Last week, the he U.S. Congress approved a $781 billion increase in the legal borrowing limit for the federal government, raising the debt ceiling to nine trillion dollars (that’s 30,000 for every man, woman, and child in America).  All this to accomodate Bush’s psychotic spending, coupled with tax cuts for the wealthy.

So where, if anywhere, is the Bush Administration tightening its belt?

Ah, here’s a smart budget cut reflecting the "compassionate conservatism" we all know and love: (subscription required):

The federal government has a national breast and cervical cancer early detection program, run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It provides screening and other important services to low-income women who do not have health insurance, or are underinsured.

There is agreement across the board that the program is a success. It saves lives and it saves money. Its biggest problem is that it doesn’t reach enough women. At the moment there is only enough funding to screen one in five eligible women.

A sensible policy position for the Bush administration would be to expand funding for the program so that it reached everyone who was eligible. It terms of overall federal spending, the result would be a net decrease. Preventing cancer, or treating it early, is a lot less expensive than treating advanced cancer.

So what did this president do? He proposed a cut in the program of $1.4 million (a minuscule amount when you’re talking about the national budget), which would mean that 4,000 fewer women would have access to early detection.

This makes no sense. In human terms, it is cruel. From a budget standpoint, it’s self-defeating.

So, a successful and modest program that saves lives and money gets cut.

But fear not, women.  You can sleep at night knowing that the money is being put to good use.  Like painting kindergarten schools in Baghdad.