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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion October 13, 2003
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Bush Tried to Take Funds from Military School Kids to Pay for Iraqi-Afghan Policies



President Bush attempted to slash money from the program that pays to educate the children of military men and women even while saying, "Our men and women in uniform give America their best and we owe them our support."1

At the same time the President lauded the "great courage"2 of the soldiers he sent to Iraq, he requested major cuts in the Impact Aid3 program that provides funds for the schooling of the 900,0004 children of military families. Bush tried to take $172 million from Impact Aid5 and shortchange its funding by $583 million under the No Child Left Behind Act. The cutbacks would have directly affected children of troops currently deployed in Iraq.6

The cutbacks were part of Bush's budgetary effort to find $87 billion for his policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, which include $40 million for school programs to benefit Iraqi children.7

Congress defied the President on his cutbacks, however. The House added $223 million to Impact Aid, and the Senate slightly less. Apparently, Bush will accept the funding rather than resort to a veto.

Sources:
1. Address of the President to the Joint Session of Congress, February 27, 2001
2. Remarks by the President on the Wartime Supplemental Budget, March 25, 2003
3. Passed in 1950, Impact Aid is intended to offset the revenue lost to local schools as a result of the tax-exempt status of federal property, i.e. a military base. In other words, the federal government acts as the local taxpayer through funding the Impact Aid program.
4. Officials: Cuts Unlikely For Impact Aid; Bush Proposal Gets A Chilly Reception, Editorial, The Honolulu Advertiser, April 14, 2003
5. Support for Troops Questioned; Democrats Detail Bush's Cuts in Military Family Benefits, The Washington Post, June 17, 2003
6. GOP Funding Bill Shortchanges America's Children By Underfunding Key Education Priorities, A state-by-State Analysis, July 9, 2003
6. Rebuilding Iraq: What U.S. Taxpayers are Paying For, Rep. Rahm Emanuel
7. Department Of Education Fiscal Year 2004 Congressional Action, 9/16/03


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