is enough. I urge Congress to pass legislation that makes America more secure and less dependent on foreign energy." Bush here is referring to his stalled energy bill. This bill has many problems including controversial issues that favor business over environment and do not proceed toward renewables or energy independence in sustainable ways. Much of the controversy swirls around the way in which this bill was crafted, through secret participation by energy industry big-wigs, and the content deposited in the bill by them. The proceedings of these meetings Cheney continues to refuse to reveal.
7. "You and I will work together to give this nation a tax code that is pro-growth, easy to understand and fair to all." Here Bush calls for an overhaul of what he calls an "archaic, incoherent federal tax code." Details are completely absent, but a bipartisan committee to study this is announced. Conservatives have historically talked about reforming the tax code in the form of a highly regressive Flat Tax. Additionally, Bush's track record with tax reform has been hugely expensive tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthy, adding significantly (48%) to our historically high federal deficit.
8. "It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects Amnesty, that tell us who is entering and leaving our country and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists." The estimated 8 million undocumented workers already in this country need job protection, the right to organize, the right to living wages, the right to benefits, in other words, they need amnesty to allow them to receive citizenship. Border protection must include protection of immigrants risking their lives to help their families survive. Immigrants must be allowed job training, health care and education so that they may achieve a decent standard of living and have the opportunity to contribute to society in ways that surpass filling the low-paying jobs that "Americans will not take."
9. "One of America's most important institutions--a symbol of trust between generations--is also in need of wise and effective reform....The system...is headed toward bankruptcy." The most important thing for Americans to know about Social Security is the truth. That it is headed toward bankruptcy is not the truth. Currently, with an overall surplus of $1.8 trillion, the system is on its strongest footing in its 70 year history. In 2018, the year the President uses as ominously "paying out more benefits than it is receiving in revenues," the system will have $ 3.6 trillion surplus from which to continue paying benefits. According the Social Security Trustees, the surplus lasts at least until 2042, 2052 according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. After that point, with no tweaking whatsoever, Social Security will be able to pay out about 75% of benefits, which, if adjusted for inflation, is still higher than the benefit levels received today. The projected shortfall at that time is about 0.4 % of GDP. This is a relatively small amount, one that can be fixed with minor adjustments in the next half a century. To put it in perspective, the cost of Bush's tax cuts thus far has been 2.0% of GDP.Private accounts add enormous cost--(an estimated $4 trillion over the next 40 years, which will come from where?)-- no increase in benefits, and a substitution of a gamble for our current guarantee.The real crisis is the historically high federal deficit, the astronomical costs of health care, and war spending of $5 billion a month for the foreseeable future.
10. "For the good of families, children and society, I support a Constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage." Bush, using a "bait and switch" tactic on his conservative supporters had campaigned on this and then conspicuously dropped it, saying there was not enough support in Congress to get it passed. There still is not, but the anti-gay groups that were a significant portion of his supporters during the election, have threatened not to support his Social Security privatization scheme unless he puts the Constitutional amendment back on the table. So, for the sake of private Social Security accounts, here it is.
11. "Every judicial nominee deserves and up-or-down vote." Historically, the filibuster is a crucial part of the democratic process in the Senate. This device enables a minority to have the chance to have its views expressed. To push for an up-or-down vote is again a code word for the ending of the filibuster that Republicans in the Senate are calling for. One result of the elimination of the filibuster will be the expediting of judicial nominees benefiting the partisans-in-power and quelling dissenting voices from the other side of the aisle.
12. "Our government will continue to support faith-based and community groups that bring hope to harsh places." Unfortunately the privileging of "faith-based" groups in the ordering of this statement reflects a troubling reality. While domestic social spending that would actually help community groups and secular non-profits with drug treatment, health care, education, anti-gang work, funding for many of these programs are being frozen, reduced or eliminated. Faith-based initiatives however, are giving more government money to religious organizations. The danger of these programs is that incentives to follow the religious teachings of those institutions offering support is inherent in this form of charity. This not only violates our Constitutional commitment to the separation of church and state, but tends to put already vulnerable people in often coercive positions in order to receive much needed help.
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