Discouraging Statistics of the Week

With the proposed 2008 federal budget recently sent to Congress, Mr. Bush has once again emphasized the mindset and attitude of his administration and the Republican Party. The following is only a short list of the various changes in the new budget:

• Agriculture: Subsidies for farmers earning more than $200,000 annually would be eliminated. However, a total of $5.4 billion is designated for food stamps. In addition, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides food to more than 500,000 low income senior citizens, would also be eliminated.
• Education: Mr. Bush plans on increasing the spending for the No Child Left Behind Act but, by doing so, would eliminate 42 other programs. (It is an absolute shame that any program is affected by No Child Left Behind, a program filled with corruption, inequality and inaccuracies.
• NASA: The planned spending for NASA would increase by $1.1 billion from the $16.2 billion in Mr. Bush's proposed budget for 2007. Included in the $17.3 billion in spending are funds to send astronauts to the moon by 2020. (I am not sure if Mr. Bush is aware of this fact or not but the U.S. has already been to the moon. What's next? Appropriating billions of dollars to explore the area west of the Mississippi River? How about we just focus on more important topics, such as affordable health care or improving our educational system?)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Funding in this area would decrease by $500 million, including grants to states for bioterrorism preparations.