Bush's Address To Congress - Environment, Charity, and Education
Uploaded by saritagarcia113 on Mar 05, 2001
After this year’s chaotic election, the country is divided and furious. It is up to our new president to heal the wounds. To do so, it is obvious he must alter his original plans a bit to make the entire nation, both liberals and conservatives, content. Naturally, the first chance he had to express his plans to congress and the rest of the country was immensely important, as it could have been a uniting or dividing step. Luckily, it appeared as though Bush was trying his best to compromise on many issues. I believe his address was a step in a consolidating direction. Three issues of utmost importance to the American people are the status of the environment, charity and the poor, and the education of their children. What was Bush’s stance on these three issues, and how will his attitude towards them affect America?
Bush said that he aimed to clean up toxic wastes and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. He also proposed that 4.9 billion dollars will go to cleaning and maintaining our national parks. Clearly, he wishes to do a great deal of good for the environment, although helping the environment to such a high extent is not a traditional Republican view. (The Democrats did not have anything to say about Bush’s environmental program in their response; they focused on his tax cut plan.) However, if he desires to unite America, helping the environment is a great way to do so. I cannot think of anyone who would turn down the idea of having cleaner water and fresher air. I think the condition of the environment could very well improve during the four years Bush is in office. The Land and Water Conservation Fund will know best what to do with the massive amount of money they will be granted. I am concerned about the protection of animals though- Bush has expressed a desire to clean the environment, but only those areas that pertain to Americans and their living conditions. It would be wonderful to be rid of toxic brown fields, but what about the depletion of the ozone layer? What about rapidly diminishing species of animals? Will Bush attempt to help these areas of the environment, or is he simply planning on excluding them? I hope he is, and that he neglected to mention them in his address to congress simply because he didn’t...