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I received the following in an email from the DNC. I want to write a ltte, but I don't want to use the DNC as a source, since this is Ga. ya know! I sent them an email, but haven't heard anything except the normal "thank you for contacting us, we can't answer every email, bet we read them all." I've had most of my ltte's published in the local paper, and I think this is one way to get the the locals because it would directly affect them! ******************************************************************* And this budget is a huge disaster for Georgia. Here are just a few of the cuts Georgia faces under Bush's 2006 budget:
Homeland Security The Bush 2006 budget cuts $420 million to state and local funding for homeland security, including a $26.7 million cut for Georgia. These cuts will take police and firefighters off your streets. The Bush budget cuts the COPS program, which has put 2,526 officers on Georgia streets, by 96 percent. Health Care The Bush budget cuts $45 billion from Medicaid, enough to provide health care to 1.8 million children. Georgia's share of these cuts is $1.1 billion. Bush's budget cuts the very same community and rural health care programs he touted during the campaign, even though more than 243,000 Georgia residents have lost their health care coverage since Bush took office due to his failures. Education Bush underfunds his own No Child Left Behind Act by $13.1 billion in his budget. In Georgia, that means a shortfall of $366.8million, leaving behind 91,050 Georgia children. Bush promised to fund Pell Grants in his State of the Union address, but his budget is $6.6 billion short. That's $181.5 million less than what's needed in Georgia, a real burden for the 142,844 students in Georgia who receive the grants. Other Priorities Bush cuts $28.8 million from Georgia job training programs in his 2006 budget. The Bush budget would require many veterans to pay a new $250 annual "user fee" to use the Veterans Administration health care system, and would double the prescription drug co-payment for the 768,675 Georgia veterans. Bush cuts Georgia clean water programs by $6.5 million. Bush's 2006 budget also cuts the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program -- which helps low-income families afford heating fuel in the winter -- by $234.4 million, including $2.5 million cut for Georgia residents. And Bush's irresponsible budget is a record $427 billion in the red, increasing each Georgia family's share of the federal debt by $38,281.
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