George W. Bush's first year in office
In George W. Bush's first year in office he:
1. Significantly eased field-testing controls
of genetically engineered crops.
2. Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
3. Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to
get advanced pediatric training.
4. Cut funding for research into renewable energy
sources by 50%.
5. Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable
levels of arsenic in drinking water.
6. Blocked rules that would require federal agencies
to offer bilingual assistance to non-English speaking persons.
This, from a candidate who
would readily fire-up his Spanish-speaking skills in front of would-be
Hispanic voters.
7. Proposed to eliminate new marine protections
for the Channel Islands and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii
(please see San Francisco
Chronicle, April 6, 2001).
8. Cut funding for research into cleaner, more
efficient cars and trucks by 28%
9. Suspended rules that would have strengthened
the government's ability to deny contracts to companies
that violated workplace safety,
environmental and other federal laws.
10. Approved the sending of letters by Interior
Department appointee Gale Norton to state officials soliciting
suggestions for
opening up national monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and
foresting.
11. Appointed John Negroponte -- an unindicted
high-level Iran Contra figure to the post of United Nations Ambassador.
12. Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100
million for rainforest conservation.
13. Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program
for public hospitals, clinics and providers of care for people
without insurance.
14. Rescinded a proposal to increase public access
to information about the potential consequences resulting
from chemical
plant accidents.
15. Suspended rules that would require hardrock
miners to clean up sites on public lands.
16. Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs
of America program for public housing.
17. Proposed to eliminate a federal program,
designed and successfully used in Seattle, to help communities
prepare for natural
disasters.
18. Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global
warming agreement.
19. Cut $200 million of work force training for
dislocated workers.
20. Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve
Program, which encourages farmers to maintain wetlands
habitat on their
property.
21. Cut program to provide childcare to low-income
families as they move from welfare to work.
22. Cut a program that provided prescription
contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
23. Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs
in public housing.
24. Appointed Otto Reich -- an un-indicted high-level
Iran Contra figure -- to Assistant Secretary of State
for Inter-American
Affairs.
25. Cut the budget of the Environmental Protection
Agency by $500 million.
26. Proposed to curtail the ability of groups
to sue in order to get an animal placed on the Endangered Species List.
27. Rescinded the rule that mandated increased
energy-saving efficiency regulations for central air conditioners and heat
pumps.
28. Repealed workplace ergonomic rules designed
to improve worker health and safety.
29. Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon
dioxide, the waste gas that contributes to global warming.
30. Banned federal aid to international family
planning programs that offer abortion counseling with other independent
funds.
31. Closed the White House Office for Women's
Health Initiatives and Outreach.
32. Nominated David Lauriski -- an ex-mining
company executive --- to post of Assistant Secretary of Labor
for Mine
Safety and Health.
33. Approved a controversial plan by Interior
Secretary Gale Norton to auction oil and gas development tracts
off the coast
of eastern Florida.
34. Announced intention to open up Montana's
Lewis and Clark National Forest to oil and drilling.
35. Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's
monuments, which would technically allow oil and gas drilling
"outside" of national
monuments.
36. Gutted the White House AIDS Office.
37. Renegotiated a free trade agreement with
Jordan to eliminate workers's rights and safeguards for the environment.
38. Will no longer seek guidance from The American
Bar Association in recommendations for the federal
judiciary
appointments.
39. Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as
Undersecretary of the Interior.
40. Took steps to abolish the White House Council
on Environmental Quality.
41. Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services
program.
42. Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to
shelve citizen-led grizzly bear re- introduction plan scheduled
for Idaho and
Montana wilderness.
43. Continues to hold up federal funding for
stem cell research projects.
44. Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users
cannot get financial aid for college, though convicted murderers can.
45. Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag
heap in Utah.
46. Refused to fund continued litigation of the
government's tobacco company lawsuit.
47. Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, 43% of which
will go to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
48. Signed a bill making it harder for poor and
middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy,
even in the case
of daunting medical bills.
49. 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." (Meet the Press.")
50. Appointed Diana Roth to the Council of Economic
Advisers. ("There is no gender gap in pay",
Boston Globe,
March 28, 2001.)
51. Appointed Kay Cole James, an opponent of
affirmative action, to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
52. Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to
investigate cases of child abuse and neglect.
53. Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher
for teenagers to get credit cards.
54. Proposed elimination of the "Reading is Fundamental"
program that gives free books to poor children.
55. Is pushing for development of small nuclear
arms to attack deeply buried targets and weapons.
This would violate
the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
56. Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton, the
attorney responsible for a recent case weakening the Americans
with Disabilities
Act, to federal appeals court judgeship.
57. Proposes to reverse regulation protecting
60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
58. Eliminated funding for the "We the People"
education program which taught school children about the Constitution,
the Bill of Rights
and citizenship.
59. Appointed John Bolton, who opposes nonproliferation
treaties and the UN, to Undersecretary of State for Arms
Control and International
Security.
60. Nominated Linda Fisher, an executive with
Monsanto, for the number-two job at the EPA.
61. Nominated Michael McConnell, leading critic
of the separation of church and state, to a federal judgeship.
62. Nominated Terrence Boyle, an ardent opponent
of civil rights, to a federal judgeship.
63. Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to
develop prototype high mileage cars.
64. Nominated Harvey Pitts, a lawyer for a teen
sex video distributor, to head SEC.
65. Nominated John Walters, a strong opponent
of prison drug treatment programs, to be Drug Czar.
(Washington Post,
May 16, 2001.)
66. Nominated J. Steven Giles, an oil and coal
lobbyist, for Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
67. Nominated Bennett Raley, who advocates repealing
the Endangered Species Act, for Assistant Secretary for
Water and Science
68. Is seeking the dismissal of class-action
lawsuit filed in the US against Japan by Asian women forced to work
as sex slaves
during WWII.
69. Earmarked $4 million in new federal grant
money for HIV and drug abuse prevention programs to go only to
religious groups
and not secular equivalents.
70. Reduced the Low Income Home Assistance Program
by 40%; it aided low- income individuals who need
assistance paying
energy bills.
71. Nominated Ted Olson, who has repeatedly lied
about his involvement with the Scaiffe-funded "Arkansas Project"
to bring down
Bill Clinton, for Solicitor General.
72. Nominated Terrance Boyle, a foe of civil
rights, to a federal judgeship. (repeat)
73. Proposes to ease permit process, including
environmental considerations, for refinery, nuclear and hydroelectric
dam construction.
(Washington Post, May 18, 2001.)
74. Proposes to give government the authority
to take private property through eminent domain for power lines.
75. Proposes that $1.2 billion in funding for
alternative renewable energy come from selling oil and gas lease
tracts in the
Alaska National Wildlife Reserve.
76. Plans on serving genetically engineered foods
at all official government functions.
77. Forced out Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck
and appointed a timber industry lobbyist.
This list is by no means complete.
Added later:
78. Directed the FBI And CIA to "back off" their investigation of the
bin Laden family.
79. Sent $43 million to the Taliban less than six months before the
September 11 terrorist attack.
80. Reneged on a campaign promise to prohibit storage of additional
radioactive waste at the
Yucca Mountain facility, calling for an additional
77,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste
to be transferred to the site. (That
promise delivered Nevada's four electoral votes and
- with the assistance of the Supreme
Court - the presidency.)
81. Promised $20 billion to assist New York City with cleanup, relief
and rebuilding efforts
and later shorted the city $9 billion,
lowering that number to $11 billion.
...and he didn't even with the damn election.
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