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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!gumby!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: Nigel.Allen@lambada.oit.unc.edu
- Subject: Report Finds Reagan, Bush Slashed Domestic Programs by $231 Billion
- Message-ID: <1992Aug14.194842.9650@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Organization: Echo Beach
- Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 19:48:42 GMT
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-
- Here is a press release from the American Federation of State,
- County and Municipal Employees
-
- New State-by-State Report Finds Reagan, Bush Slashed Domestic
- Programs by $231 Billion Since 1981
- To: National Desk, Political Writer
- Contact: Janet Rivera of the American Federation of State,
- County and Municipal Employees, 202-429-1130
-
- WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Domestic programs
- suffered a $231 billion cut during the Reagan and Bush administrations,
- and each state witnessed massive federal aid cuts in programs aimed
- at helping children and families, according to a report released
- today by Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn and the American Federation of
- State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO.
- "The Republican Record," prepared for AFSCME by Fiscal
- Planning Services Inc., a Bethesda, Md.-based firm that tracks federal
- funds for states and cities, is a comprehensive, state-by-state,
- program-by-program, year-by-year analysis of federal spending on
- domestic programs. The report documents the loss in funding from
- what would have been necessary simply to keep up with each year's
- inflation and population changes. The cuts are restated in
- today's (1992) dollars, which would be the amount now needed to restore
- funding to the levels received by these programs before the
- Reagan-Bush cuts.
- The $231 billion cut means that on average, each man, woman
- and child in America received nearly $1,000 less in federal aid for
- programs from education to economic development than they would
- have received had spending remained as it was before the Reagan-Bush
- cuts.
- Speaking at a Washington press conference, AFSCME President
- Gerald W. McEntee said: "The record is clear. The path of undermining
- domestic programs begun by President Reagan has been perpetuated
- by President Bush. And let's not forget that George Bush was in the
- White House throughout this whole time period. All of these cuts
- over the decade took place under his watch. This report shows
- that, unfortunately, some of the programs that received the worst cuts
- were those that would be helping our economy get going today. For
- example, job training programs received the largest cut of all
- programs. This short-sightedness has not only left many
- individuals ill prepared for our changing economy, but our whole national
- economy badly prepared for the global marketplace."
- Flynn said "The Republican Record" "documents a decade of
- 'domestic abuse' by a Republican government that has been
- anti-children, anti-family, anti-American. They have slashed
- programs that help working families, young people and the
- elderly, while at the same time setting new records for federal budget
- deficit and for pink slips for the American worker."
- "The Republican Record" demonstrates that Presidents Reagan
- and Bush aimed their budget attacks on services that have a direct
- impact on workers, families and children, health care, and the nation's
- infrastructure. The following are five of the ten largest
- program cuts, as measured in 1992 dollars:
-
- PROGRAM 10 YEAR CUT
-
- Job training $73 billion
- Medicaid $62 billion
- Community Development $16 billion
- Child Support $10 billion
- Mass Transit $ 7 billion
-
- The report details the policy failure behind many of the
- nation's domestic programs. For example, as middle-income families
- suffered from soaring health care costs, the White House eliminate $69
- billion, measured in 1992 dollars, from health care spending.
- Similarly, in the decade before Los Angeles erupted in riots, the
- White House drained $150 billion in today's dollars from programs
- aimed at helping children and families, another $18 billion from
- housing and the homeless, and $10 billion from education
- programs.
- President Reagan cut grants to states by $195 billion, and
- Bush slashed this by another $35 billion to bring the 10-year
- reduction to $231 billion. Their policies were not identical. While cutting
- most programs, President Reagan launched a few new domestic
- initiatives such as help for the homeless, math and science, and narcotics
- control. President Bush has launched no new domestic program of
- consequence.
- Sharp reductions in federal aid explain much of today's fiscal
- crisis among state and local governments. To make up the
- shortfall, states have long since drained surpluses, cut back services, and
- instituted new taxes.
- "Federalism once meant a partnership where Washington helped.
- What we've got now is 'fend-for-yourself' federalism," McEntee
- said.
- Job training funds were reduced most drastically in Alaska,
- Louisiana, Mississippi and Michigan, all states facing serious
- unemployment problems. Community Development Block Grants were
- cut deepest in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode
- Island, states with troubling inner-city housing problems. The report
- details what the domestic cuts meant for each state and each
- program.
- For example, it shows a $594 loss in Medicaid funds for each New
- Yorker, a $320 loss in Appalachian Regional program help for each
- West Virginian and a $152 loss in waste water treatment support
- for each resident of Wyoming.
- The Republican Record shows that the federal deficit has
- skyrocketed despite domestic cuts. While the Republicans have
- continually cut back domestic programs, the federal deficit has
- continued to rise. According to McEntee, the federal deficit
- grew under the Republican administrations because of "incredible
- increases in defense spending, the savings-and-loan bailout, tax cuts on
- the rich and now a weakened economy."
- The programs examined include nearly 200 that provide aid to
- state and local government. Actual spending on these programs each
- year is compared with the amount of spending that would have been
- necessary to keep up with inflation and demographic changes each year over
- the last decade. In addition, the figures for each year are restated
- in 1992 dollars to show what it would cost to restore the loss in
- federal aid to state and local governments over the past decade
- in today's dollars.
- ------
- Note: Journalists may obtain "The Republican Record" by
- calling
- AFSCME's Public Affairs Department at 202-429-1130.
- Photographs of the news conference are available upon request.
- -30-
-
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-