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The Real Cost of Presidential Obstruction On Human Needs
President Bush wants to veto spending sought by Congress on important national priorities. The fight is over appropriations bills that cover a wide range of essential services. Bush acts as if he wants to protect the budget, but the facts are otherwise. The amounts in question are modest -- especially when compared to the amount of money the administration recklesly spends on the misbegotten war in Iraq. Here are some examples from budget bills President Bush threatened to veto.
| President Bush has threatened to veto bills that would: |
What the items would cost |
How long it takes to spend that on the Iraq War | ||
| Help economically distressed communities by providing investment incentives to banks (HR 2829) | $70 million |
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| Increase military pay an extra 0.5 percent for the next five years (S 1547) | $2.2 billion over 5 years |
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| Help poor people pay for record-high home-heating costs in the winter (HR 3043) | $880 million |
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| Increase the funding health clinics can use to better prepare for a bioterrorist attack (HR 3043) | $135 million increase |  11 hours |
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| Upgrade voting systems nationwide, eliminating the "hanging chads" of the 2000 election (HR 2829) | $300 million |
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| Support entrepreneurs starting their own business through the Small Business Administration (HR 2829) | $80 million |
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| Provide disaster relief for flood, earthquake, fire and other victims of natural disasters (HR 2638) | $2.1 billion |
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| Fund Amtrak and fuel-efficient mass transit (HR 3074) | $1.4 billion |
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| Provide Community Development Block Grants that expand economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income persons (HR 3074) | $1 billion |
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| Provide food over the next five years for lower-income children in summer programs, when school breakfast and lunch programs end (HR 3161) | $29 million over 5 years |
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Repair the nation's bridges, dams, coasts and waterways through the Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program |
$713 million |
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| Fund environmental protection (HR 2643) | $887 million |
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For more on the cost of the Iraq war, see "The Real Cost of the Iraq War [1]."