(Cross-Posted at Silence Isn't Golden)
As we debate which Presidential candidate would be best for the future of our country, it is important to not lose sight of those who would destroy that future before it even begins.
As many of you know, President Bush just submitted a budget of $3.1 TRILLION to Congress. This budget contains what will be the legacy of this Administration--additional tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations, and enough money for the Pentagon to bring military spending to the highest level since World War II. On the other hand, 151 programs will be cut or terminated, a third of which are educational programs.
I'm sure the conservatives will just shrug that off as "entitlements" that aren't all that important, and call them a waste of money. But I'd like to tell you about one of those programs that could lose its funding under Bush's budget, and the disastrous consequences that could result.
My mother is the director of the Nashville branch of a national organization called RIF, which stands for Reading is FUNdamental. RIF is best known for a program known as the Inexpensive Book Distribution Program, which distributes 16 million free books to around 4.6 million children per year. RIF volunteers will go into public school classrooms in low-income areas, read to the children, and distribute the books.
Around once a month starting when I was 12, and continuing until I graduated from high school, my mother would pull me out of school early to take me with her to her RIF classrooms, most of which were in North or East Nashville. Growing up as an upper-middle class white girl in West Nashville, volunteering with RIF was probably my first real exposure to the poverty around me, the poverty that some people on my side of town like to pretend doesn't exist. It would break my heart when I gave a book to a child only to hear him or her say that they had never owned their own book before, when I had a huge bookshelf in my room.
When asked why we were involved with RIF, my mother would always repeat, "To whom much is given, much is expected." The words always stuck with me, and they were definitely part of the impetus behind my becoming active in politics.
But RIF isn't just active in Nashville, it does the same for millions of children all over the country. But what does it have to do with the Bush budget?
"President Bush’s proposed budget calling for the elimination of Reading Is Fundamental’s (RIF) Inexpensive Book Distribution program would be devastating to the 4.6 million children and their families who receive free books and reading encouragement from RIF programs at nearly 20,000 locations throughout the U.S.
"Unless Congress reinstates $25.5 million in funding for this program, RIF would not be able to distribute 16 million books annually to the nation’s youngest and most at-risk children. RIF programs in schools, childcare centers, migrant programs, military bases, and other locations serve children from low-income families, children with disabilities, foster and homeless children, and children without access to libraries. The Inexpensive Book Distribution program is authorized under the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (SEC.5451 Inexpensive Book Distribution Program for Reading Motivation) and is not funded through earmarks. It has been funded by Congress and six Administrations without interruption since 1975.
RIF is set to lose ALL of its national funding, just so some corporation can receive another tax cut or that the Pentagon can award another no-bid contract. Sorry kids, since you can't make political contributions, you just won't get your books! Never mind that spending a little bit on literacy and education can prevent the need to spend a lot more on stopping crime, we wouldn't want those kids to get a sense of ENTITLEMENT! We can spend $3.1 trillion, but GOD FORBID we spend $3.1000252 trillion!
One thing I have to wonder is how can Laura Bush stand for this? She's a librarian, is she not? Surely she has to understand the value of programs like this? Yeah, I know I shouldn't wonder anything about these people anymore, but still.
Please take action if you can. Contact your Congress-people and join the Facebook group. It won't matter who the nominee is in November if the future of the country has already gone to hell.