Forty-one years after President Lyndon B. Johnson's State of the Union address in which he stated, "This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America," President George W. Bush has declared a war on poverty programs. The president's budget targets 150 programs for reduction or elimination (none of the "War on Poverty" programs is spared). The rationale used for this action is that the programs are inefficient and that the funds are needed to support the war efforts and to fund homeland security. During the current Bush administration, the poverty rate has risen from approximately 32.9 million Americans in 2001 to slightly more than 36 million in 2003. While it is suggested that the $427 billion deficit will be cut in half, in truth the budget as presented does not include the $80 billion for the war, $1.6 trillion to make the tax cuts permanent, $774 billion for modifying the alternative minimum tax or the $4.5 trillion to change Social Security. Some of the programs affected by the budget are: employment and training, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Community Services Block Grant, child care, child welfare, Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), Head Start, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food stamps, housing and community development, and veterans' benefits It is difficult to see the compassion in this budget when the administration appears to have moved from humanitarian efforts that value its people to one that is elitist and expansive abroad, virtually ignoring the plight of a large segment of this nation. In 2005, America can do better than that, and we the people should demand that compassion continue to be directed at America's poor through established programs. Robert D. Ayers Jr. [more]
- Rising poverty unacceptable [more]