FYI - I believe the CDF's analysis of the impact of the Bush lame duck 
administration's budget choices
affecting the nation's children is precisely the kind of debate that's 
needed to bring front and center just how economic inequality and social 
injustice destroys lives and imposes otherwise avoidable suffering on 
large numbers of our most vulnerable households. This has got to stop 
now - before Bush leaves office.

Note that although the war in Iraq has been estimated to have cost a 
horrific one trillion dollars so far, the Bush administration's tax 
policies will easily cost TWICE that by FY09, even if not extended. That 
incredible amount has been diverted and extracted from not only all 
manner of federal level agencies and programs related to health and 
safety, human services, education, infrastructure, science, 
technological innovation and economic development, but also has reached 
down into state and local level government budgets, sending many of them 
into slash and burn crisis mode.

And most of these tax cuts go to further advantage the most wealthy, 
perhaps the top 5% of America's
households while it disadvantages the bottom half of households so much 
so, that infant mortality
rates that, while nothing to be proud about in comparison to other 
nations, were at least dropping before,
are now actually rising, along with unemployment, foreclosures, child 
poverty, and incarceration rates (particularly for African-Americans and 
Latinos).

-- Alice Furumoto-Dawson, Ph.D.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2008

CONTACT: Children's Defense Fund
Ed Shelleby 202-662-3602

CDF Calls President Bush's FY09 Budget Shameful
Millions of Children, Low-Income Families Left Behind


WASHINGTON, DC - March 4 - The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) today 
blasted President Bush’s FY09 budget request, calling it yet another 
irresponsible proposal that would ignore the needs of millions of 
vulnerable children and families. CDF criticized the President's 
proposal for deep cuts in funding for programs that serve our nation's 
children, including programs in health, mental health and substance 
abuse, social services, and home energy assistance for low-income families.

"The Bush Administration continues to wage a budget war against 
children, even as the economy weakens," CDF President Marian Wright 
Edelman said. "Even with a budget that for the first time tops $3 
trillion, the President has still managed to further cut funding for 
vital programs for children and low-income families. CDF is counting on 
Congress to put children first in its budget. In the richest nation on 
earth it is unacceptable for millions of children to suffer from poverty 
and hunger, lack of health coverage, low-quality education, and a 
juvenile justice system that each year puts thousands of youth at risk 
of being funneled down a pipeline to prison."

The President continues to press to make permanent his tax cuts for the 
wealthiest Americans and for higher spending on the military while 
nearly 13 million children live in poverty and 9.4 million children are 
without health coverage.

Even if the Bush Administration tax cuts expire as scheduled, they will 
cost at least $2 trillion in lost revenue; the revenue loss will be much 
more if some or all of these tax cuts are extended. The tax cut to just 
the top 1 percent of taxpayers represents $76 billion in lost revenue 
this year alone—an amount sufficient to provide all children and 
pregnant women with access to comprehensive health coverage, lift every 
poor child in America out of poverty, and still leave billions for other 
critical programs.

As Congress reviews the President's proposal, CDF urges Members to give 
high priority within the FY09 budget to:

* Ending child poverty.
* Ensuring every child and pregnant woman has access to affordable, 
seamless, comprehensive health and mental health coverage and services.
* Providing high-quality early childhood development programs for all 
children.
* Ensuring every child can read at grade level by fourth grade and 
guaranteeing quality education through high school graduation.
* Protecting children from abuse and neglect and connecting them to 
caring and permanent families.
* Shifting the response to juvenile offenders from punishment and 
incarceration to prevention and early intervention.

For more information about the Children's Defense Fund, visit 
www.childrensdefense.org.

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