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President Bush has endorsed an amendment to the United States Constitution that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, which would ban same-sex marriage, but leaves open the possibility of civil unions. Bush has tended to be opposed to forms of affirmative action, but expressed appreciation for the Supreme Court's ruling upholding selecting college applicants for purposes of diversity. Although President Bush did meet with the National Urban League, he is the first sitting President not to meet with the NAACP since Herbert Hoover.
Bush implemented three tax cuts during his first term in office that eliminated the "marriage penalty" and the "death tax" and reduced marginal tax rates. These cuts were enacted by Congress with large bipartisan majorities, but were later criticized as regressive give-aways. By 2004, these tax cuts reduced federal tax revenues, as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product, to the lowest level since 1959. [12] The effect was to create record budget deficits. In the last year of the Clinton administration, the federal budget showed an annual surplus of more than $230 billion. [13] Under Bush, however, the government returned to deficit spending. The annual deficit reached a record level of $374 billion in 2003 ([14]) and then a further record of $413 billion in 2004 ([15]). In an open letter to Bush in 2004, more than 100 professors of business and economics at U.S. business schools ascribed this "fiscal reversal" to Bush’s "policy of slashing taxes - primarily for those at the upper reaches of the income distribution". [16]
Bush advocates the partial privatization of Social Security wherein an individual would be free to invest a portion of his Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts. This initiative has not yet been considered by Congress.
Bush signed the Medicare Act of 2003, which added prescription drug coverage to Medicare, subsidized large employers to discourage them from eliminating private prescription coverage to retired workers, and prohibited the Federal government from negotiating discounts with drug companies.
Of the US$2.4 trillion budgeted for 2005, about US$401 billion [17] are planned to be spent on defense. This level is generally comparable to the defense spending during the cold war. [18]
In January of 2003, Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which targets supporting early learning, measures student performance, gives options over failing schools, and ensures more resources for schools. Critics (including Senator Kerry and the National Education Association) say schools were not given the resources to help meet new standards despite a 50% increase in federal education spending. Some state governments are refusing to implement provisions of the act as long as they are not adequately funded. [19]
Scientists have repeatedly criticized the Bush administration for reducing funding for scientific research, setting restrictions on federal funding of stem cell research, ignoring scientific consensus on global warming, and hampering cooperation with foreign scientists by enforcing deterring immigration and visa restrictions. In February 2004, over 5,000 scientists (including 48 Nobel Prize winners) from the Union of Concerned Scientists signed a statment "opposing the Bush administration's use of scientific advice." They felt that "the Bush administration has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the policy-making that is so important for our collective welfare." [20] [21][22]
On January 14, 2004, Bush announced a "space vision", calling for a return to the Moon by 2020, the completion of the International Space Station by 2010 and eventually sending astronauts to Mars. However, the plan faces funding problems, and Bush has not mentioned the initiative since his speech. [23].
Bush's environmental record has been largely criticized by environmentalists, who charge that his policies cater to industry demands to weaken environmental protections. He did sign the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2002 authorizing the Federal government to begin cleaning up pollution and contaminated sediment in the Great Lakes. He signed the Brownfields Legislation in 2002, accelerating the cleanup of abandoned industrial sites, or brownfields, to better protect public health, create jobs, and revitalize communities. In December 2003, President Bush signed legislation implementing key provisions of his Healthy Forests Initiative.
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