Catholic Charities USA: President’s Budget Misses Mark on Helping to Reduce Poverty in America

From Catholic Charities USA:

Alexandria, VA—“The President’s budget misses the mark on reducing poverty in America. In fact, with cuts to key programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, the president’s budget will only serve to exacerbate the problems facing millions of our nation’s poor families,” said Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, in reaction to President Bush’s fiscal year 2008 budget proposal released Monday.

The proposed $2.9 trillion budget contains drastic cuts and changes to a range of programs that address the health and well-being of low-income families and individuals.

Catholic Charities USA is especially alarmed that just two weeks after President Bush’s State of the Union address, in which he acknowledged the nation’s health care crisis, the president is recommending cutting more than $100 billion from Medicaid, Medicare, and other critical health care programs over five years.

“The President’s new budget hurts those living in poverty at a time when we should be doing even more to help the most vulnerable among us. America needs to strengthen vital social service programs to help those in need, not weaken those programs,” said Father Snyder.

According to Catholic Charities USA, the President’s budget contains other painful cuts and changes to vital health and social service programs will harm vulnerable families, children, and individuals across the country. Among the most alarming cuts are in the following areas.

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My Comments:
I need to know a little more information about these "drastic cuts". Are we talking about the dictionary definition of "cuts" that means an actual reduction below the current amounts being spent, adjusted, of course, for inflation?

Or, are we talking about the Democrat definition of "cuts", which means that the increase in the amount of spending this year is smaller, percentage-wise, than the increase in the amount of spending last year?

If it's the former, then perhaps we need to question the President's priorities. If the latter, cry me a frickin' river.