FIRST YEAR

In George W. Bush's first year in office he:

1. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically
engineered crops.
2. Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
3. Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric
training.
4. Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.
5. Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in
drinking water.
6. Blocked rules that would require federal agencies to offer
bilingual assistance to non-English speaking persons. This, from a candidate
who would readily fire-up his Spanish-speaking skills in front of would-be
Hispanic voters.
7. Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel
Islands and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii (San Francisco Chronicle, April
6, 2001).
8. Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient
cars and trucks.
9. Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's
ability to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace safety,
environmental and other federal laws.
10. OK'd Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out
letters to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national
monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and forestation.
11. Appointed John Negroponte - an un-indicted high-level Iran
Contra figure to the post of United Nations Ambassador.
12. Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain
forest conservation.
13. Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public
hospitals, clinics and providers of care for people without insurance.
14. Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information
about the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
15. Suspended rules that would require hard-rock miners to clean up
sites on Western public lands.
16. Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America
program for public housing.
17. Proposed to eliminate a federal program, designed and
successfully used in Seattle, to help communities prepare for natural disasters.
18. Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.
19. Cut $200 million of work force training for dislocated workers.
20. Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which
encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
21. Cut program to provide childcare to low-income families as they
move from welfare to work.
22. Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage
to federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
23. Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public
housing.
24. Appointed Otto Reich - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra
figure - to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
25. Cut Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
26. Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to
get an animal placed on the Endangered Species List. 27. Rescinded the
rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency regulations for central
air conditioners and heat pumps.
28. Repealed workplace ergonomic rules designed to improve worker
health and safety.
29. Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, the waste
gas that contributes to global warming.
30. Banned federal aid to international family planning programs
that offer abortion counseling with other independent funds.
31. Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and
Outreach.
32. Nominated David Lauriski - ex-mining company executive - to
post of Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
33. OK'd Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a
controversial plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast of
eastern Florida.
34. Announced intention to open up Montana's Lewis and Clark
National Forest to oil and drilling.
35. Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's monuments, which
would technically allow oil and gas drilling "outside" of national
monuments.
36. Gutted White House AIDS Office.
37. Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate
workers' rights and safeguards for the environment.
38. Will no longer seek guidance from The American Bar Association
in recommendations for the federal judiciary appointments.
39. Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as Undersecretary of the
Interior.
40. Took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental
Quality.
41. Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
42. Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led
grizzly bear re-introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana
wilderness.
43. Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research
projects.
44. Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get
financial aid for college, though convicted murderers can.
45. Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.
46. Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's
tobacco company lawsuit.
47. Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the
wealthiest 1% of Americans.
48. Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class
Americans to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills.
49. Appointed a Vice President quoted as saying "If you want to do
something about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build nuclear
power plants." (Vice President Dick Cheney on "Meet the Press.")
50. Appointed Diana "There is no gender gap in pay" Roth to the
Council of Economic Advisers. (Boston Globe, March 28, 2001.)
51. Appointed Kay Cole James - an opponent of affirmative action -
to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
52. Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of
child abuse and neglect.
53. Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to
get credit cards.
54. Proposed elimination of the "Reading is Fundamental" program
that gives free books to poor children.
55. Is pushing for development of small nuclear arm to attack
deeply buried targets and weapons, which would violate the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
56. Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton - attorney responsible for
the recent case weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act - to
federal appeals court judgeship.
57. Proposes to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of
national forest from logging and road building.
58. Eliminated funding for the "We the People" education program
which taught School children about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights
and citizenship.
59. Appointed John Bolton - who opposes nonproliferation treaties
and the U.N. - to Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and
International Security.
60. Nominated Linda Fisher - an executive with Monsanto - for the
number-two job at the Environmental Protection Agency.
61. Nominated Michael McConnell - leading critic of the separation
of church and state - to a federal judgeship.
62. Nominated Terrence Boyle - ardent opponent of civil rights - to
a federal judgeship.
63. Canceled 2004 deadline for auto-makers to develop prototype
high mileage cars.
64. Nominated Harvey Pitts - lawyer for teen sex video distributor
- to head SEC.
65. Nominated John Walters - strong opponent of prison drug
treatment programs - for Drug Czar. (Washington Post, May 16, 2001.)
66. Nominated J. Steven Giles - an oil and coal lobbyist - for
Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
67. Nominated Bennett Raley - who advocates repealing the
Endangered Species Act - for Assistant Secretary for Water and Science
68. Is seeking the dismissal of class-action lawsuit filed in the
U.S. against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves during
WWII.
69. Earmarked $4 million in new federal grant money for HIV and
drug abuse prevention programs to go only to religious groups and not secular
equivalents.
70. Reduced by 40% the Low Income Home Assistance Program for
low-income individuals who need assistance paying energy bills.
71. Nominated Ted Olson who has repeatedly lied about his
involvement with the Scaiffe-funded "Arkansas Project" to bring down Bill Clinton -
for Solicitor General.
72. Forced resignation of Surgeon General after report finds that
teaching only abstinence does not work to reduce teenage pregnancy.
73. Proposes to ease permit process - including environmental
considerations - for refinery, nuclear and hydroelectric dam
construction.  (Washington Post, May 18, 2001.)
74. Proposes to give government the authority to take private
property through eminent domain for power lines.
75. Proposes that $1.2 billion in funding for alternative renewable
energy come from selling oil and gas lease tracts in the Alaska National
Wildlife Reserve.
76. Plans on serving genetically engineered foods at all official
government functions. (This item hasn't been verified and might or might not
be accurate)
77. Forced out Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck and appointed a
timber industry lobbyist.

List compiled by Dr. David A. Sprintzen, Professor of Philosophy
Co-Director, Institute for Sustainable Development C.W. Post
College, Long Island University

Page created January 22, 2003 by Charlie Jenks.