Get your own Free Home PageWhat the president is doing in office
By: Dr. David A. Sprintzen Professor of Philosophy Co-Director, Institute for Sustainable Development C.W. Post College,Long Island University 720 Northern Boulevard Brookville, NY 11548-1300 (516)299-3051 fax: (516) 299-4140 dsprintz@liu.edu
The First Six Months of George W. Bush: Whatever your beliefs, know what your president is doing. Here is a list of his work in his first six months:
* Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
* Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
* Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced paediatric training.
* Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.
* Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic drinking water.
* 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.
* Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel Islands and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii. San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2001
* Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks.
* Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's ability to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace safety, environmental and other federal laws.
* OK'd Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out letters to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and foresting.
* Appointed John Negroponte - an un-indicted high level Iran Contra figure - to the post of United Nations ambassador.
* Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain forest conservation.
* Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public hospitals, clinics and providers of care for people without insurance.
* Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
* Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up sites on Western public lands.
* Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for public housing.
* Proposed to eliminate a federal program designed to help communities (and successfully used in Seattle) prepare for natural disasters.
* Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.
* Cut $200 million of work force training for dislocated workers.
* Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
* Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they move from welfare to work.
* Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
* Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public housing.
* Appointed Otto Reich - an un-indicted high level Iran Contra figure-to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
* Cut Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
* Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to get an animal placed on the Endangered Species List.
* Rescinded rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps.
* Repealed workplace ergonomic rules designed to improve worker health and safety.
* Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2), the waste gas that contributes to global warming.
* Banned federal aid to international family planning programs that offer abortion counselling with other independent funds.
* Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and Outreach.
* Nominated David Lauriski - ex-mining company executive-to post of Assistant Secretary of Labour for Mine Safety and Health.
* O.K.'d Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a controversial plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast eastern of Florida.
* Announced intention to open up Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest to oil and drilling.
* Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's monuments, which would technically allow oil and gas drilling "outside" of national monuments.
* Gutted White House AIDS Office.
* Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate safeguards for the environment and workers' rights.
* Will no longer seek guidance from The American Bar Association in recommendations for the federal judiciary appointments.
* Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as Undersecretary of the Interior.
* Took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
* Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
* Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led grizzly bear re-introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana wilderness.
* Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research projects.
* Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial aid for college, though convicted murderers can.
* Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.
* Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's tobacco company lawsuit.
* Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
* Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills.
* 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."Vice President Dick Cheney on "Meet the Press."
* Appointed Diana "There is no gender gap in pay" Roth to the Council of Economic Advisers. Boston Globe, March 28, 2001
* Appointed Kay Cole James - an opponent of affirmative action-to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
* Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of child abuse and neglect.
* Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to get credit cards.
* Proposed elimination of the "Reading is Fundamental" program that gives free books to poor children.
* Is pushing for development of small nuclear weapons to attack deeply buried targets-weapons, which would violate the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
* Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton-attorney responsible for the recent case weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act-to federal appeals court judgeship.
* Proposes to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
* Eliminated funding for the "We the People" education program which taught schoolchildren about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and citizenship.
* Appointed John Bolton - who opposes non proliferation treaties and the U.N. -to Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
* Nominated Linda Fisher - an executive with Monsanto-for the number two job at the Environmental Protection Agency.
* Nominated Michael McConnell - leading critic of the separation of church and state - to a federal judgeship.
* Nominated Terrence Boyle - ardent opponent of civil rights - to a federal judgeship.
* Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high mileage cars.
* Nominated Harvey Pitts - lawyer for teen sex video distributor-to head SEC.
* Nominated John Walters - strong opponent of prison drug treatment programs - for Drug Czar. Washington Post, May 16, 2001.
* Nominated J. Steven Giles - an oil and coal lobbyist - for Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
* Nominated Bennett Raley - who advocates repealing the Endangered Species Act - for Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.
* Is seeking the dismissal of class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves during WWII.
* 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.
* Reduced by 40% the Low Income Home Assistance Program for low-income individuals who need assistance paying energy bills.
* Nominated Ted Olson - who has repeatedly lied about his involvement with the Scaiffe-funded "Arkansas Project" to bring down Bill Clinton - for Solicitor General.
* Nominated Terrance Boyle - foe of civil rights - to a federal judgeship.
* Proposes to ease permit process - including environmental considerations - for refinery, nuclear and hydroelectric dam construction. Washington Post, May 18,2001.
* Proposes to give government the authority to take private property through eminent domain for power lines.
* 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.
* Plans on serving genetically engineered foods at all official government functions.
* Forced out Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck and appointed a timber industry lobbyist
Get your own Free Home Page