The Progress Report: November 17, 2004

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Wed, 17 Nov 2004 08:32:36 -0800

Progress Report: Limitless Irresponsibility

" American Progress Action Fund "

<progress

 

The Progress Report

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

 

 

November 17, 2004

BUDGET Limitless Irresponsibility

SHAKE-UP The Anti-Diplomat

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

 

 

BUDGET

Limitless Irresponsibility

 

During the last four years, President Bush and his allies in Congress

have charged a multi-trillion dollar spending spree of tax cuts for

the wealthy and preemptive war to the national credit card, saddling

future generations with the crippling debt. Now the country has hit

its credit limit – $7.38 trillion. But right-wing ideologues have no

plans to change their policies. Instead, they want to grant themselves

a $650 billion increase in their credit limit.

 

" CONSERVATIVES " TRY TO HIDE RECKLESS SPENDING FROM THE PEOPLE: The

country actually reached its $7.38 billion credit limit in early

October. Since that time, Treasury Secretary John Snow has employed a

series of extraordinary accounting tricks to avoid technically

breaching the limit. Why? Conservatives in Congress wanted to avoid

" increasing the borrowing limit before the Nov. 2 election as leaders

did not want to have the politically sensitive vote. " This strategy is

not without consequences. Snow's most recent " trick " – announced

yesterday – was suspending investments in the Civil Service Retirement

and Disability Fund.

 

IT'S DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: This isn't the first time the Bush

administration has blown through its credit line. In 2002, the Bush

administration received a debt limit increase of $450 billion dollars.

The next year the Treasury requested, and Congress delivered, a $984

billion dollar credit line, the largest in history. That amount

exceeded " all of the debt inherited by President Ronald Reagan, which

was all of the debt accumulated from Bunker Hill [1776] to 1981. " The

Bush administration and its conservative allies have blown through

nearly a trillion dollars in just 18 months.

 

BUSH PLANS WILL MAKE BUDGET DEFICIT MUCH, MUCH WORSE: If you think our

nation's fiscal situation couldn't get worse, just wait. According to

the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, if President Bush

succeeds in passing his 2005 budget – which includes an extension of

expiring tax cuts – the government will rack up about $6.2 trillion in

additional debt between now and 2014, nearly doubling our current debt

($7.38 trillion) for a total of $14.5 trillion.

 

THE CONSEQUENCES OF MASSIVE BUDGET DEFICIT: Why should everyone care

about budget deficits? When the government borrows huge sums of money,

there is less money to go around when average Americans want to buy a

home or a car, or pay for college tuition. A smaller pool of money

available for loans leads to higher interest rates – which not only

puts a squeeze on individual consumers but also slows the rate of

economic growth. That means, in the long run, fewer jobs, low wage

growth and less money coming into the federal Treasury. And the cycle

continues. (If you want to feed your inner wonk on this topic, check

out this detailed analysis). Interest payments on the mounting debt,

which exceeded $321 billion in fiscal year 2004, also squeezes out

funding for other priorities like education and health care.

 

WILL THE REAL FISCAL CONSERVATIVES PLEASE STAND UP?: Supposedly, there

are " fiscal conservatives " in Congress who strongly oppose expanding

deficit spending. What do they have to say about the reckless fiscal

policy being pursued Bush administration? Write a newspaper in the

home states of self-described fiscal conservatives Judd Gregg (R-NH)

and Mike DeWine (R-OH) and ask them to speak out. (Be sure to send a

copy of your letter to pr).

 

SHAKE-UP

The Anti-Diplomat

 

In a move to solidify support for his extreme right-wing foreign

policy, President Bush is expected to name neoconservative,

unilateralist hawk John Bolton as deputy secretary of state. Bolton is

known by members of the State Department as a ''guided missile''

because, " like a missile, Bolton has force and direction and often

achieves his objectives, even if there is collateral damage. " Salon

characterized his impact on U.S. foreign policy, stating, " By forging

ties between the hawks in the Defense Department and the White House

with the State Department, Bolton has helped to undercut the main

government entity supportive of international engagement. By helping

to build a relationship between Republican foot soldiers and the

neocons, Bolton has helped sever ties between the United States and

the rest of the world. " (Who is John Bolton? Find out more.)

 

MANIPULATING INTELLIGENCE: As the undersecretary of state for arms

control and international security, upset that the intelligence

experts at the department weren't telling him what he wanted to hear

about Iraq's phantom WMD, Bolton cancelled his daily meetings with the

department's intelligence expert, Greg Theilmann. Instead, he demanded

to be fed raw intelligence from the CIA. According to Theilmann, the

whole point of the intelligence system in place was " to prevent raw

intelligence from getting to people who would be misled. " Bolton,

however, " wanted his aides to receive and assign intelligence analyses

and assessments using the raw data. In essence, the under-secretary

would be running his own intelligence operation, without any guidance

or support. " This allowed the administration to cherry-pick data to

bolster its deceptive claims of the threat posed by Iraq.

 

MR. DIPLOMACY: For a diplomat, Bolton has a disturbing lack of tact

and diplomacy. In 1999, he roiled the diplomatic waters by charging

that a sound U.S. policy " would start by making it clear to the North

that we are indifferent to whether we ever have 'normal' diplomatic

relations with it, and that achieving that goal is entirely in their

interests, not ours. We should also make clear that diplomatic

normalization with the U.S. is only going to come when North Korea

becomes a normal country. " In July 2003, just before crucial

six-nation talks with North Korea, his thoughtless comments caused a

heightening of tensions. Bolton called North Korean leader Kim Jong Il

a " tyrannical dictator " of a country where " life is a hellish

nightmare. " North Korea immediately responded, saying that " such human

scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks.... We

have decided not to consider him as an official of the U.S.

administration any longer nor to deal with [him]. " The State

Department was forced to call Bolton home and send a replacement to

the talks. Bolton's colleagues are scathing in their assessment of his

diplomatic skills: One high-level co-worker called Bolton " an

anti-diplomat who tries to intimidate those who disagree with his views. "

 

THE NUCLEAR NAME-CALLER: Bolton has been the key White House official

in charge of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. According to many

arms control advocates, however, he has actually weakened

international efforts to do that. ''Bolton has confused having a

name-calling strategy with having an effective non-proliferation

strategy,' says Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control

Association. " Under Bolton's watch, North Korea has likely quadrupled

the size of its nuclear arsenal; Bolton referred to concerns about the

dramatic multiplication of North Korea's nuclear weapons as

" quibbling. " Iran has also been aggressively pursuing a nuclear

arsenal; Bolton failed to develop a serious policy and the White House

punted responsibility for the crisis to Europe. When Tehran " signaled

interest in discussing its nuclear program, " Bolton brushed it aside.

And when the administration did conduct secret talks with Iran about

the Iraq invasion, negotiators were given one clear directive: " Don't

bring up the nukes. "

 

THE U.N. LIAISON: As deputy secretary of state, Bolton will have to

work with the United Nations, a group he has harshly disparaged in the

past. In 1994, for example, he charged, " There's no such thing as the

United Nations, " saying that ''If the U.N. secretary building in New

York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.'' Four

years later, he attacked the international body again, saying, " many

Republicans in Congress – and perhaps a majority – not only do not

care about losing the General Assembly vote but actually see it as a

'make my day' outcome. Indeed, once the vote is lost, and the adverse

consequences predicted by the U.N.'s supporters begin to occur, this

will simply provide further evidence to many why nothing more should

be paid to the U.N. system. "

 

PORTRAIT OF BOLTON AS A YOUNG MAN: Legal Times reported in 1987 that

in 1978, Bolton helped Sen. Jesse Helms's National Congressional Club

form Jefferson Marketing " as a vehicle to supply candidates with such

services as advertising and direct mail without having to worry about

the federal laws preventing PACs, like the Congressional Club, from

contributing more than $5,000 per election to any one candidate's

campaign committee. " As a reward, Sen. Helms " helped the career of

John Bolton " by supporting him in his career. In Bolton's confirmation

hearing, Helms characterized him as " the kind of man with whom I would

want to stand at Armageddon. "

 

 

Under the Radar

 

CONGRESS – GOP PUSHES FOR RULES CHANGE: Conservatives have taken a

hard line when it comes to felons voting, but apparently a different

standard applies to party leaders. House Republicans are likely to

vote today to end the House's decade-old rule " requiring leaders to

step down if indicted. " Republicans adopted the rule in the 1990s,

" when they were in the minority and were trying to put the focus on

investigations of prominent Democrats. " But now, with Majority Leader

Tom DeLay facing possible criminal charges for his role in a process

that lead to redistricting in Texas, the GOP is pushing to change the

rules. One Democratic aide pointed out, " It would be the height of

hypocrisy for a party that came to power promising to clean house to

deliberately clear the way for a corrupt and unethical member under

indictment to lead the people's House. "

 

JUSTICE – POLICE STRIKE BACK AT ASHCROFT: The Bush administration

claims it has made America safer, but those who would know best have a

different point of view. A day after departing Attorney General John

Ashcroft " told the nation's largest association of law enforcement

executives that the Bush administration had made the nation more

secure from terrorist attacks and violent criminals, the group lashed

back at the White House. " On Tuesday, the International Association of

Chiefs of Police (IACP) " said that cuts by the administration in

federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more

vulnerable than ever to public safety threats. The 20,000-member group

also said in a statement that new anti-terrorism duties for local

cops…have pushed police agencies to 'the breaking point.' " USA Today

reports the group also is " annoyed that President Bush is phasing out

a $10 billion program begun by the Clinton administration in 1996 to

help local departments hire tens of thousands more cops. "

 

INTELLIGENCE – GOSS DEMANDS COMPLIANCE: Porter J. Goss, the new

intelligence chief already accused of undertaking a partisan purge of

the C.I.A, has told employees their job is to " support the

administration and its policies " in an internal memorandum obtained by

the New York Times. " 'As agency employees we do not identify with,

support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies,'

Mr. Goss said in the memorandum, which was circulated late on Monday.

He said in the document that he was seeking 'to clarify beyond doubt

the rules of the road.' " Later in the memo, Goss maintained the

Agency's mission was to " provide the intelligence as we see it, " but

the overbearing message of the memo seemed to suggest Goss wanted to

" suppress dissent within the organization. " A former intelligence

official told the NYT he was " concerned that the memorandum and the

changes represented an effort by Mr. Goss to stifle independence. "

 

CORRUPTION – INSURANCE COMPANIES UNDER FIRE: The Washington Post

reports investigations in New York, Connecticut and California

" suggest that insurance companies frequently pay insurance brokers and

agents undisclosed compensation – including cash, loans, stock and

exotic trips – for steering health, automobile and other retail

insurance business to them. " Connecticut Attorney General Richard

Blumenthal told a Senate subcommittee the practice " may have cost

insurance customers hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments in

recent years and caused them to purchase inappropriate coverage. " In

the wake of a major lawsuit filed by New York's Elliot Spitzer, the

Senate is now " studying allegations of widespread conflicts of

interest, fraud and kickbacks " throughout the insurance brokerage

business.

 

IRAQ – NO SUCH THING AS FREE WAR: In an op-ed for The Hill,

active-duty Army officer and former assistant professor of political

science at the U.S. Military Academy John Gossert takes the president

to task for misleading Americans about the cost of war, and continuing

to cut taxes in the face of record deficits. " There's no such thing as

a free lunch, " Gossert writes, " But President Bush and the Congress

would have us believe there is such a thing as a free war…Never in our

229-year history has the government cut taxes in a time of war. Until

now. The president has signed two tax cuts into law since the war in

Iraq began in March 2003. Of course, " says Gossert, " as much as this

war 'feels' free, the time to pay for it must eventually come. And

like a credit-card purchase with a usurious interest rate, the war in

Iraq will prove more expensive in the long run. "

 

CULTURALLY INSENSITIVE RIGHT-WING QUOTE OF THE DAY: " We had one woman.

She was outstanding, but she was outstandingly quiet....Now we've got

15 or 17, and you can't shut 'em up " – Departing statements of Sen.

Fritz Hollings (D-SC), on women in the Senate.