The Homeless		Veterans
Schools		Families
The Elderly		The Unemployed

While Bush may claim to be above partisan politics when it comes to children, he has repeatedly proposed cutting billions from federal programs helping the nation's poorest youngsters. In 2001, he suggested lopping more than $200 million from the Child Care and Development Block Grant program -- the single largest federal program helping states fund child care programs for the poor. Congress rebuffed his plan, but Bush isn't giving up. For 2004, he is again aiming to cut the block grant funding, this time by a little more than a quarter million.

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Bush has also tried to cut funding for child abuse programs, and has repeatedly proposed trimming the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. In 2000, Congress earmarked $1.7 billion for the LIHEAP program, which helps poor families pay heating costs when the mercury plummets. In 2002 and 2003, Bush proposed cutting that funding to $1.4 billion. In his new budget, Bush has conceded that he will not get the cut he wanted. But, with energy costs climbing, the $1.7 billion the president is willing to spend will buy far less heating oil than in 2002. Finally, Bush has proposed merging the Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid into a single, capped block grant to states, forcing children, the disabled, and the elderly to compete for a share the same pool of funds.