Bush Sees Budget Helping Children

President Bush cited proposals to bolster spending for children’s health and education as further reasons Congress should pass his budget plan.

“Our children must be a priority of our nation,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “My budget is active and compassionate.”

The president is making the welfare of children the hub of his schedule over the coming week, visiting a boys and girls club in Wilmington, Del., and welcoming to the White House a group that raises money for pediatric hospitals.

Bush said his “Reading First” plan would triple the available money to improve and expand programs to help all children read by the third grade. He said he also would increase funds for Head Start programs to prepare disadvantaged children to enter school.

Funding would also be increased for child care programs, he said. Money also would be provided for child abuse prevention and for keeping families together.

The proposed budget would increase spending on research into childhood diseases and establish 1,200 new community health centers to help poor children.