that reviews various Compassionate Conservative projects that have failed to get full funing or support after Bush made a big deal out of them.
has a few words about the story. Just to clarify the issue, we present a table version of the article.
| Compassion Agenda item | Detractors point out | Money promised | Money budgeted | Bush defenders say |
| The so-called faith-based bill to help religious charities | Mr. Bush, after two years of objections from Democrats, retreated this spring and agreed to strip the bill of provisions specifically related to religious groups. | | | |
| A proposal this summer to extend a $400-a-child tax credit to low-income families | Mr. Bush at first demanded that Congress appropriate the money, then backed off in the face of opposition from his conservative allies in the House, most notably the majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas. | $3 bil | 0 | |
| The national volunteer program called AmeriCorps | Although Mr. Bush forcefully called for expanding that Clinton-era program in his 2002 State of the Union address, he was largely silent last month amid objections to a $100 million emergency infusion that it needed to maintain its current level of operations. The House rejected that spending, leaving AmeriCorps with an uncertain future. | $100 mil | 0 | "Even the president is not omnipotent," Mr. Bolten said of the House opposition to the AmeriCorps money. "Would that he were. He often says that life would be a lot easier if it were a dictatorship. But it's not, and he's glad it's a democracy." |
| Education reform | In January 2002, with great fanfare, Mr. Bush signed his No Child Left Behind Act, a landmark bill that mandated annual testing of children in Grades 3 through 8 and greatly enlarged the federal role in public education. Democrats like Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representative George Miller of California were crucial to its passage, and say they went along with the president on his assurances that the government would give states enough money to comply with it. | $18 bil | $12 bil | The White House has now asked for $12 billion to continue that financing next year, $6 billion less than the legislation authorizes. Mr. Bolten, the White House budget director, responded by saying that the president had asked for "some very substantial increases" in education spending — in fact, such spending has risen during his administration — and that the government's budget deficit "would be really way out of control" if the White House asked that all bills be financed to the limits allowed by law. |
| Mr. Bush's AIDS legislation | [Critics say Bush] has delivered less than promised. Last month, they note, the president toured Africa and heavily promoted his recently enacted bill to fight global AIDS, a measure that authorizes spending of $3 billion a year for five years. "I'm here to say you will not be alone in your fight," Mr. Bush said on July 12 in Nigeria, to applause. "In May, I signed a bill that authorizes $15 billion for the global fight on AIDS." That very week in Washington, the White House asked for only $2 billion, $1 billion less than authorized, for the first of the five years. | $3 bil | $2 bil | |
| mentors to children of prisoners | [Bush called for] $50 million a year for three years Congress provided only $10 million in 2003 | $50 mil | $10 mil | |
| Access to Recovery drug treatment plan | Calls for $200 million a year for three years The House has agreed to provide $100 million for the program next year, but a Senate committee has voted it nothing. | $200 mil | $100 mil | |
| Programs in general | | | | White House officials say that given difficult political terrain, Mr. Bush has done well. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, said the president "takes every occasion to publicly announce how important these compassion agenda programs are to him." On some issues, Mr. Towey added, "Congress will go a lot farther on funding what he asks for than others." The president, his aide Mr. Towey said, has pioneered a new Republican approach to social programs, "and like any pioneer, it's tough going." |
| New proposals | | | | |
| Add a drug benefit to Medicare | | | | Mr. Bush, Republicans say, is eager for a bipartisan piece of legislation in time for 2004 that he can cite as a part of his compassion agenda. |
