Machete Budget

January 2nd. 2006
Sent to but not published in the New York Times

In his Jackson Square speech of September 115th 2005, President Bush said: "there's also some deep, persistent poverty in this region, as well. That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality."
Just exactly how do the Budget proposals of the House and Senate (Bob Herbert, The Machete Budget, January 2nd 2006, A17) help us to rise above that legacy of inequality? The Budget goes in the opposite direction with its cuts in Medicare, Student Assistance, Support for Families, and delays in Social Security Assistance.
The President, if he is a man of his word rather than a man who merely says fine words, will veto any Budget that does not lead in the direction of poverty reduction.