Reply #59: Good news for Dead Beat Dads/Parents - ONLY! [View All]

[Breeze54]

http://www.asuwebdevil.com/issues/2005/10/28/opinions/694639

Galvan: Cuts benefit deadbeat dads, harm grads
by Astrid Galvan
published on Friday, October 28, 2005

House Republicans voted to cut different programs from the national budget Wednesday in order to save money.
Among these programs are employee benefits, child-support enforcement and (surprise, surprise) federal student aid.

It gets even better.
Not only will there be a total of $50 billion in cuts over the next five years, as opposed to originally planned $35 billion,
but the efforts will also include new fees on student loans and higher fees on parent loans.

To make these plans work, the House has assembled eight legislative committees to manage the cuts.
One is the House of Education panel, which was instructed to generate $18 billion in savings over the next five years.

The House of Education's plan of action:
to stop helping students pay for their education,
the one thing they need to succeed.
And if, by chance, they do still take out loan money,
they must charge them fees in addition to the higher interest rates.

As if it isn't enough to screw "America's future,"
the House is also incorporating premium raises on employers for retiring and pension benefits.
This means less money for us when we grow gray.

In regards to the cuts in child-support enforcement,
there is good news for deadbeat dads all around the country:
$3.8 billion of the money spent to enforce child-support payments will be cut.

But wait kids there's more.
This bill would also mess with foster-care assistance in nine states.

Why all this money, you ask?

Well, they certainly aren't trying to teach us how to save money,
something Americans are notorious for being physically incapable
of doing.
Instead, the government is attempting to cut the national deficit,
which now lies at a number too great for your pretty eyes.

For the most part,
the $50 billion in cuts is result of Hurricane Katrina and the necessary disaster relief.
Basically, the Republican House is under extreme pressure to save more money than planned.
They are under even more pressure to "out-save" the Senate,
who has different plans for the national budget.

So what other measures should they take?

They could approve a disgusting plan to make $2.4 billion in lease revenues
by allowing the art of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But approval would be devastating for environmentalists everywhere.

Predictably, President Bush stands firmly behind these budget-cutting plans.
He announced this on Wednesday to the Economic Club of Washington.

"We can help the people of the Gulf Coast region and recover and rebuild,
and we can be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars at the same time,
which means we're going to have to reduce unnecessary spending elsewhere in the budget," Bush said.

Pardon me,
I wasn't aware that student aid, education and child support were "unnecessary."

What is necessary, though, is that students speak out.
Perhaps protest on Hayden Lawn.
Send a letter to your state representative.
If nobody is going to do anything to stop this catastrophe,
we,
the students, should.

Astrid Galvan is a journalism junior.