Dear Editor, Republicans are pushing through the budget this week before critics and the media can point out huge program cuts and corporate giveaways. The Republican budget explodes the deficit adding more than $400 billion to our national debt, when you include the extra money requested for the Iraq War. According to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office, the deficit is due mostly to the gigantic tax cut legislation and Iraq spending, two things Congress and the president want to make worse, not better. The Republican budget gives the wealthiest Americans permanent tax breaks, while cutting programs for the middle class and poor. The Republican budget would make gigantic cuts in health care, especially for Medicaid, which are unconscionable. Medicaid principally serves two groups: senior citizens and the working poor. Most seniors in nursing homes count on Medicaid. The Republican budget slashes education funding, especially funds for middle class and low-income Americans. The budget leaves out the needed funding for No Child Left Behind and funds to help moderate-income Americans afford college. Pell Grants are dramatically hurt in the budget.