Yesterday President Bush presented his budget proposal for the next fiscal year. The document, which you can download here, is unfortunately more of what we’ve become accustomed to in this administration: missed opportunities and misplaced priorities.
 
The President’s $3 trillion proposed budget cuts vital programs that provide real assistance to Americans, such as Medicare, Medicaid, education and early literacy programs and the low-income home energy assistance program in order to protect his signature tax cuts that favor the most privileged Americans.
 
But the biggest omission?
 
Once again, President Bush did not account for funding the war in Iraq.
 
How, you ask, can he leave out funds for a multi-billion dollar war? By using deceitful and misleading funding maneuvers.  Instead of including the Iraq war in the federal budget, the president uses emergency supplemental funding bills, which are supposed to be reserved only for unexpected events like natural disasters.  
 
By using emergency supplemental funding to pay for the war in Iraq, President Bush is misleading the American public about the real cost of the war and its impact on our deficit, which is currently the largest in American history.
 
I think the nation’s budget ought to reflect our nation’s priorities and values. A quick examination of the budget Bush released yesterday demonstrates that his priorities and values are quite different than those of most Wisconsinites I know. This budget demonstrates how detached President Bush is from the economic realities that families and communities are dealing with because of the failed policies of his administration.
 
If there is good news, it’s that our Democratic-led Congress has the opportunity to fix President Bush’s last budget. We will put forward a plan that reflects the people’s priorities, cleans up the Bush Administration’s mess and restores fiscal responsibility. It’s only too unfortunate that President Bush leaves us and several future generations to recover from eight years of highly irresponsible leadership and spending.