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Monday, September 24, 2007
Truly Wasteful Spending
President Bush wants (at least) $200 billion for another year of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he won't pay for health care for kids or veterans, or more cancer research, all things that would be funded under proposals Congress is considering but the President has threatened to veto. Dean Baker on the President's perverse priorities:
Another way to assess the importance of spending on the war is to compare it with other budget items that have been in the news. The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) provides an obvious example. President Bush is threatening Congress with a veto if it appropriates more money than he has requested.
The difference between the bill likely to be approved by Congress and the amount requested by President Bush is $30 billion over five years or $6 billion per year ($20 per person per year). The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this money would be enough to insure another 4 million children.
Let's compare the amount in dispute on the SCHIP bill with spending on the Iraq War. The $120 billion a year in spending on the war comes to about $10 billion a month, or $0.3 billion a day. This means every 20 days we spend enough money in Iraq to make up the full difference between the SCHIP bill likely to be approved by Congress and the amount of money requested by President Bush. Since CBO estimates this additional funding would ensure four million kids, we can conclude that every day we spend enough money on the war in Iraq to insure 200,000 kids for a year.
The SCHIP vote in the House is tomorrow. Tell your representative to vote for it and to override Bush's looming veto. You can call toll free, 1-866-544-7573.
Enough of all this insanity, already.
Posted by Matt Lewis
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