Bush has an annoying habit of taking credit for policies and achievements he opposed. As governor of Texas, for example, Bush strongly opposed a state “patients’ bill of rights” that offered families a legal recourse against HMOs. Not only did Bush oppose the measure, he ultimately vetoed it when the bill reached his desk. Later, Dems in the state legislature forced the protections into law, over Bush’s strong objections.
Three years later, as a presidential candidate, Bush ran TV ads which boasted, “Under Gov. Bush, Texas enacted some of the most comprehensive patient protection laws in the nation. We are one of the first states that said you can sue an HMO for denying you proper coverage.”
It was technically true, but like most Bush rhetoric, blatantly dishonest.
As president, Bush is doing something very similar. As the New York Times noted today, his administration is taking credit for federal programs the White House tried to eliminate or cut sharply.
For example, Justice Department officials recently announced that they were awarding $47 million to scores of local law enforcement agencies for the hiring of police officers. Mr. Bush had just proposed cutting the budget for the program, known as Community Oriented Policing Services, by 87 percent, to $97 million next year, from $756 million.
The administration has been particularly energetic in publicizing health programs, even ones that had been scheduled for cuts or elimination.
Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, announced recently that the administration was awarding $11.7 million in grants to help 30 states plan and provide coverage for people without health insurance. Mr. Bush had proposed ending the program in each of the last three years.
The administration also announced recently that it was providing $11.6 million to the states so they could buy defibrillators to save the lives of heart attack victims. But Mr. Bush had proposed cutting the budget for such devices by 82 percent, to $2 million from $10.9 million.
These guys just have no shame.
This has been ongoing throughout Bush’s presidency. Remember the $300 tax-cut checks sent to taxpayers in 2001? That was an idea generated by congressional Dems, anxious to give a boost to the economy right away. The Bush administration opposed the initiative, satisfied with having tax cuts take effect a year later. Bush later took credit for the idea.
Or how about the famous Department of Homeland Security? The idea originated among congressional Dems and was strongly opposed by the White House. Tom Ridge even suggested that the creation of such an agency would be vetoed if passed by Congress. Bush later reversed course and ultimately took credit for the whole thing.
The list goes on.
The contrast between politics and policy is particularly striking when the administration takes credit for spending money appropriated by Congress against the president’s wishes.
In April, Secretary Thompson announced that the administration was awarding $3.1 million in grants to improve health care in rural areas of Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico and New York. He did not mention that the administration was trying to cut the same rural health program by 72 percent, to $11.1 million next year, from $39.6 million.
Mr. Thompson likewise recently boasted that the administration was awarding $16 million to 11 universities to train blacks and Hispanic Americans as doctors, dentists and pharmacists. But at the same time, the administration was urging Congress to abolish the program, on the ground that “private and corporate entities” could pay for training.
I should be inured to such chutzpah by now, but sometimes, even I am surprised by the Bush administration’s deceit.