President Bush introduced America to the idea of compassionate conservatism,
and indeed Bush has
demonstrated a high level of compassion. Unfortunately, his compassion
has been reserved for
the moneyed interests who filled his political coffers and helped to
secure his theft of the Presidency.
After all, special interest groups contributed an unprecedented amount
of campaign contributions,
and now the chickens have come home to roost.
Here’s the list of 80 failures that the Bush Administration has produced in his first 100 days.
Bush calls himself a 'Reformer with results'. But he only seems bent
on reforming laws that were intended
to protect America's families, America's workers, and America's environment.
The results have been a boon
for corporate interests, and devastating for the American people.
1. Bush campaigned on a pledge to provide a $1.6 trillion tax cut to America's wealthiest families.
2. Bush named the wealthiest cabinet in the history of the United States.
3. Bush's Cabinet stumped for the President's tax cut proposal.
4. Bush's number one priority in his first 100 days has been promoting
a tax plan that will cost $2. 6
trillion over the next ten years. 45% of his cut will benefit the wealthiest
one- percent of taxpayers,
people with an average income of $915,000.
5. The Bush tax plan against women and lower income earners gives no
tax relief at all to those families
too poor to pay income taxes (12 million families with 24 million children),
no tax deductions for 53% of
Black and Hispanic families; and no tax cuts made for single persons
earning between $6,001 to $27,050 nor
for married persons earning $12,001 to $45,200.
6. The administration's proposal also fails to make adjustments that
would make tax rates truly
progressive. Completely untouched is the regressive payroll tax that
places the heaviest burden on low to
middle income workers, predominately female, while leaving in place
a substantial break for high income
earners who make no payroll tax contributions above the $80,400 level
(most of whom are men, of course).
7. Bush' tax cut would wipe out the rest of any funds available, leaving
nothing for future contingencies,
including shoring up Social Security.
8. The richest cabinet in history will get a kickback of over $100 million
through Bush's efforts to push
the Estate Tax legislation through Congress.
9. The Republican Party is so devoid of talent that Bush named a record
number of George Herbert Walker
retreads to his Administration. There's no question about one assignment
that's going to get a big, fat
"Incomplete" --installing the 487 top officials who will run the executive
branch the next four years. 90%
of assigned positions are unfilled.
10. Our new Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, recently campaigned
on eliminating the Department of
Energy, the very program he now runs, while also leading efforts to
prevent increased fuel efficiency
in vehicles.
11. Our Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, has led efforts to rollback
endangered species protection
and allowed mining company polluters to escape clean up requirements
and liability.
12. Bush appoints Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior because she believes
that corporations have a
constitutional right to pollute.
13. Gale Norton's first concrete attempt at a regulatory rollback was
a proposal to gut updated
environmental mining regulations that went into effect at the end of
the Clinton administration. Independent
reports estimate that taxpayers could be on the hook for about $1 billion
in environmental cleanup costs
from today's mines.
14. President Bush's choice for the No. 3 spot at the Department of
Energy is Robert G. Card, who until
recently was CEO and president of a nuclear cleanup contractor that
has been fined or penalized more than
$725,000 for numerous worker safety, procurement and other violations
since 1996.
15. The New Attorney General has a history of blocking enforcement of
environmental laws; and throughout his
career, Ashcroft has worked tirelessly to restrict a woman's right
to choose.
16. The new head of the EPA, Christine Whitman, who doubts that global
warming is a serious problem,
defended global warming and got kicked by Bush. In a memo from Whitman
to Bush, the EPA Administrator
stressed the need for Bush to "appear" to be engaged in addressing
global warming, as if the environment
responds to appearances.
17. Tommy Thompson, the new Secretary of the Department Of Health And
Human Services was one of the
country's most anti-choice governors and now heads up the department
that wields the greatest influence over
policies affecting women's reproductive health.
18. Bush named Don Eberly, a right wing activist who was an official
with the National Fatherhood
Institute, to head up a White House office for faith-based programs.
Some women's rights advocates
are concerned that Eberly will utilize the office to help funnel even
more federal monies to misogynist
groups who promote so-called fatherhood initiatives.
19. John Negroponte, Bush's appointee for UN Ambassador has a track
record of disrespecting human
rights. During his tour as ambassador to Honduras, Negroponte earned
his reputation for being soft on
human rights abuses. Under the helm of General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez,
Honduras's military government was
both a close ally of the Reagan administration and was disappearing
dozens of political opponents in classic
death squad fashion. Negroponte turned a blind eye to human rights
abuses and even helped to cover up
extrajudicial killings.
20. Bush's appointee for Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and
International Security, John Bolton,
does not belong in the arms control job because, as the director of
the Carnegie Non-Proliferation
Project, Joseph Cirincione, says: "Bolton is philosophically opposed
to most of the international
treaties that comprise the nonproliferation regime."
21. The nomination of Cuban-born Otto J. Reich as the State Department's
top Latin America official is
drawing Democratic criticism based on his role in the 1980s Central
American wars. The Democrats' concerns
over Reich focus on his leadership of the State Department's one-time
Office of Public Diplomacy for
Latin America and the Caribbean. The office - which Reich led from
its inception in June 1983 until
January 1986 - was accused of running an illegal, covert domestic propaganda
effort against Nicaragua's
leftist Sandinista government and in favor of the Contra rebels.
22. Bush named Linda Fisher, an executive with Monsanto Co., a leading
developer of the world's most
dangerous chemicals and biotech foods, for the second-ranking job at
the Environmental Protection
Agency, the White House said yesterday.
23. Energy interests gave $2.9 million to Bush for his political campaign,
and then kicked in an additional
$2.2 million for his inauguration fund.
24. Bush plans to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
and to sell out our public
lands to private interests.
25. He did a big favor for major electricity wholesalers by keeping
the federal government largely
out of the California energy crisis, which has produced major profits
for energy companies including
Dynegy Inc., Enron Corp. and Reliant Energy Inc., all of which are
based in Bush's home state of Texas.
26. Bush showed his loyalty to the coal mining and electricity industries
when he reversed a campaign
pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which may have saved an
estimated 30,000 lives a year of those
who die due to respiratory illness.
27. Bush endangered the world's future and damaged our credibility in
the International community when he
announced the United States' withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol; an
international treaty aimed at combating
global warming. Seems that he's more interested in changing the global
climate than the political climate.
28. Dick Cheney formulated crucial energy policy decisions behind closed doors.
29. Cheney's task force focused heavily on incentives for production;
easing regulatory barriers for energy
development; and opening more public lands to drilling including national
monuments and the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
30. Americans, by a remarkable 7-to-1 margin, think that Bush is less
concerned about protecting the
environment than about protecting the interests of the energy industry.
31. Despite objections from his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush,
he plans on auctioning offshore oil
and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Seems that natural gas is thicker
then blood.
32. The Bush administration announced that it will block a rule from
Clinton's administration requiring
more energy efficient air conditioners.
33. Republican representative Sherwood Boehlert said that the Bush first
100 days deserve the grade of
"incomplete in dealing with the environment."
34. Bush's budget proposes slashing more than $200 million from federal
renewable energy and efficiency
research programs, even as his administration declares the United States
needs to find ways to cope with an
"energy crisis."
35. The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro melt away as global temperatures
and ocean levels rise, Bush plans nothing
to address it.
36. The Environmental Protection Agency announced it would withdraw
the pending decrease in allowable
arsenic for drinking water, prepared during the final days of the Clinton
administration.
37. Bush asked Congress to remove from the Endangered Species Act a
provision that allows environmental
groups and others to sue the Interior Department to get rare plants
and animals listed as endangered.
38. The Bush Administration plans to suspend rules that require federal
contractors to comply with
environmental, civil rights and labor laws.
39. In Quebec, Bush announced his intention to promote a trade plan
for the Americas based on the failed
NAFTA model. This will lead to further erosion of labor rights, human
rights, and environmental
protections throughout the hemisphere.
40. And Bush is looking to kill the roadless policy rule that will protect
millions of acres of public
land from taxpayer subsidized logging.
41. A Bush White House aide confirms that Bush is taking a look at recommending
easing clean air
regulations without Congressional actions, thus saving utilities and
coal-mining companies billions of dollars
of violations of clean air regulations and at the same time mooting
legal action against polluting companies.
42. Bush was the top recipient of contributions from tobacco companies.
Through carefully orchestrated
budget cuts, Bush has managed to kill the lawsuit that the Justice
Department has against big tobacco for
deliberately deceiving the American people on public health issues.
This move could potentially save big
tobacco billions.
43. Speaking of Bankrupt public policy. Legislation championed for years
by the financial industry that
would make it harder for consumers to wipe away their debts was passed
by an overwhelming margin in both
chambers of Congress. Though a similar measure had been approved last
year, President Clinton vetoed it.
Bush, however, has signaled he will sign the bill, a move that could
generate an estimated tens of millions
of dollars in additional revenue for major credit card companies.
44. Where did Bush's enthusiasm come from? Charles Cawley, President
of MBNA America personally raised at
least $100,000 for the Bush campaign, qualifying him for admission
into the Pioneers, the campaign's roster
of top supporters. Last January, Cawley broke out his checkbook again,
writing a $100,000 check to the
Bush-Cheney Inaugural Fund.
45. The US Chamber of Commerce contributed more than $514, 000 to candidates
and parties, 94% of that money
went to Republicans, and the National Association of Manufacturers
spent $12.8 million lobbying Members of
Congress from 1997 to 1999.
46. In a private meeting in late February, Bush and Republican congressional
leaders decided to kill the
ergonomics rule put forth by the Clinton Administration, which would
protect workers from
workplace related injuries.
47. Following his pledge to leave no [rich] child behind, President
Bush's budget reduces resources for
the Child Care and Development Block Grant projects by $ 200 million.
That means that many low-income
children will no longer be eligible for childcare, making it more difficult
for their parents to work.
48. Bush plans to eliminate all funding for the Early Learning Opportunities
program, which would have
supported parent education and family support services.
49. Bush's budget will shortchange vital education programs; including
efforts to reduce class sizes,
improve teacher training, repair crumbling schools, promote after-school
programs, and increase the number
of Pell Grants available to low income freshmen.
50. Bush plans to cut in half grants that help states investigate and prevent child abuse and neglect.
51. President Bush has proposed a regime of annual testing for all students
between grades three and
eight. Schools that demonstrated an improvement in performance would
be granted increased federal
funding. Students at schools designated as low-performing would, after
three years, be able to
use their share of federal funds to attend other public or private
schools. The school would then be
privatized with the assistance of the federal government.
52. Bush's budget does not even provide funds to keep up with inflation
for the WIC program, which provides
vital nutrition assistance to low-income women, infants, and children.
53. On the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, President Bush ordered the reinstatement
of the global "gag" rule on
international family planning programs, programs that strive to prevent
unintended pregnancies, reduce
abortion, and avert hundreds of thousands of infant and maternal deaths
worldwide each year.
54. Bush is prepared to unilaterally abrogate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
55. Bush strongly advocates the National Missile Defense System or "Star
Wars". This program has cost
taxpayers over $40 billion to date, and yet it has failed repeatedly
in carefully orchestrated tests. The
program is destabilizing and China has already indicated that it would
initiate an arms race if the
US pursues the program.
56. The Bush administration has put its European allies on notice that
it intends to move quickly to
develop a missile defense and plans to abandon or fundamentally alter
the treaty that has been the
keystone of arms control for nearly 30 years.
57. Bush said he would suspend negotiations with North Korea, this strict
stance on Korea has soured
once-improving relations with North Korea.
58. The US bombs 10 miles outside of Baghdad- -a major metropolitan area- -saying that the area was "unpopulated."
59. Plans by US President George W Bush to sell weapons including eight
diesel-powered submarines to
Taiwan have received an embarrassing setback at the hands of European
governments. Neither the Germans nor
the Dutch, who have sown up the market in diesel submarines, are willing
to allow the sale of the subs to Taiwan.
60. Under Bush, there has been a growing Anti-US feeling in the EU and around the world.
61. Bush's decision to proceed with arms sales to TaiwanoChina has said
that offensive weapons such as
subs will only lead to greater tensions in Asia.
62. Bush's commitment to the Balkans. While trying to build peace he
is reducing US commitment to peace
building. Same with the Middle East where tensions are growing and
he is seeking to be less involved.
63. Bush has continued use of drug certification and the nomination of another hard liner to lead the War on Drugs.
64. President Bush worked with the CIA and a Private Military Company
to cover up their responsibility in
the deaths of two American missionaries killed by a Peruvian fighter
as part of US drug war strategy.
65. For women who depend upon government to advance economic equity
in an economically unjust society,
there would be little or no money for improved child care/early childhood
education programs, effective
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforcement against discrimination
and harassment.
66. There will be little or no money for expansion of Violence Against
Women programs, few options for expansion
of health care coverage to the 43 million uncovered, no funds for a
new prescription drug benefit for seniors.
67. A multi-trillion dollar tax cut may also jeopardize the future financial
solvency of Social Security and Medicare
-- the majority of beneficiaries being women -- and there will be few
resources remaining for critically needed social investments.
68. Bush proposes to privatize Social Security, a move that jeopardizes the financial future of millions of Americans.
69. President Bush announced an expanded faith-based initiative and
a vigorous, but misguided campaign to
turn over social service programs to religious organizations. Faith-based
initiatives, a more
pernicious version of the old "charitable choice," would permit direct
federal funding of programs run by
religious organizations, free to proselytize and discriminate, that
would have little public accountability.
70. Bush's faith based initiative faces major setback: people of faith have little faith in it!
71. President Bush's budget will propose deep cuts in a variety of health
programs for people without health
insurance. Services providing "health care access for the uninsured,"
would be reduced 86 percent, to $20
million, from $140 million in the current fiscal year.
72. Mr. Bush's budget request would also cut federal spending for the
training of doctors, dentists,
nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals.
73. Bush put a stop to giving unions preference on contracts for federal building projects.
74. Senator Pete Domenici disagrees vehemently with Bush's decision to hold all federal spending to no more than a 4% increase.
75. Kathy Harris, symbol of a purposely-failed election, travels to
Washington to testify before
Congress on the need to have elections that the people can believe
in.
76. George W. Bush needs to win the Florida electoral college vote more
in 2004 than in 2000. Therefore,
don't look too soon for any election reform from this President.
77. According to David Broder, "The Bush White House so far has not
made changing the election system a
priority. The President's proposed budget, along with the budget resolutions
of the House and Senate, set
aside no fund for federal aid for improving election equipment or administration.
78. Republican Jim Ramstad said that Bush White House interference in
Minnesota politics could end up
hurting the party. A phone call by Dick Cheney to dissuade a potential
candidate from running has all
the markings of Bush and Cheney trying to be a "kingmaker" thwarting
the will of the people.
79. World reaction was tepid, critical or simply silent to President
Bush's announcement that the
United States would build a shield against ballistic missile attacks.
80. President Bush throws a bash featuring 535 Members of Congress to
celebrate his first 100 days and schedules it
on a Monday when few Members of Congress are in town: fewer than 200
Members of Congress bothered to show up.