Bush's Budget Axe to Fall on Poor

President Bush is proposing to reduce spending on public health and social welfare in the US to help pay for tax cuts and the war in Iraq, according to early reports of today's White House budget.

In an attempt to keep government spending under control at a time of record deficits, Mr Bush's proposals to Congress will include cuts in public housing subsidies, in health projects aimed at diseases related to poverty, and in food stamps, which help America's poorest buy groceries.

Mr Bush inherited a budget surplus from Bill Clinton but is now running deficits of over $400bn (£215bn) a year, partly as a result of an economic slump and the September 11 attacks. But the turnaround is also due to huge tax cuts which disproportionately benefit the wealthiest 1% of Americans, and the war in Iraq, for which the administration has asked for another $80bn this year.

Some state governments provide food stamps not only to families on welfare but also to those receiving job-related aid such as for childcare. The new budget would restrict that practice, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday.

A programme that helps the poor pay heating bills is to be cut by more than 8%, while 18 housing and community programmes will be consolidated with total savings of about 40% - almost $3bn.

The administration has also said it will save $60bn over 10 years on the Medicaid programme, which provides health services to the poor. It argues that the savings will largely come from administrative costs, but there will be severe cuts in several health programmes.

A health department preventative programme aimed at obesity and other chronic diseases is to be cut by 6.5% to $841m, according to the New York Times. Health training schemes will be slashed. One such scheme for nurses, dentists and other health professionals will be reduced by 64% and another to train doctors for children's hospitals will be cut by a third.

The targeting of social welfare programmes is not a political risk for a Republican administration, as few of the very poor vote for the party, but the White House is also taking on an important political constituency by threatening to cut farm subsidies.

The government pays out $15bn a year to farms growing cotton, rice, corn and wheat. A cut in those subsidies would be a boon to developing countries but would bring protests from the agro-industrial sector, which profits most from the subsidies.