Domestic policy of George W. Bush
George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States of America, has been active in a number of aspects of domestic policy.
Faith-based initiatives
In early 2001, Bush worked with Republicans and social conservatives in Congress to pass legislation changing the way the federal government regulated, taxed and funded charities and non-profit initiatives run by religious organizations. Although prior to the legislation it was possible for these organizations to receive federal assistance, the new legislation removed reporting requirements that required the organizations to separate their charitable functions from their religious functions. Bush also created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. [1]
Several organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union have criticized Bush's faith-based initiative program, arguing that it involves government entanglement with religion and favoritism to religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Diversity and civil rights
Bush is opposed to the legal recognition of same-sex marriage, but supports the establishment of civil unions ("I don't think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement" — ABC News October 26, 2004). He has endorsed the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would define marriage as being the union of one man and one woman. Bush reiterated his disagreement with the Republican Party platform that opposed civil unions, and said that the issue of civil unions should be left up to individual states. In his February 2, 2005, State of the Union address he repeated his support for the constitutional amendment.
Bush is the first Republican president to appoint an openly gay man to serve in his administration [2] (Scott Evertz as director of the Office of National AIDS Policy), and the first president to see one such (successful) appointment, that of openly gay Ambassador to Romania Michael E. Guest. Bush has claimed to support the executive order issued by President Bill Clinton banning employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but Scott Bloch, whom Bush chose as Special Counsel in 2003, does not feel he has the legal authority to enforce the ban. [3] During his 2000 campaign trail he met with the Log Cabin Republicans, a first for a Republican Presidential candidate. The organization endorsed him in 2000 but not in 2004.
According to a CNN exit poll, Bush's support from African-Americans increased during his presidency from 9% of the black vote in 2000 to 11% in 2004.[4] An increase in Ohio (from 9% to 16%[5], each ± about 5%) may have helped give the victory to Bush over Kerry.
Although Bush expressed appreciation for the Supreme Court's ruling upholding the selection of college applicants for purposes of diversity, his Administration filed briefs against it. Bush has said he opposes government sanctioned and enforced quotas and racial preferences, but that the private and public sector should be encouraged to reach out to accomplished minorities to increase employment diversity.
In August 2005, a report by the United States Commission on Civil Rights states that "the government fails to seriously consider race-neutral alternatives as the Constitution requires." [6] Chairman Gerald A. Reynolds explained, "Federal agencies do not independently evaluate, conduct research, collect data, or periodically review programs to determine whether race-neutral strategies will provide an adequate alternative to race-conscious programs." Civil rights groups have expressed concern that this report is an attack on affirmative action inconsistent with Grutter v. Bollinger.
In his first term, Bush appointed Colin Powell as Secretary of State. Powell was the first African-American man to serve in that position, and was succeeded by Condoleezza Rice: Rice became the first African-American woman to hold the post. In 2005, he appointed Alberto Gonzalez as the United States Attorney General, the first Hispanic to hold that position. In total, Bush has appointed more women and minorities to high-level positions within his administration than any other U.S. President.
Economy
During his first term, Bush sought and obtained Congressional approval for three major tax cuts, which increased the standard income tax deduction for married couples, eliminated the estate tax, and reduced marginal tax rates. The cuts are currently scheduled to expire a decade after passage. Bush has asked Congress to make the tax cuts permanent. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the economy suffered from a recession that lasted from March 2001 to November 2001. Currently, the economy grew at a 4.3 percent pace in the third quarter of 2005, the best showing in more than a year. [7]
Federal spending in constant dollars increased under Bush by 26% in his first 4 and a half years. Non-defense spending increased 18% in that time. [8]
The tax cuts, recession, and increases in outlays all contributed to record budget deficits during the Bush administration. The annual deficit reached record current-dollar levels of $374 billion in 2003 and $413 billion in 2004. National debt, the cumulative total of yearly deficits, rose from $5.7 trillion (58% of GDP) to $7.9 trillion (68% of GDP) under Bush, as compared to the $2.7 trillion total debt owed when Ronald Reagan left office, which was 52% of the GDP.
According to the “baseline” forecast of federal revenue and spending by the Congressional Budget Office (in its January 2005 Baseline Budget Projections [9], the budget deficits will decrease over the next several years. In this projection the deficit will fall to 368 billion (USD) in 2005, 261 billion (USD) in 2007, and 207 billion (USD) in 2009, with a small surplus by 2012. The CBO noted, however, that this projection “omits a significant amount of spending that will occur this year — and possibly for some time to come — for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other activities related to the global War on Terrorism.” The projection also assumes that the Bush tax cuts "will expire as scheduled on December 31, 2010". If, as Bush has urged, the tax cuts were to be extended, then "the budget outlook for 2015 would change from a surplus of 141 billion (USD) to a deficit of 282 billion (USD)".
Inflation under Bush has remained near historic lows at about 2-3% per year. The recession and a drop in some prices led to concern about deflation from mid-2001 to late-2003. More recently, high oil prices have caused concern about increasing inflation.
Private employment (seasonally adjusted) originally decreased under Bush from 111,680,000 in December 2000 to 108,250,000 in mid-2003. The percentage drop in jobs was the largest since 1981-1983. The economy then added private jobs for 25 consecutive months from (July 2003 to August 2005), and the private employment seasonally adjusted numbers increased as of June 2005 when it reached 111,828,000. Considering population growth, that still represents a 4.6% decrease in employment since Bush took office. The administration and many economists have suggested that the growth in employment resulted from the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA), which President George W. Bush signed into law on May 27, 2003.[10]
The Current Population Survey (aka Household Survey) measures the percentage of the population that is employed and unemployed. The result can be multiplied by population estimates to get total employment estimates. This survey has the advantage over the Payroll survey in that it includes self-employed. The Household Survey is less accurate in producing total numbers (since it requires population estimates) and in that it samples many fewer people (60,000 households versus 400,000 business establishments). For better or worse, the Household Survey counts multiple jobs held by one person only once, and it includes government workers, farm workers, unpaid family workers, and workers absent without pay. The Household Survey indicates that the percentage of the population employed decreased from 64.4% in December 2000 and January 2001 to 62.1% in August and September of 2003. By August 2005, it had recovered only to 62.9%. In absolute numbers, this corresponds to a drop of 1.6 million jobs but an eventual net gain of 4.7 million jobs during the Bush administration. [11]
Under Bush, the seasonally adjusted Unemployment Rate based on the Household Survey started at 4.7% in January 2001, peaked at 6.2% in June 2003, and retreated to 4.9% in August 2005.
In September 2005, total private average weekly earnings in constant dollars as measured by the Payroll Survey dropped to their lowest level since July 1998. While Hurricane Katrina and associated price increases may have played a role, real earnings had decreased for seven of the prior eight months. Through 2002-2004, earnings had been slightly higher than when Bush came into office.
The rise in GDP since the recession was undergirded by substantial gains in labor productivity, in part due to layoffs of underutilized workers. Long-term problems include inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, sizable trade and budget deficits. Under the Bush administration, productivity has grown by an average of 3.76 percent per year, the highest such average in ten years. [12]
While the GDP recovered from a recession that some claim Bush inherited from the previous administration,[13] poverty has since worsened according to the Census Bureau. The percent of the population below the poverty level increased in each of Bush's first four years, while it decreased for each of the prior seven years to an 11-year low. Although the poverty level increased the increase was still lower from 2000 to 2002 then it was from 1992 to 1997 (which reached a peak of 39.3% in 1993). In 2002 the poverty rate was 34.6% which was almost equal to the rate in 1998, which was 34.5%. Poverty was at 12.7% in 2004. [14]
Social Security
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Bush called for major changes in Social Security (United States), identifying the system's projected insolvency as a priority early in his second term. From January through April of 2005, he toured the country, stopping in over 50 cities across the nation warning of an impending "crisis". Initially, President Bush emphasized his proposal for personalized accounts would allow individual workers to invest a portion of their Social Security Tax (FICA) into secured investments. The main advantage of personal accounts within Social Security is to allow workers to own the money they place into retirement that cannot be taken away by political whims.
The left countered by noting this approach might actually worsen the imbalance between revenues and expenses that Bush pointed to as a looming problem. In addition, many Democrats opposed changes that they felt were turning Social Security into a welfare program that would be politically vulnerable. Portions of the Bush's bill exempting private companies from social security payments have led to complaints that Bush's plan was created to benefit private companies, and that it would turn Social Security into just another insurance program.
Health
In July of 2002, Bush cut off U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Bush claimed that the UNFPA supported forced abortions and sterilizations in the People's Republic of China. [15]
Bush signed the Medicare Act of 2003, which added prescription drug coverage to Medicare (United States), subsidized pharmaceutical corporations, and prohibited the Federal government from negotiating discounts with drug companies. Bush said the law, estimated to cost 400,000,000,000 (USD) over the first 10 years, would give the elderly "better choices and more control over their health care". Seniors can buy a Medicare-approved discount card for $30 or less to help offset the increasing costs of prescription drugs. The legislation also adds prescription drug coverage to the federal health insurance program for the elderly, starting in 2006. The bill encourages insurance companies to offer private plans to millions of older Americans who now receive health care benefits under terms fixed by the government, an idea against which several Democrats have lashed out.
Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003, having declared his aim to "promote a culture of life". The law has not yet been enforced, having been ruled unconstitutional by three District Courts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld one of these rulings. Enforcement of the law has been enjoined pending a Supreme Court review. The federal law would have prohibited Intact dilation and extraction procedures "in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery". Several liberal and conservative critics alike feel that the law is merely a political gesture, as a fetus could technically be aborted inside of the womb and removed thereafter.
Education
In January of 2002, Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, with Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy as chief sponsor[16], which aims to close the achievement gap, measures student performance, provides options to parents with students in low-performing schools, and targets more federal funding to low-income schools. Critics (including John Kerry and the National Education Association) say schools were not given the resources to help meet new standards, although their argument is based on premise that authorization levels are spending promises instead of spending caps. Some state governments are refusing to implement provisions of the act as long as they are not adequately funded. [17] In January of 2005, USA Today reported that the United States Department of Education had paid $240,000 to African-American conservative political commentator Armstrong Williams "to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same." [18]
The House Education and Workforce Committee stated, "As a result of the No Child Left Behind Act, signed by Bush on January 8, 2002, the Federal government today is spending more money on elementary and High School (K-12) education than at any other time in the history of the United States". [19] Funding increases have to a large degree been offset at the state level by increased costs associated with implementing NCLB, as well as the impacts of the economic downturn on education budgets.
Science
On December 19, 2002, Bush signed into law H. R. 4664, far-reaching legislation to put the National Science Foundation (NSF) on a track to double its budget over five years and to create new mathematics and science education initiatives at both the pre-college and undergraduate level. [20] In the first three years of those five, the R&D budget has increased by fourteen percent. [21] [22] (PDF)
Bush opposes any new embryonic stem cell research, and has limited the federal funding of existing research. Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research was first approved under President Bill Clinton on January 19, 1999 [23], but no money was to be spent until the guidelines were published. The guidelines were released under Clinton on August 23, 2000. [24] They allowed use of unused frozen embryos. On August 9, 2001, before any funding was granted under these guidelines, Bush announced modifications to the guidelines to allow use of only existing stem cell lines. [25] While Bush claimed that more than 60 embryonic stem cell lines already existed from privately funded research, scientists in 2003 said there were only 11 usable lines, and in 2005 that all lines approved for Federal funding are contaminated and unusable. [26] Adult stem cell funding has not been restricted, and is supported by President Bush as a more viable means of research.
On January 14, 2004, Bush announced a major re-direction for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Known as the Vision for Space Exploration, it calls for the completion of the International Space Station by 2010 and the retirement of the space shuttle while developing a new spacecraft called the Crew Exploration Vehicle under the title Project Constellation. The CEV would be used to return American astronauts to the Moon by 2018, with the objective of establishing a permanent lunar base, and eventually sending future manned missions to Mars. [27] Although the plan was met with a largely tepid reception [28], the budget eventually passed with a few minor changes after the November elections. In January 2005 the White House released a new Space Transportation Policy fact sheet [29] (pdf), which outlined the administration's space policy in broad terms and tied the development of space transport capabilities to national security requirements.
On February 18, 2004, the scientific watchdog group the Union of Concerned Scientists released a report entitled Scientific Integrity in Policymaking. [30][31] Included was a statement "opposing the Bush administration's use of scientific advice." The report alleged that "the Bush administration has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the policy-making that is so important for our collective welfare" and "has suppressed or distorted the scientific analyses of federal agencies to bring these results in line with administration policy" to an extent that is "unprecedented." The report has been signed by over 7,000 scientists, including 49 Nobel laureates, 63 recipients of the National Medal of Science, 154 members of the National Academy of Sciences.
The White House has come under criticism for downplaying reports that link human activity and greenhouse gas emissions to climate change and that a White House official and former oil industry advocate, Philip Cooney, adjusted descriptions of climate research that had already been approved by government scientists. The White House has denied that Philip Cooney watered down reports. [32] In June 2005, State Department papers showed the administration thanking Exxon executives for the company's "active involvement" in helping to determine climate change policy, including the US stance on Kyoto. Input from the business lobby group Global Climate Coalition was also a factor. [33]
On August 1, 2005, Bush took a controversial stance favoring the teaching of Intelligent Design alongside evolution in science classes, saying, "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought, and I'm not suggesting — you're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes." [34] Many academic institutions, such as the National Academy of Sciences, view teaching Intelligent Design in public schools as a grave mistake. [35] See: Creation-evolution controversy.
Environment
Bush signed the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2002, authorizing the federal government to begin cleaning up pollution and contaminated sediment in the Great Lakes, as well as the Brownfields Legislation in 2002, accelerating the cleanup of abandoned industrial or brownfield sites.
Bush's environmental record has been attacked by most environmentalists, who charge that his policies cater to industry demands to weaken environmental protections. Environmental groups note that many Bush Administration officials, in addition to Bush and Cheney, have ties to the oil industry, automotive industry, and other groups that have fought against environmental protections. In December 2003, Bush signed legislation implementing key provisions of his Healthy Forests Initiative; environmental groups have charged that the plan is simply a giveaway to timber companies. Another subject of controversy is Bush's Clear Skies Initiative, which seeks to reduce air pollution through expansion of emissions trading.
Partially due to gas price hikes, Bush proposed tapping the oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a particularly sensitive ecosystem due to its arctic location. [36] (PDF) [37] Some claim that it is the last untouched wilderness left in the US, and that the majority of oil dug from the refuge will be sent to foreign countries, such as Japan, where larger profits can be made by domestic oil companies.
Bush has opposed the Kyoto Protocol to reduce the effect of global warming, saying it would harm the U.S. economy. Bush said it is unfairly strict on the U.S. while being unduly lenient with developing countries, especially China and India. Bush stated, "The world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases is China. Yet, China was entirely exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol." He has also questioned the science behind the global warming phenomenon, insisting that more research be done to determine its validity. [38]
The position Bush has taken on climate change has shifted with a gradual increasing acceptance that global warming is a problem, and that it is partly caused by human activity. The United States has signed the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, a pact that allows signatory countries to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions individually, but with no enforcement mechanism. Supporters of the pact see it as complementing the Kyoto Protocol whilst being more flexible Critics have said the pact will be ineffective without any enforcement measures. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with 187 mayors from US towns and cities, have pledged to adopt Kyoto style legal limits on greenhouse gas emissions. [39]
Capital punishment
George W. Bush is a strong supporter of capital punishment. During his tenure as Governor of Texas, 152 people were executed in that state, maintaining its record as the leading state in executions. As President of the United States, he has continued in his support for capital punishment, including presiding over the first federal execution in decades, that of convicted terrorist Timothy McVeigh.