AMERICA UNDER BUSH: THE STATE OF ALASKA'S WORKING FAMILIES

■*■ 3,141 More Alaska Workers Have Become Unemployed Since Bush Took Office.

■*• 6,400 Of Alaska Workers Have Lost Their Unemployment Benefits Since January 2004.

■*• 43 Percent Of Alaska Taxpayers Will Receive Less Than $100 From Latest Bush Tax Cut In 2004.

■*• Alaska Families Face Rising Share Of National Debt Burden: $21,424 Over Six Years.

-» 20,000 Alaska Children Abandoned By Bush, Left Out Of Child Tax Credit.

■* 119,000 Alaska Residents Have No Health Insurance, Up 19 Percent Under Bush.

■*■ 8,400 Alaska Seniors Worse Off Under Bush Medicare Prescription Plan.

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ALASKA UNDER BUSH

JOBS AND ECONOMY:

Bush Does Nothing While Jobs Are Lost,

Salaries Stagnate, And Poverty Soars

Nationwide: Businesses Have Lost 2.6 Million Jobs; Unemployment At 5.7 Percent — Up 36 Percent Since Bush Took Office. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov]

> Alaska Fact: Unemployment At 7.1 Percent — Up 8 Percent Since Bush Took Office. [Bureau of

Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov1

> Alaska Fact: 6,400 Jobless Alaska Workers Have Lost Their Unemployment Benefits Since January 2004. 6,400 Alaska workers have been dropped from unemployment insurance because Bush and the Republican Congress have refused to extend them. [CBPP, 3/25/04, www.cbpp.orgl

Nationally, Median Wages are Stagnant. In 2003, median weekly wages grew slower than the rate of inflation, meaning that real value of workers paychecks actually declined. [EPI, 4/12/04, www.epinet.orgl

Nationally, Nearly 2.8 Million Manufacturing Jobs Lost Under Bush, And Account For 95 Percent of All Job LOSS. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.govl

Nationally, 3.5 Million More Americans Have Fallen Into Poverty Under Bush — Poverty Rate Up

To 12.1 Percent. [Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2002, Table 4, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.htmll

> Alaska Fact: Alaska Poverty Rate At 8.7 Percent— Up From 8.1 Percent In 2000-2001.

[Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2002, Table 4, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.htmll

TAXES: Bush Squandered Surplus, Increasing Debt Burden, Gave Tax Breaks To Rich

Bush Squandered Trillions In Three Years: Inherited $5.6 Trillion Surplus, Has Now Created $5.2 Trillion Deficit. In August 2003, the Congressional Budget Office projected federal deficits "as far as the

eye can see." [CBO, 8/03; OMB Mid-Session Review, 7/15/03; CBPP, 1/28/04; Los Angeles Times, 8/29/03]

> Alaska Fact: Small Benefits of Bush Tax Cut Dwarfed by Rising Debt Burden For Alaska's Middle Income Families; Alaska Taxpayers Face $21,424 Average Increased Debt Burden. [CTJ Fact Sheet, 9/23/03]

> Alaska Fact: 43% of Alaska Taxpayers Get Less Than $100 in 2004; Richest 1% Would Get

$41,707. [CTJ Fact Sheet, 1 1/19/03, http://www.cti.orgl

> Alaska Fact: 20,000 Children in Alaska Are Left Out of Bush Child Tax Credit Provision. [New York Times, 5/29/03; CBPP Fact Sheet, http://www.cbpp.org/5-28-03tax3.htm; CTJ Fact Sheet, 6/3/03]

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ALASKA UNDER BUSH

HEALTH CARE:

In the Face of Rising Health Care Costs and Uninsured, Bush Offers

Prescription Drug Plan That Actually Hurts Seniors

Nationally, One in Nine Have No Health Insurance Under Bush. [Census Bureau, Historical Health Insurance Tables, Table HI06, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/liltliins.html]

> Alaska Fact: 119,000 Alaska Residents (18.7 Percent) Have No Health Insurance — Up 19 Percent From 2001. [Census Bureau, Historical Health Insurance Tables, Table HI06, http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins.html1

> Alaska Fact: 169,000 Alaska Residents Were Without Insurance At Some Point During 2001- 2002. [Families USA, Going Without Insurance, March 2003]

Nationally, Many Seniors Worse Off Under Bush Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. The Medicare bill that President Bush signed in November 2003 includes limited prescription drug coverage but protects drug companies by failing to bring down the cost of prescriptions. The bill has been described as a "big win" for the drug industry, and nationwide, many seniors are worse off under the plan. fWall Street Journal, 1 1/17/03; Senate HELP Committee Minority Staff, "National and State Impacts of the Medicare Prescription Drug Conference Proposal," 1 1/03, emphasis added]

> Alaska Fact: Alaska Seniors Hurt By Bush Medicare Plan.

— > 2,940 Alaska Medicare beneficiaries will lose their employer-based retiree health benefits.

— > 8,400 seniors will pay more for the prescription drugs they need. [Senate HELP Committee Minority Staff, "National and State Impacts of the Medicare Prescription Drug Conference Proposal," 11/03]

EDUCATION:

Bush Ignores Skyrocketing Tuition, And Underfunds His Own Education

Reform Plan

Nationally, College Tuition Skyrocketing. Public universities in 49 of 50 states have increased tuition to as much as 39 percent, averaging 14 percent increases across the country. [Associated Press, 8/25/03; College Board, 10/21/03]

Bush Consistently Shortchanged Higher Education And Froze Pell Grant Funding, Leaving Students And Parents To Face Tuition Increases. [House Budget Committee Minority Staff, 4/30/03, 2/7/03; House Appropriations Committee Minority Staff, 2/3/03, www.ed.gov]

New Bush Budget Underfunds "No Child Left Behind" by $9.4 Billion. [President's FY 2005 Budget, www.ed.gov]

Alaska Fact: Alaska Will Face $18,946,000 in Unfunded No Child Left Behind Mandates Under

New Bush Budget. [National Conference of State Legislatures, Mandate Monitor, March 2004]

Alaska Fact: Alaska Will Face $29,284,000 in Unfunded Special Education Mandates Under New

Bush Budget. [National Conference of State Legislatures, Mandate Monitor, March 2004]

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ALASKA UNDER BUSH

MILITARY AND VETERANS: Despite Promises, Bush Abandons Struggling Veterans And Military Families

Bush Proposed Doubling Costs of Prescription Drugs For Veterans. In 2003, Bush proposed adding a $250 enrollment fee and nearly doubling prescription drug costs for veterans earning over $24,000. [Reuters, 7/14/03; Washington Post, 7/22/031

Bush Administration Proposing To Close Seven Veterans Hospitals. In early August 2003, the Bush administration announced it was closing 7 of its 163 veteran's hospitals in its efforts to "restructure" the Department of Veterans Affairs. Hospitals to be closed are in Canandaigua, N.Y.; Pittsburgh (Highland Drive); Lexington, Ky. (Leestown); Brecksville, Ohio; Gulfport, Miss.; Livermore, Calif; and Waco, Texas. Joy Hem, assistant national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans "questioned the need for closures and other cutbacks. 'Everyone is aware of the difficulty VA has meeting demand,' Hem said. 'When we have hundreds of thousands of veterans on waiting lists (for medical appointments), we don't want to see facilities closed due to fiscal problems.'" A final decision is expected in 2004. [Associated Press. 8/4/03, 10/28/03, 12/16/03; Department of Veterans Affairs]

ENVIRONMENT: Bush Helped Industry By Weakening Rules And Oversight

> Loosening Rules

— > Under Bush, violation notices against polluters dropped 35 percent from 2002 through the first 10 months of 2003. [Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/9/03]

— > Bush opened 9 million acres of national forest to logging and mining. [Seattle Post Intelligencer,

12/24/03]

— » Bush tried to allow 20,000 facilities nationwide to increase pollution. [Baltimore Sun, 8/28/03; Los Angeles Times, 8/28/03, 11/6/03]

> Weakening Oversight

— > In his first budget Bush cut $10 million from EPA enforcement programs. [Washington Post, 4/10/01]

— > Bush cut the EPA budget by $500 million between 2003 and 2004. [Democratic Staff, Committee on Energy and Commerce, 2/26/03]

— > Completed Superfund cleanups have decreased every year under Bush. Superfund is a trust fund that polluting corporations pay into to help clean contaminated sites. The GOP Congress refused to re-authorize funding for Superfund, so the program is slowing depleting. [Boston Globe, 1/9/04]

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ALASKA UNDER BUSH

HOMELAND SECURITY: Bush Ignoring Dangerous Security Concerns

Bush is Letting Many Homeland Security Needs Fall Through the Cracks. More than two years after the 9/1 1 attacks, serious gaps exist in the Bush administration's attempts to defend America against terrorism:

— > Emergency Response to Public Health Threats: The Department of Homeland Security is cutting by 80 percent ($40 million) of funds for its program to ready local emergency responses to public health crises. The program, the Metropolitan Medical Response System run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, plays a "significant role in [federal] mass casualty planning." [CQ, 1/2/04]

— > Cargo Containers: Only 2% of the 7 million cargo containers arriving at the nation's 361

commercial ports each year are screened. [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 7/10/03; Portland Press Herald, 7/5/03]

— > Airline Screeners: The Transportation Security Administration's airport screening force will be cut by 6,000 screeners, about 11%, because GOP says TSA "over hired." [AP, 4/30/03]

— > Air Cargo: On average, half of a plane's hull on any passenger flight is filled with cargo, and 22 percent of the nation's air cargo travels on passenger flights, yet most air cargo traveling by passenger plane remains unscreened, with only "random checks" being performed by TSA officials. Part of the reason is pressure from passenger air carriers, who, according to Newsday, "worry that screening their cargo would add such a delay that the $4-billion-a-year business would dry up." [The Hill, 4/30/03; Newsday, 9/8/031

— » Chemical Plants: The Government Accounting Office report found that even though US chemical facilities were "attractive targets for terrorists," there was no government oversight to assure that plants are safe from terrorist attack. In addition, Bush has declined to push for accountability from chemical companies. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, the EPA "backed down" from using its regulatory power to oversee plant security "after the industry balked." [GAO, Voluntary Initiatives Are Under Way at Chemical Facilities, but the Extent of Security Preparedness Is Unknown, March 2003; Richmond Times Dispatch, 3/23/03]

— > Police Equipment: The non-partisan Council on Foreign Relations criticized homeland security

preparedness in a 2003 report, stating, "Many police departments lack adequate detection and personal protective equipment and training for responding to chemical, biological, or radiological incidents." [Independent Task Force, Council on Foreign Relations, 7/29/03]

— > Emergency Responders: The non-partisan Council on Foreign Relations criticized homeland security preparedness in a 2003 report, stating, "Most cities do not have the necessary equipment to determine what kind of hazardous materials emergency responders may be facing." [Independent Task Force, Council on Foreign Relations, 7/29/03]

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