Bush Asks for More Spending on Defense, Energy, Less on Welfare
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news
Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush is asking Congress
to approve funding increases for a host of programs, from the Iraq war
to tax credits for coal-fired power plants, while proposing cuts to
others such as unemployment insurance, according to White House budget
documents obtained by Bloomberg News.
Bush is limiting all federal programs outside defense and homeland security
to a 1 percent increase in fiscal 2008, budget documents showed.
That isn't enough to keep up with the 2.5 percent increase in inflation
last year. Still, some domestic programs are getting a boost in funding
beyond those levels. Bush is calling for a balanced budget by 2012.
He inherited surpluses from his predecessor. Tax cuts, a slowing economy,
and increased costs for defense and homeland security following
the 9-11 attacks erased the surplus by 2002.
That investment is dwarfed by the $1.65 billion in tax credits
budgeted for 2008 for construction of low-emissions coal-fired
power plants, up from $1 billion this year, and the $6.4 billion
Bush is proposing to extend the life of the U.S. stockpile of
nuclear warheads, destroy excess weapons and ``make the nuclear weapons
infrastructure more responsive,'' according to the documents.
The president's budget also calls for $1.45 billion for nanotechnology
research, up 4.2 percent from 2007 levels.
The Bush administration is asking for almost $500 million in cuts
from job training programs by reducing bureaucracy.
The administration also proposes to overhaul welfare, or unemployment insurance
benefits, to save $4.8 billion in improper payments and $400 million
in employer tax evasion over 10 years by enlisting private collection
agencies to collect debts and tightening the penalties for fraud.
Bush is asking $5.4 billion for AIDS research and prevention,
$300 million for malaria research, and $3 billion for the
Millennium Challenge Account, which targets aid to poor countries
that meet benchmarks in promoting democracy and rooting out
corruption.
The administration is also seeking to establish six new national
cemeteries to further the goal of having a national cemetery with
75 miles of every veteran's home.
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