This year, it's quite distressing. You know how politicians like to talk about needing new ideas, and not doing "business as usual"? We agree. We think we need to make some vital, and drastic, changes to the federal budget. We need to move forward: toward more peace, more prosperity, more security.

But instead, we're moving backward. We're getting just more of the same, only -- well, more and more of it. This Congress and this administration are making slight changes to the budget, but in all the wrong ways. The things they're touting -- cutting back programs, beefing up the military -- are digging us deeper into a bad situation: more war, more poverty, more insecurity.

We see some simple, stark facts about the budget. And each year, when the President proposes a new one, we take a close look to see if any of these things are being changed. The news is not good.

We'll explore these points one by one. Here they are:

1. We say it all the time, but still most people don't know: the Pentagon gets OVER HALF of the discretionary federal budget. THE PENTAGON. Not veterans, not the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not homeland security. It's totally out of proportion -- to our domestic needs, to our security needs, to the international budgetary reality.

   Read all about it: The size of the Pentagon budget: too big and getting bigger

2. Cutting the pie in this way does not make us safer. The biggest, shiniest military machine in the world will not protect people if a terrorist sneaks into the country with a nuclear bomb. Game over.
   We could easily cut the Pentagon budget, and still be just as safe. In fact, if we redirect the money toward things that do make us safe -- such as locking down nuclear materials or safeguarding our ports -- we'll be much better protected from the real threats out there today.

   Read all about it: Real security: The game has changed. We need to retool the security budget to face real threats.

   
   
3. As the budget shifts money away from domestic human needs, we falter as a country. We become more polarized, weaker, and inhumane. It is not right nor necessary to cut programs that care for the least able among us.

   Read all about it: Cutting human needs programs endangers us as a country

   
   
4. There are at least two extraordinary demands on our national budget right now: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the need to rebuild the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina and Rita. It is never easy to ask for more revenue from our population, but this is the time. We need to increase the size of the pie in order to provide what we need.
   In fact, the truth is that our pie has grown, but the President is hiding behind some tricks of the trade. First, the wars are funded by "supplemental appropriations" -- which were once reserved for true emergencies, but now seem to come in handy when you need over $300 billion for a multi-year campaign of your liking. Second, the U.S. has got some major credit card debt going on. And it's growing to immense proportions. Our kids, our grandkids, are inheriting a world of pain in that yawning national debt.

   Read all about it: Not a time to shrink the pie. As the national debt grows, our economic future is more uncertain

5. Cutting taxes for the wealthiest among us is doing little to reinvigorate the economy. It may in fact be holding it back.We could reinvest in programs that create jobs and retrain the unemployed instead.

   Read all about it: Tax cuts for the wealthiest are not helping

We take these lenses, and we hold them up to the proposed budget, and what do we find? You guessed it: it exacerbates every single problem listed.

Rather than touting the cosmetic and harmful changes he has made (cutting Medicare! increasing the "security" budget!), we ask: isn't it time to make real change? Change that will help, rather than harm, all of us, as a country?

It wouldn't really be that hard. But it would take vision, and heart. And it is long overdue.

* Take action here: Tell Congress to change the federal budget priorities: Don't increase Pentagon spending while decreasing spending for human needs * 2006 Congressional Schedule * WAND Legislative Priorities 2006

Itching to know more about Capitol Hill?

Okay, if the information here just isn't enough for you, you can dip into these documents. They're in PDF format, so you need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

All Our Dollars
      A guide to the soap-opera saga of the federal budget process.

American Pie
      How do you think America's budget pie is sliced?

It's your federal government: a citizen's guide
      Helpful tips about understanding Congress and taking action.

Loads of Info: Making Sense of Capitol Hill
      A 28-page booklet with detailed info: budget and appropriations process; legislative process; and names and numbers on the 109th Congress.

THE SIZE OF THE PENTAGON BUDGET

CUTTING PROGRAMS FOR HUMAN NEEDS HURTS US AS A COUNTRY

The Coalition on Human Needs calls it "The President’s Scandalous Budget"

Here's a bit of their analysis; Click here for the whole thing.

The President’s budget abandons investments in shared prosperity for all Americans.
Education Slashed. This budget actually cuts spending on education – if enacted, it would be the biggest cut in the Department of Education’s 27-year history, down from $88.9 billion this year to $63.4 billion in the President’s FY 2007 proposal, a $25.5 billion cut (29 percent).
Closing off Routes to Good Jobs. The budget slashes vocational education funding and further reduces student loans, even after the big cuts just enacted for the current year.
Head Start for Fewer Children. Head Start is frozen in the President’s proposal; the National Head Start Association estimates that this failure to keep pace with inflation will result in 19,000 fewer children served in FY 2007.

The budget reduces vital help to vulnerable people.
Less Food Aid. The President would stop providing food packages to 420,000 low-income elders and 50,000 pregnant women and young children by eliminating the Commodity Supplemental Food Program – a one-year cut of $108 million.
Working Families Lose Food Stamps. Once again, the Administration seeks to deny food stamps to about 300,000 people in working families – a cut of $656 million over five years.
Services Cut for Abused and Neglected, Young and Old. Funding for the Social Services Block Grant is slashed by nearly 30 percent (from $1.7 billion to $1.2 billion) in one year.
Less Housing for Elderly and Disabled. Funds for housing for the elderly is cut by one-quarter (a cut of $190 million in FY 2007); housing for people with disabilities is cut in half (a reduction of $119 million).

The budget cuts services that strengthen low-income working families.
Child Care Slashed, Year After Year. At least 400,000 children will lose child care help under President Bush’s budget plans.
Fewer Community Services. The Community Services Block Grant would be terminated, a one-year cut of $670 million.

National Women's Law Center says budget places women last -- again

Here's a bit of their analysis; Click here for the whole thing.

The administration's budget moves in a direction that increases insecurity and reduces opportunity, especially for already vulnerable single mothers and elderly women. Programs providing important educational and training opportunities for women and other disadvantaged groups will be eliminated. More elderly people and low-income families will face hunger. Fewer children in low-income families will receive child care assistance.

What to know what's going to happen in your state?

Those budget gurus at National Priorities Project have been working just for you. They've figured out how the FY07 budget is going to affect every state in the country (really).

Here's a bit of the report on New York. Find out about your state: click here. They rock.

THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET: IMPACT ON NEW YORK

Food & nutrition: The budget proposal would eliminate the Commodity
Supplemental Food Program, cutting off at least 400,000 senior citizens from nutritious, packaged meals. The budget also proposes to cut funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) by $200 million, after taking inflation into account. New York would lose $12.1 million in WIC funding, while 10.5% of the state’s residents currently experience food insecurity.

Community development: The budget proposes once again to cut
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which help cities and towns ensure affordable housing, provide services and create jobs. New York would lose $80.8 million in CDBG funds under the budget proposal. The loss to Albany would total $875,146 and New York City would lose $42.4 million.

But wait, there's more: The Center for American Progress says the budget has "wrong priorities"

For their analysis, click here. Here's a bit:

• The president proposes to reduce Medicare funding by $36 billion through provider payment cuts and through increasing premium payments for some higher-income Medicare beneficiaries. The budget also calls for further reductions in Medicaid funding.
• The budget proposes to cut $276 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention budget, eliminating the $99 million block grant for preventive health and health services and cutting $34 million in funds for health promotion.
• The president's budget proposes a 3.8 percent cut in the Department of Education's fiscal year 2007 budget. While the president has proposed several new education initiatives, they are more than offset by the underfunding of No Child Left Behind and other important programs.
• The president's budget proposes to cut funding for science and technology by approximately $600 million; to cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by more than $300 million; and to short-change renewable energy funding.

NOT A TIME TO SHRINK THE PIE

There are at least two extraordinary demands on our national budget right now: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the need to rebuild the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina and Rita. It is never easy to ask for more revenue from our population, but this is the time. We need to increase the size of the pie in order to provide what we need.

It is time to ask many questions about this budget: is it keeping us safe? is it keeping us healthy and prosperous? AND, is it responsible to us, and to future generations?

For some reason, the administration thinks it's acceptable to keep borrowing, to pile onto our credit card debt. The deficit is soaring; and the national debt is quickly becoming immense.

Click here to read more.

The president's Fiscal Year 2007 (FY 07) budget would set the nation on a dangerous fiscal path and does nothing to honestly address the federal government's looming budgetary challenges. The budget--totaling $2.77 trillion--would make permanent the president's first-term tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy, and pay for those cuts in part by cutting some entitlement programs and drastically reducing domestic discretionary spending (outside of homeland security and defense). Despite the spending cuts, deficits will continue to rise each year after President Bush leaves office if this budget is enacted.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities faults the budget on several important grounds

This analysis assesses the President’s budget on three basic criteria — fiscal responsibility, fairness and balance (i.e., does it call for shared sacrifice?), and the degree to which it is transparent (does it conceal or omit basic budget information or resort to budget gimmickry?). This analysis indicates that the budget falls well short on all three standards.

National Women's Law Center faults budget on how it treats women; and how it handles budget deficits...

Here's a bit of their analysis; Click here for the whole thing.

There are two sides of the ledger in every budget: income and expenses. Largely due to five years of tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, America's budget is now seriously out of balance...

While the President proposes to cut domestic programs to achieve "deficit reduction," deficits will grow under this budget because of the President's tax cut proposals: making the 2001 to 2003 tax cuts permanent, expanding health savings accounts, and creating new tax-sheltered savings vehicles. The cost of these tax cuts is enormous... $3.3 trillion over just the next ten years -- and most of the benefits will go to the wealthiest Americans.

WHEW. ONE LAST THING: THEM TAX CUTS? NOT DOING ANY GOOD

So now what? Join us! Be part of a powerful community of women and men leading our country to a secure future!
  * To join using a credit card online, click here.