Cato Daily Dispatch for March 8, 2004
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The Bush Budget's Bunker-BusterIn Oklahoma, No Child Left Behind Flunks
U.N. Suspects Pakistan Leaders Knew of Nuclear Leaks
The Bush Budget's Bunker-Buster
"A sharp jump in military spending under President Bush has lifted defense budgets to levels not seen since the height of the Reagan buildup of the early 1980s, prompting warnings by lawmakers and defense analysts that the surge may no longer be sustainable in a time of deepening deficits," The Washington Post reports.
"The military bills, which are approaching $500 billion a year, reflect an exceptional confluence of events, as the Pentagon attempts to cover the costs of stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan while pursuing an array of new weaponry, exploring revolutionary technologies and caring for an all-volunteer military."
In "Equal Time: Slash Domestic Spending to Pay For Rising War Cost," Charles V. Peña, director of defense policy studies, and Veronique de Rugy, fiscal policy analyst, write: "If the president wants to toss an extra $87 billion at Iraq, he should think about cutting the $90 billion devoted to corporate welfare every year. He should also cut education spending, which has skyrocketed under his watch. ... The National Endowments for the Humanities and for the Arts should be terminated. The federal government should also sell its defective business operations, including the Postal Service, Amtrak and electric utilities."
In Oklahoma, No Child Left Behind Flunks
"Democratic legislators in Oklahoma were so unhappy with President Bush's No Child Left Behind school improvement law that they drafted a resolution calling on Congress to overhaul it. But at the last minute one of the state's most conservative Republicans, State Representative Bill Graves, stepped up with his own suggestion: Tell Congress to repeal it entirely. The resolution passed," The New York Times reports.
"There is little chance that Congress will amend, much less repeal, the law in an election year, experts said, but the unusual alliance in the Oklahoma Legislature reflected the widespread outcry that the president's signature education initiative has provoked. Like similar measures being debated in legislatures across the country, the Oklahoma resolution brought together liberal Democrats and states' rights Republicans, angry over what they see as a cumbersome federal intrusion on local schools."
In the Cato Handbook for Congress, David Salisbury, director of Cato's Center for Educational Freedom, calls No Child Left Behind "a funding initiative that gives billions of additional federal dollars to failing schools."
He continues: "During his presidential campaign, Bush emphasized that he did not want to become the 'federal superintendent of schools.' But the NCLBA (No Child Left Behind Act) gives the president and the federal government far too much power over local schools and classrooms. Instead of proposing more top-down fixes for education, the president should use his position to push for the return of control of education to states and localities and urge state-level reforms that return the control of education to parents."
U.N. Suspects Pakistan Leaders Knew of Nuclear Leaks
"U.N. investigators are increasingly certain Pakistan government leaders knew the country's top atomic scientist was supplying other nations with nuclear technology and designs, particularly North Korea, diplomats told The Associated Press."
"While rogue nations were the main customers of the nuclear black market, sales of enriched uranium and warhead drawings have fed international fears that terrorists also could have bought weapons technology or material, the diplomats said."
In "Extremist, Nuclear Pakistan: An Emerging Threat?" Subodh Atal, an independent foreign affairs analyst, writes: "A nation that is penetrated by Islamic radicals and that possesses dozens of nuclear weapons and proliferates them to other dictatorial countries poses a tangible and immediate problem. But U.S. policy toward Pakistan does not reflect that reality. In the absence of pressure from the United States, Pakistan has not found it necessary to take serious action against Islamic extremists or to end its proliferation activities. Other unstable nations are likely to look to Pakistan as a role model that has achieved nuclear status and checkmated the United States into acquiescence."
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org