2/13/2018
President Trump released his budget for next year today. “This is a messaging document,” budget director Mick Mulvaney said during the release. Through the budget, it it clear where the President’s priorities lie. In all, Trump wants to cut $1.5 trillion in just about everything but defense (non-defense discretionary).
- $700 billion by cutting out Obamacare.
- $550 billion cut to medicare, healthcare to seniors, even though he promised no cuts to the program.
- $250 billion cut to Medicaid, healthcare for poorer Americans.
- $214 billion cut to food assistance for poorer Americans.
- $178 billion in cuts to transportation funding for airports, highways and other transportation projects.
- $47 billion in cuts to section 8 housing assistance that helps hundreds of thousands of American keep from being homeless.
- $21 billion cut to The Budget for the Temporary Assistance (welfare).
- $27 billion in cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). So much for developing new vacines.
- $3.6 billion in cuts to public schools
- 23% cut to the EPA. There goes clean water and air.
- It cuts Head Start – Less help for poor kids in preschool.
- It ends funding for the Social Services Block Grant, programs that assist vulnerable kids subject to neglect, abuse and exploitation
- It ends student loan forgiveness for Americans who spend a decade working for nonprofits or in government jobs like teaching.
- It ends Home Heating Assistance for elderly and low-income families.
- It ends funding for the Space Station
- It sells federal airports and power plants
- It raises spending by $1 billion for private schools
- It raises spending $2.5 billion to lock up undocumented immigrants (wants to be able to jail 47,000 per day)
- It raises spending on border security and immigration enforcement by $5 billion (non-wall expenses).
- It raises spending $18 billion to build the wall (wasn’t Mexico supposed to pay for the wall?)
- It raises defense spending by $74 billion, to a total of $716 billion
The budget does not offer any new spending on school security or aid to the mentally ill, despite the increase in the number of school shootings.
Yes, the budget proposal does send a message. It cuts spending for Americans in need, cuts taxes for corporations, and increase spending on the military. Readers should note that as of 2017, America spends more on its military than the next eight countries combined.
Tweet
