Iraq is forcing cuts in transportation funding, Medicaid, education and other federal programs

[NNN0LHI]

http://cbs4denver.com/politics/local_story_098173626.html

(AP) DENVER The cost of the Iraq war is filtering down to state and local budgets, forcing cuts in transportation funding, Medicaid, education and other federally subsidized programs, according to analysts and lawmakers.

Just how big that impact has been is unclear. What state lawmakers do say is that the $456 billion already spent or appropriated for the war could have gone a long way toward helping them balance their own budgets.

In Colorado, lawmakers expect to lose about $200 million in federal funding for the next fiscal year, forcing the state to cut back on programs that receive federal money.

"These are funds that we aren't going to receive. Low Energy Assistance Program, $9.8 million, gone. Head Start, $3.7 million, gone. Child Care and Development Block Grant, $1.1 million. Community Development Block Grant, $13.5 million. Special Ed, $8.8 million," House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, said during a debate Thursday over a state resolution opposing the escalation of the war in Iraq.

[MichiganVote]

1. Yes well, the republicans are building it over there so we don't have it over here

[liberal renegade]

2. freedom isn't free....

:sarcasm:

[Gman]

3. Well, No Sh*t, Sherlock...

This has been a problem from the beginning. The question is why people haven't been up in arms when their states and cities have been raising their taxes these last few years to make up the difference.

[babylonsister]

4. Rec'd. WE know it, how many other people don't? nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. We have to pay for bush face-saving in Iraq.

How many are still in favor of the "we broke it - we need to fix it" position that so many DUers took 2 years into that mess?

[NNN0LHI]

6. I actually took the "we broke it - we need to fix it" position right after the invasion

That lasted about two days until I realized the Iraqis were not surrendering and that they would keep killing our soldiers and bleeding us dry financially until the day we leave.

Don

[JohnnyLib2]

7. K & R This really needs to be hammered home.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Very true--see my sig line

Two days of the Iraq War would fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Four days of the Iraq War would equal a year of Amtrak's current subsidy.