KNOW WHAT YOUR PRESIDENT IS DOING

[Guest guest]

What the President has done in his first 6 months

By: Dr. 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@...

The First Six Months of 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 pediatric

training.

* Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.

* Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in

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 Negroponte--an unindicted 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* Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about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 unindicted 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 work place 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 counseling with other independent funds.

* Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and

Outreach.

* Nominated Lauriski--ex-mining company executive--to post of

Assistant Secretary of Labor 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 east of Florida.

* Announced intention to open up Montana's and 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 " There is no gender gap in pay " Roth to the

Council of Economic Advisers (Boston Globe, March 28, 2001).

* Appointed Kay Cole --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 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 school children about the Constitution, the Bill of

Rights, and citizenship.

* Appointed Bolton--who opposes nonproliferation treaties and

the U.N.--to Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and

International Security.

* Nominated Fisher--an executive with Monsanto--for the number

two job at the Environmental Protection Agency.

* Nominated 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 Walters--strong opponent of prison drug treatment

programs--for Drug Czar (Washington Post, May 16, 2001).

* Nominated J. Giles--an oil and coal lobbyist--for Deputy

Secretary of the Interior.

* Nominated 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