During Black History Month President Bush Should Honor African Americans With His Policies

Today during Black History Month, President Bush participated in another hollow photo opportunity in an attempt to reach out to African Americans. But as we've seen in the past, President Bush's rhetoric rarely if ever matches his actual policy and judging by his most recent budget, nothing has changed.

Last week, President Bush submitted an irresponsible budget to Congress which engages in gimmickry by giving out tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. African Americans stand to be disproportionately impacted by the President's budget which makes cuts to education, Social Security, health care, economic development and local law enforcement.

"Once again President Bush is using misleading rhetoric and budget gimmickry to offer tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while shortchanging everyone else," said Democratic National Committee spokesperson Amaya Smith. "If the President truly wants to honor the contributions of African Americans he would start with a budget that reflects the needs and priorities of the community. Democrats have proved that they will not take the African American vote for granted by passing legislation to make college more affordable and to reduce the rising costs of health care and raise the minimum wage, all issues which disproportionately affect African Americans."

CUTS TO EDUCATION: The President's budget proposes a funding cut in education. His budget plan would set aside $1.5 billion less for education priorities than the joint funding resolution pending in Congress, or a 2.6 percent cut from the 2007 level of $57.5 billion. Not surprisingly, the budget also continues to underfund the No Child Left Behind program. [President Bush FY2008 Budget, House Democratic Caucus]

CUTS TO HOUSING ASSISTANCE: The President's budget would eliminate the HOPE VI program, which restores dilapidated housing, and seeks to cancel the $99 million included in the pending legislation currently in Congress. In total, the budget cuts discretionary funding for federal housing programs by 8 percent. [President Bush FY2008 Budget, House Democratic Caucus]

CUTS TO HEALTH CARE: The President's budget puts existing (SCHIP State Children's Health Insurance Program) coverage in jeopardy. His budget proposes adding only one-third of the funding necessary to maintain current coverage levels in the program, putting millions of low-income children and others at risk of losing their health insurance. Moreover, his plan would leave millions of low-income children who are eligible for the program without coverage. [President Bush FY2008 Budget, Senate Joint Economic Committee]

CUTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY: President Bush has again snuck a big Social Security privatization plan in his budget that, if enacted, would result in millions of middle-income workers receiving little or no Social Security benefits in retirement. [President Bush FY2008 Budget, Senate Joint Economic Committee]

CUTS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT: President's budget again attempts to eliminate two local crime fighting tools-the Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) program and Justice Assistance Grants (JAG). COPS helps law enforcement agencies hire police officers, enhance crime fighting technology, and support crime prevention initiatives, while JAG supports state and local drug task forces, community crime prevention programs and prosecution initiatives. [President Bush FY2008 Budget, Senate Joint Economic Committee]