President Donald Trump officially unveiled his budget on Tuesday and made clear that the candidate who rose to power with a promise to protect the downtrodden and working class had swapped that rhetoric for “hardline rightwing economics” that prioritizes military might and insulating the one-percent at the expense of all else.
Trump’s “rigged budget,” as critics are calling it, sacrifices public health, environmental protection, reproductive rights, international aid, social safety nets, farm subsidies, the arts, student aid, and public education all in the interest in expanding the Defense budget and building the much-maligned southern border wall.
The document, titled “A New Foundation for American Greatness” contrasts sharply with the People’s Budget released by the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) earlier this month, which offered a robust plan to boost GDP, increase economic and employment growth, and create new jobs, all while supporting programs and agencies that protect working people and the environment.
“President Trump’s new budget should lay to rest any belief that he’s looking out for the millions of people the economy has left behind,” declared Robert Greenstein, president of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. “This disturbing budget would turn the United States into a coarser nation, making life harder for most of those struggling to get by but more luxurious for those at the very top.”
“Most Americans do not seek a new Gilded Age,” Greenstein continued. “And the budget is sharply at odds with what the president told voters he would do during his campaign. With this budget, the president betrays many voters who placed their trust in him. In fact, this stands as the most radical, Robin-Hood-in-reverse budget that any modern president has ever proposed.”
As The Hill reported Tuesday, Trump’s plan lays out a 10-year proposal for balancing the budget by “dramatically shift[ing] spending to the Pentagon from domestic programs” until the U.S. military actually consumes more than two-thirds of all domestic spending:
In total, the blueprint calls for more than $1 trillion in cuts to domestic spending. Ultimately, Politico reports, “[d]omestic discretionary spending would be capped at $429 billion per year, below 2004 levels, while military spending soars to $722 billion.”
Specifically, the EPA’s budget will be slashed by a full 31.4 percent while 29.1 percent is cut from State Department and other international programs. It also takes a sledgehammer to Planned Parenthood by cutting funding for the healthcare provider from all federal health programs, which according to the Huffington Post is the “first time” a president has enacted such a complete freeze-out of the essential women’s healthcare organization.
Going against a key campaign promise, Trump cuts Medicaid funding in half, while gutting other essential anti-poverty programs. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would be reduced by $193 billion, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) by $21 billion, and an additional $40 billion would be sheared from the earned income tax credit and child tax credit as people without Social Security numbers would be barred from receiving them.
At a briefing Monday evening, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney said the savings would come from tightening eligibility and additional work requirements. “We are no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or number of people on those programs,” Mulvaney said.
As for who benefits, CNNMoney‘s Heather Long reports:
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