George W. Bush's Choice: Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Over Protecting Homeland

truthisfreedom

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Sat Oct-02-04 12:13 PM
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George W. Bush's Choice: Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Over Protecting Homeland

Edited on Sat Oct-02-04 12:15 PM by truthisfreedom

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=669&u=/usnw/20041001/pl_usnw/george_w__bush_s_choice__tax_cuts_for_the_wealthy_over_protecting_the_homeland__says_kerry_campaign148_xml&printer=1

George W. Bush's Choice: Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Over Protecting the Homeland, Says Kerry Campaign

To: National Desk

Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004

WASHINGTON U.S. Newswire -- George Bush (news - web sites) chose giving tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans ahead of making America secure. Once again, during last night's debate, George Bush made his choice clear. John Kerry (news - web sites) made it clear that, as president, he will put America's safety ahead of tax cuts for the wealthy. One of the fundamental choices of this election is whether we can afford more tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of keeping America secure and investing in education and health care.

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GEORGE BUSH CHOSE PUTTING AMERICA'S SECURITY AT RISK:

Families Making An Average Of $1.2 Million A Year Got Tax Cuts Totaling $89 Billion In 2004 -- 4 Times Larger Than The Increase In Homeland Security. The tax cuts for just the top 1 percent of taxpayers totaled $88.9 billion in 2004, 33.6 percent of the total cost of the Bush tax cuts. In contrast, the homeland security budget increased from $17 billion in 2001 to $41 billion in 2004, a $23 billion increase relative to the inflation- adjusted baseline. The tax cuts for millionaires is four times larger than the homeland security increase. (Joint Economic Committee Democrats, "New CBO Analysis Confirms that the Bush Tax Cuts Are Skewed Toward the Rich," August 2004 and Congressional Budget Office (news - web sites), "Federal Funding for Homeland Security," 4/30/04. Note, 2001 homeland security funding excludes post-9/11 emergency spending)

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Bush Has Cut Funding To Secure Known Stockpiles of WMD While Spending Exponentially More to Find Non-Existent WMD in Iraq (news - web sites). Funding needs to secure stockpiles in the Former Soviet Union were clear at the outset of the Bush Administration, yet in real terms Bush has requested less money on average than the Clinton Administration did in its last year in office -- despite a campaign pledge in 2000 to fund Nunn-Lugar. Most of the job of securing materials in the former Soviet Union remains to be done -- and the pace of the effort is woefully inadequate. In fact, the "amount of nuclear material secured in the two years immediately following the 9/11 attacks was actually less than the amount secured in the two years immediately before the attacks." At the current pace, it would take up to 13 years to finish the job. (Bunn and Weir, Securing the Bomb) (Arms Control Today, 3/2004), (Washington Post, 5/24/04), (South Carolina Republican Primary Debate, February 15, 2000)