Palin/McCain camp didn't do their homework!

[pinksirfidel]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the...l?hpid=topnews

It is just getting easier and easier to attack the McCain campaign's statements... One word of advice: Do your homework!

Palin Details Special Needs Policies By Juliet Eilperin

GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin outlined for the first time today how she and John McCain would aid children with special needs if they occupied the White House next year.

In a speech in Pittsburgh, Penn., Palin pledged that a McCain-Palin administration would fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, exempt disability programs from the domestic discretionary spending freeze they plan to institute next year, and will provide school vouchers so families can send their special needs children to the school of their choice.

"Too often, even in our own day, children with special needs have been set apart and excluded," said Palin, whose infant son Trig has Down syndrome. "Too often, state and federal laws add to their challenges, instead of removing barriers and opening new paths of opportunity. Too often, they are made to feel that there is no place for them in the life of our country, that they don't count or have nothing to contribute. This attitude is a grave disservice to these beautiful children, to their families, and to our country -- and I will work to change it."
While the Alaska governor has spoken repeatedly on the stump about how families with disabled children can expect her to be "a friend and an advocate" if elected next month, she had not outlined what policies she would pursue as vice president until today.

Palin's pledge to fully fund IDEA would direct billions to the program over the next few years, though her proposal would not immediately cover the entire gap in funding that exists now.
Thirty-three years ago, the federal government adopted a system in which it would shoulder 40 percent of the burden of educating disabled children, while states would fund the remaining 60 percent. At the moment, the U.S. government spends just under $11 billion annually on the program, whereas it would have to devote $26 billion a year to live up to its initial commitment.

A Palin aide who asked not to be identified said that the campaign would ask to spend $45 billion to fund IDEA over five years, though the funding would be backloaded and start at $3 billion a year, rather than the $15 billion a year required to fully fund the program.
In her speech, Palin said the federal government could finance the new investment by taking some of $18 billion it spends each year on earmarks, specific projects that are designated by members of Congress.

"That's more than the shortfall to fully fund the IDEA," she said. "And where does a lot of that earmark money end up? It goes to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good -- things like fruit fly research in Paris, France, or a public policy center named for the guy who got the earmark. In our administration, we're going to reform and refocus. We're going to get our federal priorities straight, and fulfill our country's commitment to give every child opportunity and hope in life."

As soon as Palin spoke, Democrats issued a long list of examples in which McCain had voted against fully funding IDEA and other special education programs. They also noted that scientific studies involving fruit flies are helping further researchers' understanding of autism, a disorder that both Palin and McCain speak of frequently while campaigning. Palin's nephew has autism, something she mentioned in today's speech.

"Tragically, McCain and conservatives have spent their careers voting against the exact policies and programs Palin discussed today," wrote Eddie Vale, a spokesman for the advocacy group Progressive Accountability, in an e-mail.