Friday March 23 4:44 PM ET Senate Democrats Slam Bush Child-Care Cuts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats lashed out at President George W. Bush's budget priorities on Friday, accusing him of proposing cuts in children's health programs to help finance his $1.6 trillion tax cut.

Bush made education and health care reform priorities in his presidential campaign, but Democrats said his budget would sharply reduce funding for child care and child abuse prevention programs as well as cut funding to train doctors at children's hospitals.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Democrat, called the cuts ``unacceptable.'' Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, urged Bush to ``go back to the drawing board, and do so quickly.''

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota accused Bush and his Republican allies in Congress of making cutbacks ``in an effort to ensure that they have the money they need in the short term to accommodate the tax cut of the magnitude they're talking about.''

The Bush administration counters that the education department was receiving the largest percentage increase of any Cabinet agency in Bush's budget, underlining the importance of the issue.

In addition to increasing funding for Medicare, Bush proposed boosting funds for the National Institutes of Health by $2.8 billion, or 13.8 percent, the largest increase ever for the federal medical and scientific research centers.

-- (*@*.*), March 24, 2001

Answers

Naw. I think he'll just hold the little buggers by they little feet and slash they little throats.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), March 24, 2001.

Read the article carefully, it never said what cuts Bush was making. It only said that the democrats were accusing him of proposing huge cuts.

-- Dr. Pibb (dr_pibb@zdnetonebox.com), March 25, 2001.

This is but one of many moves that will rid our country of the corruption infested give-a-way programs created by the democratic freebie mentality. In theory, these social assistance plans always appear to be a good thing. In reality, they become overrun with corruption and graft and suck more money from the hard working taxpayers.

-- So (cr@t.es), March 25, 2001.

This is Republican cruelty in action.

Did you know? Carlos & Socrates & Dr. Pibb are "compassionate conservatives".

Meanwhile, another baby is beaten on Bushie's watch.... and these "compassionate (cruel) conservatives" applaud, and defend the indefensible.

They could care less that babies and children are being beaten. They just want their tax cut......while Bushit raises the cost of owning a home by $800!!

They think they're "smart" but they're being royally screwed by their leader!

LOL!

-- More child abuse (less@taxes.com), March 25, 2001.

I am a compassionate conservative. These days my compassion is reserved for the working taxpayers in this country who have been financially raped for too long.

-- So (cr@t.es), March 25, 2001.

So you have been financially raped, ain't that a crying shame.

An example of violent behavior caused by affectional deprivation: The man living with this child's mother caused severe kidney and intestinal damage when he beat the child with a blunt instrument.

A cigarette lighter in the hands of a man who'd been abused as a child becomes a weapon of torture against his own child. Will these symptoms of lack of physical affection and sexual repression carry over to the next generation? The problem is breaking the cycle of abuse that turns victims into perpetrators.

Is child abuse a crime? This child's identity is protected because the courts may return the girl to her father, who beat her so severely she suffered brain damage.

Murder is the ultimate form of child abuse. Multiple burns and human bites were only part of what killed this ten-month-old infant. His father was convicted of the killing.

-- (prevention@is.the key), March 25, 2001.

Yes, these are terrible pictures of abuse committed by terrible people. Been going on for centuries actually and outside of that ‘perfect world’, will continue. These ugly incidents are normally caused by family members or friends. The PC climate in this country insures that these child abusers will go unchecked until it is too late. It’s all about individual responsibility.

-- So (cr@t.es), March 25, 2001.

Lemme at anybody that would do that to a kid.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), March 25, 2001.

You are blaming this horrible child abuse on republicans??!! Shame on you. YOU are f*cking sick. How can you even post these pictures. You are using these children to further your sick cause.

-- (cin@cin.cin), March 25, 2001.

Uh. Cin. We caught you.

It is perfectly fine when the pro-life nuts post pictures of aborted fetuses to make a point. Why is this not okay? Why is it okay when it supports one of your causes?

-- NotinMyrestaurant (spitting@on.burgers), March 25, 2001.

sick sick sick

YOU ARE SICK

-- (cin@cin.cin), March 25, 2001.

If you honestly think that bush is responsible for these horrendous crimes then press charges against him. Don't be surprised when no one takes you seriously though.

-- Dr. Pibb (dr.pibb@zdnetonebox.com), March 25, 2001.

Nobody is saying the republicans commitd these crimes. HOWEVER, what IS being said, if you had half a brain, is that Bush is proposing to cut funds to agencies and organizations which help PREVENT these crimes. Cin, you and your ilk who support this jerk-off of a president are the ones who are sick. YOU are the ones who do not want to see what this two-face, lying, dry-drunk bastard is trying to do.

His record sucked on education in Texas. He cut progrmas in Texas which gave health insurance to children, but you are all so drunk on your hatred of Clinton, that you fail to criticize anything he does. Let me know the minute you meet the person who has never made a mistake. That is how you Gun-mad, religious zealots treat Bush-like a man who could propose no wrong-that is very sick thinking-the minute you lose your objectivity-the minute you start accepting everything your government does, is the minute you allow the very thing you fear most into your life-that government running it.

Hey folks-this should be no surprise-Bush's record on childcare spoke for itself-but you bought his campaigning on education and healthcare hook line and sinker. You deserve what you get.

And again, Cin, answer the question. Why is it okay to post pictures of aborted fetuses when it supports your cause, and these photos which show abused children, which there WILL be more of if Bush gets his cuts, bad? Your an ugly hypocrit.

-- NotinMyrestaurant (spitting@on.hamburgers), March 26, 2001.

As the resident pond-scum, bleeding heart liberal, I'll state that these pictures didn't move me any more than the pictures of presumed abortions moved me. Both abortion and child abuse have existed longer than I.

I'm at a loss to comment on *@*'s beginning post on this thread. I didn't see a link, and the subject matter seemed to jump from here to there with no continuity, not to mention that I haven't seen education receiving the "largest percentage increase".

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), March 26, 2001.

I have never claimed to hate Clinton, I do not own a gun, and I do not wish to look at photos of any harmed and aborted children. Nor have I, and nor would I post them.

You are a nutcase

-- (cin@cin.cin), March 26, 2001.

Cin,

You always post about how the poor little fetuses are being killed, but you can't bear to look at the plight of 900,000 LIVING American children who suffer child abuse.

I'm glad these horrible pictures were posted. It's reality, and it's what these malignant GOP tax freaks would increase in our sociey.

You might as well take a good look at what you're condoning, Carlos, Pibbs, and Socrates, and all the other GOP misers who defend cutting social programs.

THIS is what you are increasing in our society, you hard-right bastards.

-- Take a good look, bastards (GOP@madness.com), March 26, 2001.

Sir/Mam, cutting the budget for social services which impact children is in no way unique to the GOP. In the state of Washington, governor Locke who is a Democrat is proposing to cut the budget of childrens services which would include dropping a large number of children from the childrens state health insurance program. Do you condone this?

Also be careful with your generalizations. I do not hate Clinton and have had many kind words to say about him. I support Bush, because I think he is the best candidate that we had to choose from (not because of some hatred for Clinton).

As far as cutting the budget of a program, perhaps part of the deal is making the program more efficient and therefore able to do the same job with less money.

-- Dr. Pibb (dr.pibb@zdnetonebox.com), March 26, 2001.

I want to see the numbers. I remember back a few years ago when the repubs proposed reducing the rate of growth of social security and other programs, and dems screamed that they were cutting the programs. Big difference you idiots. You could propose a budget that raises the growth of a program by 200%, and if I propose 5% as being something more reasonable for the inflation rate, I could scream you were cutting the program. Pretty much a big fat lie, but it works for the dems.

-- libs are liars (moreinterpretation@ugly.com), March 26, 2001.

There is no reasoning with an obsessed freakazoid

-- (cin@cin.cin), March 26, 2001.