BushWatch—The Complete File
Since January 2001 the AFL-CIO has tracked President Bush's record on working family issues. Compiled here is his complete record on the issues America's workers and families care about.
Visit the following weblink to see the complete list:
http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/bushwatch/bushwatch_archive.cfm
posted by Kelly Michael Sunday, February 16, 2003

Republican Leader DeLay's Attacks on Unions' Patriotism Called 'Vile' and 'Despicable'

In a fund-raising letter for the National Right to Work Foundation (NRWF), House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) called the American union movement “a clear and present danger to the security of the United States at home and the safety of our armed forces overseas.” He accused unions—especially the Fire Fighters—of exploiting Sept. 11, 2001, in a “shameful post-9/11 power grab…at the expense of our homeland security and troops overseas.”

When the six-page attack on unions was uncovered last week, it drew immediate and angry responses.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told DeLay in a letter, “Never in my long career have I seen anything as despicable as this slanderous letter…Union members raced into collapsing and burning buildings to save lives, they came to their jobs at the hospitals to care for the wounded…cleaned up the site, recovered the bodies and brought order to the great city of New York.”

IAFF President Harold Schaitberger also wrote DeLay, asking: “How dare you question the patriotism of the nation’s firefighters and their elected union leaders—all of whom have crawled down a burning hallway, faced uncontrolled flames and risked their lives countless of times for the citizens of our great nation. Have you forgotten so soon? On Sept. 11, 2001, my proud union lost 343 firefighters at Ground Zero.”

Teamsters President James P. Hoffa told the second-ranking House member that his “anti-union screed not only insults the 1.4 million members of this union, it offends me personally.” He also said DeLay’s attack set back the IBT’s effort to work with both political parties “to find common ground with elected leaders and organizations, regardless of party affiliation or ideology.”

The DeLay letter was dated Jan. 8, 2003, and was sent to tens of thousands of NRWF supporters. DeLay claimed that he had never seen the letter and that it was written by a staff member. He also claimed that the views about unions expressed in the letter were not his. However, the letter was on “Majority Leader” letterhead and carried his signature and until news accounts brought the letter to light Feb. 8, DeLay never publicly disavowed its contents in the month it was in circulation.

A spokesman for the NRWF told The New York Times, “Presumably it’s his view, because he signed the letter.”

The DeLay letter’s extreme attacks on unions reach back more than 50 years, when he claims the union movement “notoriously exploited the Second World War and other times of crisis to expand dramatically its power at the expense of the war effort….History is now repeating itself as the union bosses strive to use the war on terror as cover for a new drive for power.”

Along with his attacks on Fire Fighters, DeLay paints as unpatriotic and “sickening” public employees in Minnesota, Machinists and International Longshore and Warehouse Union members for exercising their right to strike and other collective bargaining rights. He even includes Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.)—and by inference AFGE—for their roles in standing up for workers’ rights during the debate on the creation of the U.S. Homeland Security Department last year.

Delay’s attack on unions “tarred thousands of patriotic Americans with the implicit charge of treason. Your libel cannot be allowed to stand,” said IAM President Thomas Buffenbarger in a letter that demanded DeLay’s resignation from Congress.

Noting that the IAM is the largest union in the defense industry, he said, “The Machinists are a red, white and blue collar union. We build and maintain the weapon systems this country relies on….If you equate the exercise of a First Amendment right with treason, then your judgment is too impaired to function as a representative of the American people. It is time, Congressman DeLay, for you to resign from the Congress.”

“You actions are beneath the dignity of your office,” said ILWU President James Spinosa in a letter to DeLay. He added, “The ILWU never forced a shutdown of West Coast shipping. Our employer locked us out [in] a reckless and unnecessary act....During the course of the lockout, it was the ILWU that demanded that supplies continue to flow unimpeded to our troops overseas.”

“The American labor movement has stood with every president in time of war and we will stand with our president today if war comes. We will never accept the premise that we can stand against oppression around the world, but if we stand as workers and citizens against oppression in our workplaces and our economy, our patriotism is in question,” Sweeney said.

Schaitberger and Sweeney pointed out that thousands of union members today are leaving their jobs and families as their National Guard and reserve units are called up for the war against terrorism and possible conflict with Iraq.

(For more information or to view the letter from Tom Delay, visit aflcio.org)
posted by Kelly Michael Sunday, February 16, 2003

Bush Tax Restructuring scheme would destroy 750,000 jobs

Despite the loss of 2 million private-sector jobs in less than two years, the Bush administration has refused to propose an effective stimulus program to jump-start the economy, opting instead to propose a tax restructuring plan that would destroy 750,000 jobs, Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, told a congressional panel Feb. 12.

Testifying before the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Mishel said Bush’s plan to provide massive tax cuts for the rich “will damage the economy and lead to more job loss in the long term than if no changes were made in current policy.”

The $674 billion price tag for the tax cuts would increase income inequality and waste resources that are needed to pay for such critical services as education and health care, he said.

What the economy needs, said Mishel, is an immediate boost to stimulate demand through immediate, temporary and effective measures such as those proposed by congressional Democrats. He also showed the committee a signed statement by 10 Nobel laureates and 450 economists saying the Bush tax restructuring plan would not create jobs and would exacerbate the nation’s economic problems.
posted by Kelly Michael Sunday, February 16, 2003