GWB's BIG GOVERNMENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
NOTE: As of this date GWB has not vetoed a single piece of legislation since taking office. (1, 2)
He has spent more time on the campaign trail while in office than any of his predecessors.
THIS LIST LAST UPDATED 11-10-2002
Harry Browne mentioned this list on his radio show Nov. 10, 2002. Thank you Harry.
If you would like to discuss this list or add items of your own please visit Liberty Forum.
Do Republicans really support smaller government? Republicans controlled both Houses of Congress from 1995 through 2001 during which time the federal budget grew from $1.4 trillion to $2.1 trillion (about $100 billion annually). Since Republicans took control of the House in 1995, federal discretionary spending has grown by a rate of about 7 percent annually. The number of earmarks lawmakers have put in the spending bills to steer federal funds to their districts has also grown. By one estimate, between fiscal years 2001 and 2002, they increased from about 6,300 to 8,300, or 32 percent. Social welfare programs under Bush have grown by $96 billion in just two years, versus $51 billion under six years of Clinton, according to economist Stephen Moore of the Club for Growth.
SOCIALISM & PORK
-Airline bailouts.
-Post Office bailout.
-$205 million Amtrak bailout.
-Federal prescription drug subsidies, $350 billion over 10 years.
-"Homebuyer bill of rights" -- federal regulation of real estate.
-Continued anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft.
-Federal subsidies for the poor to purchase homes.
-Additional funding for Medicare.
-Health care subsidies for laid-off workers and expanded job retraining benefits ($10 billion to $12 billion over 10 years).
-Wage insurance -- federal wage supplement.
-Took $67 million in taxpayers' money to finance presidential campaign via federal matching funds.
-Submitted largest budget ever to Congress, $2.13 trillion.
-Increased debt-limit from $5.95 trillion to $6.4 trillion.
-Scholarships for Cuban students and professionals.
-$9.5 million to hire new Customs Service agents.
-Increased farm subsidies by $180 billion over 10 years.
-Increased Pentagon budget by $48 billion to $379 billion.
-$560 million USA Freedom Corps.
-Over $3-million spent on SuperBowl anti-drug ads.
-Increased funding for IRS and BATF.
-Faith-based subsidies.
-Increased federal spending on education from $39.9-billion to $44.5-billion.
-Signed Congressional payraise of $4,900.
-Patients Bill of Rights.
-Federal Compassion Capital Fund, $700 million over 10 years.
-$100_million to beef up investigative manpower and technology at the SEC.
-$6 million to upgrade a U.S. Geological Survey data center near Sioux Falls, S.D.
-$10 million to help farmers near the Rio Grande River involved in a water dispute with Mexico.
-$7 million for enhancing water supplies in New Mexico.
-A provision pressuring the Agriculture Department to reimburse poultry producers in West Virginia and Virginia for losses from avian influenza.
-$1 billion for Pell grants for low-income students.
-$417 million for veterans' medical care.
-$400 million to help states improve voting systems.
-$100 million for countering western wildfires and floods.
-Taxpayer-funded national memorial, congressional gold medals, and gold coins for victims of 9/11.
-Scholarships and grants to nurses and help hospitals with retention.
-Increase the NEA budget by $10 million, to $126 million.
-$200,000 for a trucker congestion notification system in Tacoma, Washington.
-$500,000 to save the Prebles Meadow Jumping Mouse in Colorado.
-$62 million to promote the Sacajawea dollar coin.
-$100,000 a month to monitor news reports and offer advice on media strategy for the Pentagon.
-$1.5 million for taking care of the Vulcan Statue in Alabama built for the 1904 World's Fair
-$20 million annually for "Strategic Milk Reserve." Was phased out in 1999 by the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act. Congress extended it temporarily, and then made it permanent again in the farm bill that President Bush signed into law in May.
-Federal aid to Texas flood victims.
-Federal recovery assistance to typhoon victims in Guam.
Steel and lumber tariffs.
-$300 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) via the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2001.
-Federal disaster relief for tonado victims in Maryland.
-Federal disaster relief for Minnesota because of storms, flooding, and tornadoes.
-Payoff to families of 9/11 victims with taxpayer money.
-School vouchers.
-$450,000 in federal funds for the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention for fiscal year 2003 on top of $750,000 in 2002.
-$700 million in drought relief.
-$30 million in research grants over the next five years to develop new ways of making industrial products from plants and natural waste materials.
-$10 billion military reserve fund for the Pentagon.
-National Institute of Health to spend $24 million on a retirement facility for chimpanzees.
-$750,000 for grasshopper research in Alaska.
-$2 million to house a worm collection at the Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC.
-$400,000 to study manure management at the National Swine Research Center in Iowa.
-$4.2 million for a shrimp aquiculture research project in six states.
-$400,000 for the Montana Sheep Institute.
-$27 billion for the National Institute of Health.
-$10 million upgrade for Amber Alerts.
-$1 million to upgrade a law enforcement communication system in Placer County, CA.
-$850,000 for a wastewater treatment facility in Placer County, CA
-$1.7 million to purchase 6,100 acres of land along the American River.
-$14 million for restoration projects in the Lake Tahoe basin.
-$3 million for the acquisition of land for rare plant preserves in El Dorado County, CA.
-$600,000 for the West Blount sewer system. (Alabama)
-$ 1 million for the Duck River Dam. (Alabama)
-$99,000 for sidewalk improvements at Vinemont Middle School. (Alabama)
-$100 million in grants for communities to develop mosquito-control programs.
-Reauthorized Import-Export bank. Increased loan limit to $25 billion. Taxpayers must guarantee loans.
-$165 billion deficit for fiscal 2002.
-$14.2 million for Phoenix Sky Harbor traffic control tower replacement. (pending)
-$4.2 million for Phoenix bus facilities. (pending)
-$500,000 for a Scottsdale pilot project to determine the best technologies for removing arsenic from drinking water. (pending)
-$300,000 for a Southwest Transit Assessment and Review Team (START) project for Bus Route 131, which runs through Avondale. (pending)
-$500,000 for Central Arizona College to continue implementation of the Science, Engineering, Math and Aerospace Academy in Pinal County. (pending)
-$1 million for Rio de Flag (Flagstaff) flood-control project. (pending)
-$1.5 million for Maricopa County's AZTech Integrated Emergency and Transportation Communications Network. (pending)
-Creation of new federal bureaucracy, Office of Rare Diseases.
FOREIGN-AID & INTERVENTIONISM
Thousands of civilians killed, hundreds of thousands displaced by areal bombing in Afghanistan.
-Invaded Afghanistan without Congressional declaration of war.
-Boost in American foreign-aid by 50% to more than $15 billion annually.
-Continued funding of World Bank.
-Engaging in nation-building.
-Meddling in Zimbabwe by threatening to withhold foreign-aid (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001).
-Foreign debt relief.
-$474 million to combat HIV/AIDS overseas, including $100 million for a global trust fund, and $200 million for international disaster assistance.
-$676 million for South American anti-drug plan.
-$768 million in assistance to independent states of the former Soviet Union. (2001)
-$2.04 billion in military financing and $720 million in economic assistance for Israel. (2001)
-$1.3 billion in military assistance and $655 million in economic assistance for Egypt. (2001)
-$75 million in military financing and $150 in economic assistance for Jordan. (2001)
-$582 million to United Nations. (2001)
-$2-billion in foreign-aid to Egypt. (2002)
-$1.3-billion in foreign-aid to Columbia to fight Drug War. (2001)
-$440 million to Columbian military to fight drug war. (2002)
-$120 million in foreign-aid to Uzbekistan. (2002)
-$40 million in foreign-aid to the Taliban government of Afghanistan (May, 2001).
-$500 million in funding to combat AIDS in Africa.
-$255 million over two years to expand US media influence in predominantly Muslim countries.
-$1.5 billion bailout of Uruguay.
-$64 million for "Education and Equipment" program to train Georgian military.
-$1.1 billion loan from the U.S. International Monetary Fund to Turkey.
-$4.5 billion spending plan to help african nations reduce disease and famine and cultivate energy, clean water and forests.
-U.S. Drug Czar calls for War on Marijuana during visit to Canada.
-Continued sending fuel to North Korea under the 1994 Agreed Framework despite the intelligence community's suspicion that North Korea has had nukes since the early 1990's.
-Agreed to pay Pakistan $700 million plus an economic package in exchange for the use of Pakistani air bases from which the US launched air strikes against Afghanistan.
-Bush Administration withheld news of North Korea confirming its nuclear weapons program for two weeks while it secured Congressional support to attack Iraq.
-Threatened Canada with trade sanctions if Canada relaxes its marijuana laws.
-White House said pre-emptive attacks are permissible for the US against Iraq but the same logic does not hold for India which is fighting Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
-White House detailed a plan to install a military dictatorship in Iraq if the US overthrows the current government.
-Continued assistance to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
-Agreed to give North Korea two nuclear power reactors.
LIBERTIES, CONSTITUTION, & POWER GRABS
-Invaded and bombed Afghanistan without Congressional approval or Letter of Marque or Reprisal.
-Working to circumvent Posse Comitatus in order to use military for domestic surveillance and law enforcement.
-Campaign Finance Reform.
-Made his intention clear to exclude non-believers from serving on the juduciary in violation of Article 6, USC.
-Creation of new federal bureaucracy, Dept. of Homeland Security.
-Wall St. ordered to report "suspicious" transactions, or series of transactions exceeding $5000.
-Freezing private assets without due process under the guise of anti-terrorism.
-Detention of suspects for months without due process.
-Domestic surveillance by FBI without evidence of criminal activity.
-Project Safe Neighborhood -- unconstitutional gun-control and federal intrusion.
-Ashcroft plans to fingerprint Arab and Muslim visitors to the US.
-Refused to allow airline pilots to arm themselves.
-Federalized airport security.
-Continued federal asset forfeiture.
-Enron scandal. Questionable campaign contributions.
-Secret trials. Military tribunals.
-"Magic Latern" keystroke logger FBI spyware.
-DOJ monitoring of cable modems without a warrant.
-Continued crackdown on medical marijuana. Cannabis Clubs raided.
-Transportation Security Administration to place armed law enforcement officers at ticket counters and other public areas at airports.
-Proposed 'federal standards' for state drivers licenses.
-Public schools required to to turn over student information to military recruiters.
-Federal drug czar denounced a measure on Arizona's November ballot that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, calling it a "stupid, insulting con."
-FCC denied EchoStar's plan to acquire rival Directv.
-BATF forced owner of Bob's Gun & Tackle Shop to hand over sales record for each used firearm bought and sold at the store in 1999.
-Supports ballistic fingerprinting for guns.
-Believes in stronger enforcement of existing gun-control laws (but not the repeal of any gun-control laws).
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