Sacrifice

If President Bush is reelected, there will be spending cuts for "virtually all agencies in charge of domestic programs"--even homeland security. Read the details here: 2006 Cuts In Domestic Spending On Table (washingtonpost.com) [link found at Body and Soul] An excerpt:

The funding levels referred to in the memo would be a tiny slice out of the federal budget -- $2.3 billion, or 0.56 percent, out of the $412.7 billion requested for fiscal 2005 for domestic programs and homeland security that is subject to Congress's annual discretion.

But the cuts are politically sensitive, targeting popular programs that Bush has been touting on the campaign trail. The Education Department; a nutrition program for women, infants and children; Head Start; and homeownership, job-training, medical research and science programs all face cuts in 2006.

"Despite [administration] denials, this memorandum confirms what we suspected all along," said Thomas S. Kahn, Democratic staff director on the House Budget Committee. "Next February, the administration plans to propose spending cuts in key government services to pay for oversized tax cuts."

But with the budget deficit exceeding $400 billion this year, tough and painful cuts are unavoidable, said Brian M. Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Federal agencies' discretionary spending has risen 39 percent in the past three years. "I think the public is ready for spending cuts," Riedl said. "Not only does the public understand there's a lot of waste in the federal budget, but the public is ready to make sacrifices during the war on terror."

...Amazing how discretionary spending spirals out of control when Republicans are in control. And they talk about 'sacrifice' now, when young American soldiers are dying every day in a pointless and counterproductive war. And the wealthy cannot pay more in taxes . . .