Bush proposes $2.8 trillion budget to boost military spending and slash social programs

The plan is in line with the agenda set forth by the president in his State of the Union address last week—to boost funds for the “war on terror” and domestic policing and slash federal spending on programs relied on by working Americans, retirees and the poor. The proposed budget covers the 2007 fiscal year beginning October 1, and its appropriations must be approved by Congress, which will begin debate on it this spring.

Under Bush’s proposal, military spending would increase by 4.8 percent, to a record $439.3 billion. The Defense Department would see an increase of 6.9 percent, including a rise in the Army’s budget from $99 billion to $112 billion. The budget would fund a 15 percent increase in the size of the US Special Forces. A 2.2 percent increase in base military pay is also proposed.

Funds earmarked for the military include only a portion of the money the administration proposes to spend on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2007. The budget contains only $50 billion in spending for the Iraq war. The Bush administration will be asking for $70 billion in additional war spending in addition to the $50 billion in supplemental funding already approved by Congress just last December.

The Department of Homeland Security will get a 9.8 percent funding rise, including increased funding to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and money to add 1,500 new border patrol agents.

The biggest cut by far is aimed at entitlement programs, where projected spending would be cut by $65 billion over the next five years. Bush proposes to slash $36 billion from Medicare, the federal program that provides health care to seniors and the disabled.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/budg-f07.shtml