Aug 15

Written by: Jim Hansen
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

This week, we are releasing a report describing how the upside-down priorities of the Bush administration and previous Congresses have taken America seriously off-track. The first release is in Boise today, Aug. 15 at 11:30 am. We are holding a press conference with the Idaho Peace Coalition and MoveOn.org members in Idaho at Cassia Park, across the street from one of Idaho's under-funded Head Start programs. (Join us if you can. It's at 4709 W. Camas Street, just east of Orchard). The next release will be in Coeur d'Alene at Kootenai Medical Center at Noon on Friday, Aug. 17.

We are demanding that Idaho's members of congress get back on track. Throughout four and a half years of war and endless occupation of Iraq, real needs here at home have been neglected while the tax burden to fund the war has shifted sharply onto middle-class and working-poor families.

The new Congress is working to get America back on track by funding critical human needs priorities like children’s health care, job training and education, but President Bush is threatening to veto any legislation that increases funding beyond his budget proposal. Some Bush administration officials and Republican leaders are even suggesting they would shut down the government before passing modest funding increases for vital programs that amount to just a fraction of what America spends every day in Iraq.

Indeed, while America spends $10 billion every month on the endless occupation of Iraq, recent headlines have been full of glaring examples of the neglected priorities here at home:

• Despite being labeled “structurally deficient,” the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis was not scheduled for repair until 2020 – 13 years after its collapse, which killed at least eight people and devastated an entire community.
• The explosion of an aging underground steam pipe shut down Manhattan last month, killing one person and injuring dozens, further exposed America’s decaying infrastructure.
• As the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, much of New Orleans still lies in ruin.

With the total cost of the Iraq war and occupation now approaching half a trillion dollars ($456 billion and counting), Idaho taxpayers’ share of that cost is now more than $1.2 billion and rising. Here is what the $1.2 billion in our state’s Cost of the War could provide for families and communities if that money were invested instead in priorities in Idaho that have long been neglected:

• health care for 337,393 adults – almost 2 times more than the 171,730 uninsured adults
• health care for 786,643 children – 17 times more than the 45,120 kids without health care
• full funding for Head Start, which has been cut by 7.4 percent since 2001

The new Congress is finally working to get America back on track by reversing years of upside-down priorities in Washington. Congress is working to pass modest increases in funding for children’s health care, job training, education and other priorities, but President Bush threatens to veto legislation with any increases beyond his budget proposal, which shortchanged these programs to pay for tax breaks for millionaires and the endless occupation of Iraq.
Amazingly, Bush administration officials and Republican leaders have even suggested they would shut down the government before passing modest increases in funding for these vital priorities. Take a look at the small boosts in funding – representing just a fraction of the $10 billion U.S. taxpayers are spending in Iraq every month – that are leading to some to threaten to shut down our government:

• Cost of restoring Idaho job training funds ($6.3 million) = about 28 minutes of spending to occupy Iraq
• Cost of restoring Idaho child care funds ($2.8 million) = about 12 minutes of spending to occupy Iraq
• Cost of restoring Idaho child support funding ($4.1 million) = about 18 minutes of spending to occupy Iraq
• Cost of restoring Idaho K-12 education funding ($20.9 million) = about 92 minutes of spending to occupy Iraq
• Full Title I funding for U.S. schools ($14.4 billion) = less than a month and a half of spending to occupy Iraq

United Action for Idaho and other USAction affiliates across the country are working to highlight the misplaced priorities that have had such a devastating impact in Idaho and communities across the country. We urge Idaho’s members in Congress to start getting America back on track by supporting these modest increases as a down-payment toward fully funding children’s health care, job training, education and other priorities over five years, and by voting to override a presidential veto that could needlessly shut down the government and lead to further devastation to our citizens and communities.

A full copy of the report can be found here.

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