Peace Facts

compiled by Lisa Ann Pierce, WAMM

For twenty years, WAMM has sought to expose the myth that domestic and foreign policy are distinct from one another. In fact, the two have everything to do with one another if only for this reason: They are both funded out of the same pot. Increased spending on defense and foreign military aid has a direct relationship to decreased spending on housing, health care, education, and other valuable human services. Public budgets, then, can be read like a barometer calibrated to measure justice. For a quick measurement, one need only examine the impact of budget cuts and increases on the people of Minnesota, the nation, and the world.

The Cuts: States Sacrifice Human Services

States around the nation are in fiscal crisis. The National Governors Association estimates that total state budget deficits nationwide for the current fiscal year will exceed $40 billion. In response, many states have chosen to reduce spending on low-income and human-service programs, despite the fact that other, less harmful options exist (e.g., creating equity in how the poor and the wealthy are taxed). A January 2002 study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities revealed that "more than two-thirds of the states have already taken steps to cut spending on programs that serve low-income residents" (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, www.cbpp.org).

The Minnesota Budget Project (www.mncn.org/bp/) reports that "the net effect of expenditure changes made in the 2002 [Minnesota Legislative] session is a $471.1 million reduction in 2002-03 and a $1.797 billion reduction in 2004-05. In 2002-03, the reductions come from specified cuts affecting nearly every major spending category, as well as a state hiring freeze and contracts moratorium."

Minnesota Public Radio reported that the state budget cuts will result in a 17 percent drop for the Department of Children, Families and Learning. Reportedly, Commissioner Christine Jax says her agency is now "one of the smallest state education departments in the nation."

More Cuts: Federal Funding for State Programs Shrinks

While Minnesota, 42 other states, and the District of Columbia face extraordinary budget shortfalls for 2002, the federal government is doing little to help states. Despite the $27 billion state shortfalls, under George W. Bush's proposed FY2003 budget, the total amount in federal grant programs to states will shrink by $2.4 billion (once adjusted for inflation). Under the plan, Minnesota will lose:

Highway Planning and Construction	-$115,602,300
Airport Improvement Program	-$11,011,100
Workforce Investment Act	-$5,323,300
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program	-$13,229,960
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Programs	-$6,031,800
Clean Water State Revolving Fund	-$3,276,960
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund	-$2,035,720

In addition, the Child Care and Development Block Grant and some other state grants will be level-funded, which means that, after inflation, programs using these grants will have less spending power and will be forced to curtail services.

The Increases: Federal Tax Cuts to the Rich and Corporate Welfare Flourish

So with all these cuts, the federal government must be saving the taxpayers some money, right? Actually, the Bush Administration has managed to turn a federal surplus into a deficit.

Bush is seeking to make permanent his 2001 tax-cut package, which primarily benefits the wealthiest people. If Bush has his way, "when the entire tax cut is fully in effect, the tax cuts conferred on the one percent of taxpayers with the highest incomes will be equal in cost to one and one-half times the Department of Education budget, larger than the budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Transportation, and nearly nine times the size of the EPA budget" (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, www.cbpp.org).

Of gravest concern, however, is the boost to defense contractors. Even before September 11, the Bush Administration had proposed a ten percent increase in the military budget for FY2002. If the current emergency supplemental proposal is approved, the FY2002 budget will grow by $14 billion. And for FY2003, Bush has proposed an increase of $46 billion.

Looking at all these shifts and changes in public budgets, one cannot help but wonder exactly what American values we are defending in this "War on Terrorism."

Except where otherwise noted, the information for this article was compiled from the National Priorities Project (NPP) Web site:
National Priorities Project
17 New South Street, Suite 302
Northampton, MA 01060
413-584-9556
info@nationalpriorities.org
www.nationalpriorities.org