Republicans in Congress cut $53.9 billion in spending . Unfortunately NONE of it was pork and MOST of it will affect the poor with devastating effects for the future of America. But at the same time this appears more a token bill than one with any real impact on the budget.

The military budget accounts for 50% of the federal budget. It will never be cut until America goes bankrupt or votes in third parties.

These are some of the things they have cut {from 2006-2010}:

Small Business Administration: $124 Million ( budget now of $456M )
Federal Aid for College Loans: $14.47 Billion
Medicaid: $20.5 Billion
Food Stamps: $1 Billion
Farm Subsidies: $1 Billion { cuts 1% of funding )
Child Care: $434 million
Child support enforcement: $4.9 Billion
Foster care: $577 million
Supplemental Security Income: $732 million
Domestic subsidies ( WTO adherence) : $3.2 Billion
Increase of non-immigrant visa fees: $428 million
Increases vessel tonnage fees: $156 million

ANWR also passed in this bill. They will lease out ANWR for $2.5 billion. ANWR contains at most 3 months worth of USA oil consumption.

All of this while Congress gives themselves a $3100 pay raise. They will make a meager $165,000 each for 2005.

According to the 2005 Congressional Pig Book Summary

Once again, Congress porked out at record levels. For fiscal 2005, appropriators stuffed 13,997 projects into the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 31 percent over last year’s total of 10,656. In the last two years, the total number of projects has increased by 49.5 percent. The cost of these projects in fiscal 2005 was $27.3 billion, or 19 percent more than last year’s total of $22.9 billion. In fact, the total cost of pork has increased by 21 percent since fiscal 2003. Total pork identified by CAGW since 1991 adds up to $212 billion.

On November 4, Congress set the 2006 SBA budget at $456.5 million in an appropriations bill, which now awaits President Bush's signature. Its 2005 budget was $579.5 million. In 2001, the final year of the Clinton administration, the budget was $1.1 billion

The House proposal also would require 70,000 legal immigrants in most cases to wait seven years to become eligible for food stamps, rather than the current five years. { This would mean LEGAL immigrants would be paying federal taxes for 2 years with little or no benefit. Legal immigrants pay no federal/state taxes for the first 5 years in country.}

What can you do? Support decent candidates who will cut the ENTIRE overall budget - this will affect more things proportionally if we are to live within fiscal sanity!