Hospitals & Asylums
1.
The Office of Management and Budget reported for the 15 July Mid-Session Review
that Strong Economic Growth and Fiscal Discipline would Help Reduce Budget
Deficit. The President’s
Goal to Cut Deficit in Half is Projected to be Met a Year Ahead of Schedule.
The Office of Management and Budget Reported the FY2006
Budget Deficit Is Forecast To Be 30 Percent Lower than the Forecast in February
and the President’s Goal to Halve the Deficit is on Track to be Met a Year
Ahead of Schedule. The President’s pro-growth policies have encouraged
robust economic growth and job creation, thereby strengthening government
revenues and helping to reduce the deficit. The new report estimates this
year’s deficit to be $296 billion or 2.3 percent of GDP. Projections now show
the deficit will fall to $188 billion in 2008, or 1.3 percent of GDP,
surpassing President Bush’s original goal of cutting the deficit in half by
FY2009 from its FY2004 projected peak of $521 billion, or 4.5 percent of GDP.
2. Economic Growth
Generates Increased Tax Receipts and Dramatically Improves Budget Outlook ¾ Stronger than Expected Economic Growth in
the Opening Quarter of 2006. The economy has grown 18 consecutive
quarters and real GDP grew at an annual rate of 5.6 percent for the first
quarter of the year. Since the beginning of 2003, real--or
inflation-adjusted--GDP growth has averaged 4.0 percent per year, exceeding the
post-World War II average of 3.4 percent per year. The economy has created over
5.4 million jobs since August 2003. At 4.6 percent, the unemployment rate is
lower than the average of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s. The American
People’s Hard Work Helped Overcome Significant Challenges. This job growth is
particularly impressive in light of the series of challenges faced by the
Nation over the past five years, including the stock market decline beginning
in 2000, the recession, the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the ensuing Global War
on Terror, devastating hurricanes, and higher energy prices.
3. A Robust
Economy Has Helped Produce Rapid Increases in Federal Receipts. From
2005 to 2006, receipts are projected to grow 11 percent ($246 billion), more
than twice as fast as the economy itself. Since the tax relief was fully
implemented in 2003, tax receipts have increased over 34.6 percent. Spending
Restraint Helps Reduce Budget Deficit and the President Has Held the Line on
the Growth of Discretionary Spending. Last year, the President proposed
to cut non-security discretionary spending below the previous year’s level, the
first such proposal since the Reagan Administration. He proposed to hold total
discretionary spending growth to less than the rate of inflation. The Congress
delivered on those goals. His FY2007 Budget builds on this success and again
calls on Congress to reduce non-security discretionary spending and keep the
growth of overall discretionary spending below inflation.
4. The Line Item
Veto Will Give the President An Important Tool to Eliminate Wasteful Spending.
Working with Congress, this tool can help reduce the budget deficit and
discourage the practice of earmarking Federal funds for projects that are
wasteful, duplicative, or unneeded. The House of Representatives approved
creation of the line item veto by a strong bipartisan majority and the Senate
needs to pass this reform. Unsustainable Growth in Entitlement Programs Poses
Long-Term Threat to Budget. Protecting
Our Nation’s Long-Term Fiscal Health Requires Reining-In Runaway Entitlement
Spending. Over the next 30 years, spending for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social
Security will grow to the point that it will crowd out the rest of the Federal
budget if needed reforms are not made. The President proposed slowing the
growth of Medicaid and Medicare spending in his FY2006 Budget, and Congress
passed the Deficit Reduction Act which the President signed into law in
February, saving almost $40 billion over the next five years. The President
followed up with proposals in his FY2007 Budget to slow the growth of
entitlement programs, including Medicare, by $65 billion over five years and
will continue to work with Congress on entitlement reform, including reforming
Social Security to preserve and strengthen it for future generations of
Americans.
5. The sudden
reduction in economic growth to 2.3% and widespread lay-offs at the end of July
after the crisis in the Holy Land, have seriously changed the economic
projections whereas they were entirely reliant upon the private sector. Without creative economics that address the serious
ethical lapses that precipitated this collapse the World Economic Social Survey
predicts that GDP growth will not revive this year. To come up with a projection regarding the budget deficit with two
quarter at 5.6% and two quarters at 2.3% we can estimate a budget deficit
greater than $350 billion. Hospitals & Asylums must be paid so that
OMB can work on the fiscal discipline of federal government by both eliminating
treason and the social security budget surplus, as negotiated. Gifts received by August 11 are most likely
to revive economic growth.
FY 2007
Mid-Session Review Fact Sheet
FY 2007
Mid-Session Review Charts
President
Bush Discusses Mid-Session Review
Balanced Health and Welfare Budget Amendment Act of FY 2007 HA-14-6-06
Substantive Session of ECOSOC HA-18-7-06