Posted on 04/04/2002 3:05:29 PM PST by Kay Soze
Bush's Pre-War Record
Dr. David A. Sprintzen, January 31, 2002 If you get your news from mainstream outlets, it's easy to come to the conclusion that our current Administration has done little other than fight a so-called War on Terror. In fact, before the attacks, Georgie and his boys were busy passing laws, cutting funds, pulling out of treaties and placing old cronies in key posts throughout the government. The following list looks back at the Administration's accomplishments prior to 9-11. Whether you agree with them or not, you need to know what your government is doing in your name:
* Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
* Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
P>* Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric training.
* Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.
* Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water.
* Blocked rules that would require federal agencies to offer bilingual assistance to non-English speaking persons.
* Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel Islands and thecoral reefs of northwest Hawaii. San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2001
* Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks.
* Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's ability to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace safety, environmental and other federal laws.
* OK'd Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out letters to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and foresting.
* Appointed John Negroponte - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure- to the post of United Nations ambassador.
* Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain forest conservation.
* Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public hospitals, clinics and providers of care for people without insurance.
* Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
* Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up sites on Western public lands.
* Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for public housing.
* Proposed to eliminate a federal program designed to help communities (and successfully used in Seattle) prepare for natural disasters.
* Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.
* Cut $200 million of work force training for dislocated workers.
* Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
* Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they move from welfare to work.
* Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
* Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public housing.
* Appointed Otto Reich - an un-indicted high level Iran Contra figure - to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
* Cut Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
* Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to get an animal placedon the Endangered Species List.
P>* Rescinded rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps.
* Repealed workplace ergonomic rules designed to improve worker health and safety.
* Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2), the waste gas that contributes to global warming.
* Banned federal aid to international family planning programs that offer abortion counseling with other independent funds.
* Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and Outreach.
* Nominated David Lauriski - ex-mining company executive - to post of Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
* O.K.'d Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a controversial plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast eastern of Florida.
* Announced intention to open up Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest to oil and drilling.
* Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's monuments, which would technicallyallow oil and gas drilling "outside" of national monuments.
* Gutted White House AIDS Office.
* Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate safeguards for theenvironment and workers' rights.
* Will no longer seek guidance from The American Bar Association in recommendations for the federal judiciary appointments.
* Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as Undersecretary of the Interior.
* Took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
* Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
* Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led grizzly bear re-introductionplan scheduled for Idaho and Montana wilderness.
* Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research projects.
* Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial aid for college, though convicted murderers can.
* Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.
* Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's tobacco company lawsuit.
* Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the wealthiest 1% ofAmericans.
* Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills.
* Appointed a Vice President quoted as saying, "If you want to do something about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build nuclear power plants." Vice President Dick Cheney on "Meet the Press."
* Appointed Diana "There is no gender gap in pay" Roth to the Councilof Economic Advisers. Boston Globe, March 28, 2001
* Appointed Kay Cole James - an opponent of affirmative action-to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
* Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of child abuse and neglect.
* Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to get credit cards.
* Proposed elimination of the "Reading is Fundamental" program that gives free books to poor children.
Why? A lot of these look good.
And it is damn nice of the democrats to advertise our accomplishments for us.
and the problem with this statement is......? you have to get the energy form somewhere. Solar is not going to cut it and wind is a joke. Right now most of our power plants are coal or natural gas powered. Both give off carbon dioxide emissions. Nuclear doesn't.
a. cricket
do these people think that energy comes from the energy fairy? sheese
I didn't realize he had a hand in so many good things.
Email stuff is never new on FR....I never get tired of reading these, though.
Waht doea the itlalicized prortion meen?
All kidding aside, can I email this to FOX et al. This is a great political ad. Why, I'd even pay money to advertise in my paper and print this if it would test CFR.
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