I firmly believe that part of a government’s job is to take care and assist the poor and underprivileged in its society. The outgoing administration has failed in this respect miserably.

 In 2006 the feds cut $10 million to Community Block Development Grant (CBDG) funding to the States. One of the many situations that CBDG addresses is providing funding to the agencies that provide services to the homeless and poverty stricken. Because of the funding cuts some agencies had to go under others had had to cut back needed services and many were forced to spend time that was needed doing support to be creative in finding new funding sources.

 Bush vetoed on October 2nd 2007 the bipartisan supported Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act which would have provided 10 million needy American children with health care. He also vetoed the revised bill on December 12^th.

 He also vetoed in 2007 spending legislation that would have provided financial assistance to help low-income families pay for expensive heating bills during the winter. He also rejected the compromise bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education which also contained funding for Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP).

 Now that we have a new administration coming into power we as citizen’s need to be forthright and assertive in what issues that we want addressed. A government is supposed to be a servant of the people and we the people must tell them what we want. There is no way that they can have oversight on every pertinent issue that exists. We are the ones in the swamp and we need to tell them that we want the alligators removed. If we don’t they will focus on cutting down the Cyprus trees to build houses.

 We need to gather together in small and large groups and exert our power over the politicos because if we don’t tell them what we want the new administration will develop there own agendas and focus on their needs and not ours. If they do not attend to our needs then we need to remove them from power. Period