Housing the War on Iraq
By Anna Peiffer
January 2005
Volume 41, Number 1
Accessible and affordable housing is a critical need of every American
family. Yet, right now, the policies of the George W. Bush administration
are destroying the quality of American housing just as severely as if
they were dropping bombs on houses, as they do in Baghdad. The urgent
question is: how have housing and other American basic social services
crumbled in the backfires of America's bombs?
The rationale behind Bush's incentives for recent funding cuts to
social programs is made painstakingly clear when one examines the
cuts made in the President's proposed discretionary spending for 2005
fiscal year: a proposal that allots 54% of the discretionary budget
to military spending and a mere 9% to education, training, employment,
and social services combined.
In 2004 alone, the Bush Administration has provided $399.2 billion
to be spent on national defense. $379.9 billion is awarded to the
[Pentagon], including $74.4 billion for procurement of aircraft, ships,
vehicles, and satellites. Another $16.9 billion is earmarked for the
development of nuclear weapons. On May 17th, Bush requested an additional
$25 billion for an emergency reserve to support operations in Iraq
and Afghanistan. Bush's fiscal plan projects a yearly expenditure
of $503 billion on defense by 2009.
Hundreds of billions of dollars may seem like an inconceivable amount
of money, but how much money is it really? To accept the Bush administration's
own definition, about $75 billion (less than one fifth of the 2004
budget's original allotment for annual U.S. military spending) is
necessary for one month of the "liberation" of the Iraqi
pipelines into the waiting hands of the President's own top investors.
This same amount of money could cover 93% of the federal budget necessary
to fund education, training, employment, and social services combined
at current levels for a year.
So where does this money come from in the first place? After all,
unlike oil, money is not a natural resource! A close examination of
the proposed budget for fiscal year 2005 might reveal a few "reserves"
that the Bush administration has tapped in order to bulk up the budget
for the Pentagon. For one, the programs of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) have taken heavy hits in recent federal
budget proposals. Changes made in the Housing Voucher Program have
amounted to over $1.66 billion in cuts. Could it be a coincidence
that an equal amount of $1.6 billion was added to the homeland security
budget, and an almost matching amount of $1.2 billion was added to
the army's Comanche helicopter program at just the same time the HUD
budget was cut?
The diversion of funds from vital social programs such as HUD has
had debilitating consequences on American families. Over 250,000 families,
formerly aided by the Housing Voucher Program, have been cut from
the program. National Low Income Housing President Sheila Crowley
has stated that, "the Bush Administration is trying to accomplish
through regulation what it could not accomplish through legislation:
a reckless disregard for well-being of countless families, seniors,
and people with disabilities."
The Bush administration's rationale for cutting Section 8 voucher
assistance for the first time in its thirty-year existence has also
been contested as a practical solution to the expanding military budget.
The 2005 program is now almost 10% short of the amount of the money
needed to maintain its 2004 projects. The once market-based housing
program has become dependant on block grants to public authorities,
effectively denying the program access to inflationary adjustments
and caus-ing the vouchers to lose value. The rule that limited the
amount of rent paid by voucher-holding family to 30% of their income
has been dismantled. The new plan also prevents voucher-holders from
transferring their vouchers if they must move to find employment or
to access public transportation.
As of April 22nd, the Bush Administration has taken steps that hurt
the voucher-holders of the future as well as those of the past. By
making the "proposed" voucher plan for 2005 retroactive
to January 1, 2004, the Administration has been able gain additional
funds by charging current and previous voucher holders for the difference
between the original 2004 Voucher Program from the new 2005 Voucher
Program. The President is actually taking back assistance to low-income
residents that has already been given, which certainly prompts one
to wonder what makes these low-income residents deserve such a harsh
punishment.
HUD's Section 8 Housing Voucher Program is only one of a long list
of social programs that have been cut in the past year as the defense
budget continues to grow. As the budgets of these social programs
shrink, it is difficult to ignore the fact that vast amounts of money
are being diverted to fight a fruitless war.
What is America really fighting? Are we fighting another country?
Are we fighting terrorism? Or are we really just cannibalizing our
own poor citizens? A war on terrorism could be approached as a war
of domestic precaution, one in which the soldiers of law enforcement,
intelligence, and homeland security are employed on our own soil.
Instead, enormous amounts of money are being spent on placing multitudes
of military forces in foreign countries. Today, America is indeed
fighting a war - a fiscal war that punishes the poor and hurts the
innocent while protecting the oil resources of rich corporate investors
and President Bush's own top contributors.
References
National Priorities Project. "Proposed Discretionary Spending,
FY 2005," http://www.nationalpriorities.org/charts/DiscretionarySpending05.html.
House Budge Committee: Democrats. "Summary and Analysis of the
President's 2004 Budget," http://www.house.gov/budget_democrats/pres_budgets/fy2004/fy04update/050.htm.
108th Congress, 2d Session. "Request for FY 2005 Budget Amendment,"
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/
The Peace Movement. "How Do We Pay For This War?," http://prorev.com/peace.htm.
National Low Income Housing Coalition. "Bush Proposal Will Dismantle
Housing Program For Lowest Income Families," http://www.nlihc.org/press/pr020204.html.
House Budget Committee: Democrats. "Summary and Analysis of the
President's 2005 Budget: Harmful Cuts."
House Budget Committee: Democrats. "Summary and Analysis of the
President's 2004 Budget: Function 0505: National Defense."
National Low Income Housing Coalition. "April 22 HUD Policy Will
Force Families Out of Their Homes," http://www.nlihc.org/news/042404.html.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Further Action by HUD
Needed to Halt Cuts in Housing Assistance for Low-Income Families,"
http://www.cbpp.org/4-26-04hous.htm.
Priorities! Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities. "The FY
2005 Budget: Defense Spending Out of Control," http://www.sensiblepriorities.org/budget_analysis.htm.