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Budget priorities out of balance

By PHILIP GAILEY
Published February 13, 2005

Before we play "Cut the Budget" with members of Congress, a few words about President Bush's first real attempt at deficit reduction. Some of the budget cuts he proposes are commendable; others are cruel. But like almost everything else emanating from this White House, from the cost of Medicare prescription drugs to Social Security overhaul, his budget is dishonest. For example, it includes not a dime for the cost of the war in Iraq. Its numbers don't add up, and its priorities are wrong-headed - cuts in Medicaid for the poor, food stamps, education, veterans' care, home-heating assistance, among other programs.

Let's face it, both Republicans and Democrats love big government. The Democrats want it to serve the poor; the Republicans want it to serve the well-off. Republicans have never met a tax they didn't want to cut; Democrats have never found a budget item they want to cut. The Republican-controlled Congress has been on a spending binge since Bush became president, and he has yet to veto a single budget bill. Meanwhile, the government piles up massive deficits and runs on borrowed money.

In Washington, pork-barrel politics always trumps fiscal discipline. Last year, I asked a Democratic congressman who calls himself a deficit hawk to name a single federal program he would cut. After a long pause, he couldn't think of one.

The president's $419-billion defense budget calls for eliminating the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, based in Jacksonville. Florida's senior senator, Bill Nelson, sounds like saving the carrier is his highest budget priority. "I will fight this till the last dog dies," said Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The state's new senator, Republican Mel Martinez, and Gov. Jeb Bush have tossed their dogs into the fight to save the carrier.

Maybe dogs wouldn't have to die if Nelson and Martinez and other Florida lawmakers were willing to take on some sacred cows. They could make a deal with the president - spare the state's lone aircraft carrier and they will come up with budget cuts in other areas to offset the cost. If they could muster a little political courage, I'm sure our lawmakers could scrape up enough in budget savings to keep that big ship out of mothballs.

Here's an easy one: Our lawmakers could support the president's proposal to slash government welfare for big corporate farmers. The farm subsidy program is a national scandal. Bush wants to cap subsidies at $250,000 per farmer, down from $360,000, and close loopholes that have allowed the subsidies to exceed $1-million to some corporate farmers. Before you start wailing about the disappearance of "the family farm," remember that these subsidies go overwhelmingly to big agricultural companies that grow a range of commodities like cotton, corn, rice, wheat and soybeans. There is some serious money to be saved here, probably more than enough to keep the aircraft carrier in Jacksonville.

While we're looking at farm subsidies, what about those price supports for big sugar growers in South Florida? Eliminating that federal sweetener for Big Sugar not only would save taxpayers money but would also benefit consumers, who pay millions of extra dollars for products sweetened with sugar because of the price supports. The sugar lobby, of course, is politically powerful, and few Florida politicians want to cross sugar growers.

The Bush administration also wants to eliminate the federal subsidy for Amtrak, the nation's passenger train system. That would save more than $1-billion a year. Oh, I forgot. Tourists ride Amtrak trains to Florida - some because, like me, they are romantics when it comes to train travel. All aboard?

Medicare might yield a few dollars in savings around the edges. At a time when Medicare, the health care program for the elderly, is on the verge of bankruptcy, the Bush administration has added a costly prescription drug program that will now cover the cost of erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra. Surely Florida's congressional delegation can make the case that protecting the John F. Kennedy is a higher budget priority than the stimulating the sex lives of seniors. They could support a bill introduced by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, that would eliminate Medicare coverage for lifestyle prescription drugs.

So what are the priorities of Florida's deficit hawks - the aircraft carrier or Amtrak, food stamps for the poor or Viagra for Medicare recipients, subsidies and price supports for big corporate farmers or home-heating assistance for the needy at a time of rising energy prices?

All Americans should be asking their congressional representatives the same question.

Philip Gailey's e-mail address is gailey@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 13, 2005, 01:16:07]