Bush's accomplishments -
first few months in office

from the book

Stupid White Men

by Michael Moore

 

* Cut $39 million from federal spending on libraries

* Cut $35 million in funding for advanced pediatric training for doctors

* Cut funding for research into renewable energy sources by 50 percent

* Delayed rules that would reduce "acceptable" levels of arsenic in drinking water

* Cut funding for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks by 28 percent

* Revoked rules strengthening the power of the government to deny contracts to companies that violate federal laws, environmental laws, and workplace safety standards

* AIlowed Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton to request suggestions for opening up national monuments for foresting, coal mining, and oil and gas drilling

* Broken your campaign promise to invest $100 million per year in rain forest conservation

* Reduced by 86 percent the Community Access Program, which coordinated care for people without health insurance among public hospitals, clinics, and other health care providers

* Nullified a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential ramifications of chemical plant accidents

* Cut funding for the Girls and Boys Clubs of America programs in public housing by $60 million

* Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreement on global warming, ultimately signed by 178 other countries

* Rejected an international accord to enforce the 1972 treaty banning germ warfare

* Cut $200 million from workforce training programs for dislocated workers

* Cut $200 million from the Childcare and Development grant, a program that provides child care to low-income families as they are forced from welfare to work

* Eliminated prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though Viagra is still covered)

* Cut $700 million in funds for public housing repairs

* Cut half a billion dollars from the Environmental Protection Agency's budget

* Overturned workplace ergonomic rules designed to protect workers' health and safety

* Abandoned your campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming

* Prohibited any federal aid from going to international family planning organizations that provide abortion counseling, referrals, or services with their own funds

* Nominated former mining company executive Dan Lauriski as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health

* Appointed Lynn Scarlett, a global warming skeptic and an opponent of stricter standards on air pollution, as Undersecretary of the Interior

* Approved Interior Secretary Gale Norton's controversial plan to auction off areas close to Florida's eastern shore for oil and gas development

* Announced your plans to allow oil drilling in Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest

* Threatened to shut down the White House AIDS office

* Decided no longer to seek guidance from the American Bar Association on federal judicial appointments

* Denied college financial aid to students convicted of misdemeanor drug charges (though convicted murderers are still eligible for financial aid)

* AIlocated only 3 percent of the amount requested by Justice Department lawyers in the government's continued litigation against tobacco companies

* Pushed through your tax cut, 43 percent of which goes to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans

* Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even when facing overwhelming medical bills

* Appointed affirmative action opponent Kay Cole James to direct the Office of Personnel Management

* Cut $15.7 million from programs dealing with child abuse and neglect

* Proposed elimination of the "Reading Is Fundamental" program, which gives free books to poor children

* Pushed for development of "mini-nukes," designed to attack deeply buried targets-a violation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

* Tried to reverse regulation protecting sixty million acres of national forest from logging and road building

* Appointed John Bolton, an opponent of nonproliferation treaties and the United Nations, as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

* Made Monsanto executive Linda Fisher deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

* Nominated Michael McConnell, a leading critic of the separation of church and state, to a federal judgeship

* Nominated civil rights opponent Terrence Boyle to a federal judgeship

* Canceled the 2004 deadline for auto makers to develop prototype high-mileage cars

* Named John Walters, an ardent opponent of prison drug treatment programs, as drug czar

* Appointed oil and coal lobbyist Steven Giles as Deputy Secretary of the Interior

* Named Bennett Raley, who has called for the repeal of the Endangered Species Act, as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science

* Sought the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit filed in the United States against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves in World War II

* Appointed as solicitor general Ted Olson, your chief lawyer in the Florida voting debacle

* Proposed to ease the permit process for constructing refineries and nuclear and hydroelectric dams, including lowering environmental standards

* Proposed the selling of oil and gas tracts in the Alaska Wildlife Preserve


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