Tag: Trump budget

Fact Sheets: President Trump’s FY 2019 Budget Harms Nearly Every Community Across the Country

The following article by Eliza Schultz, Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Rejane Frederick, Silva Mathema, Connor Maxwell, Heidi Schultheis, Anusha Ravi, Leila Schochet, Leonard Scott IV and Shabab Ahmed Mirza was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 16, 2018:

Copies of President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2019 budget sit on a table at the House Budget Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 12, 2018. Credit: Getty/AFP/Saul Loeb

Immediately after President Donald Trump signed into law a tax overhaul that jacks up the deficit by $1.5 trillion—and unabashedly funnels enormous tax cuts to the nation’s millionaires, billionaires, and corporations—he and his colleagues in Congress made clear how they planned to pay for it: by slashing the very programs that help everyday people make ends meet. In February, President Trump released a budget that doubles down on his Robin Hood in reverse vision for the country. His proposals are draconian—seeking to dismantle the nation’s health care system; dramatically curtailing access to affordable housing and nutrition; and even threatening programs that Trump pledged not to touch, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Continue reading “Fact Sheets: President Trump’s FY 2019 Budget Harms Nearly Every Community Across the Country”

President’s Budget Targets Medicare, Medicaid and Food Stamps

The following article by Dena Bunis was posted on the AARP website February 13, 2018:

Spending proposal slashes many health and safety net programs

Credit: Gregory Reid, Gallery Stock

President Trump unveiled his federal budget proposal Monday, which takes aim at many of the health and safety net programs that older Americans rely on. The plan sharply reduces funding for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance and food stamps.

Rarely do most of the elements of a president’s budget become law, as Congress would have to enact them. Historically that almost never happens. Continue reading “President’s Budget Targets Medicare, Medicaid and Food Stamps”

The White House’s spin that its budget reduces the deficit by $3 trillion

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website February 16, 2018:

White House officials are claiming big budget savings for a plan that sends the deficit soaring. How does that add up? It doesn’t. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“The budget represents $3 trillion in savings over the course of the 10 years. It’s the second-largest proposed reduction in spending ever, second only to last year’s budget.”
— White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, briefing reporters on the 2019 budget, Feb. 12, 2018

“I know the president certainly would like to reduce the deficit and it’s one of the reasons that his budget — this budget reduced the deficit by $3 trillion, which was one of the largest in history.”
— White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in an interview on CNN, Feb. 13

The Fact Checker did a double take when we saw these statements. After all, the New York Times headlined its article on the 2019 budget: “White House Proposes $4.4 Trillion Budget That Adds $7 Trillion to Deficits.” So how does a budget that adds $7 trillion to the deficit actually reduce the deficit by $3 trillion? Continue reading “The White House’s spin that its budget reduces the deficit by $3 trillion”

Trump’s Budget Proposes More Than $200 Billion in Cuts to Students

The following article by Marcella Bombardieri, Colleen Campbell, Antoinette Flores, Sara Garcia, CJ Libassi and Ben Miller was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 14, 2018:

Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

In December, Congress passed one of President Donald Trump’s key priorities: tax cuts. These cuts primarily benefit the wealthy to the tune of $1.5 trillion in deficit spending over 10 years. To pay for it, the budget released this week proposes cutting over $200 billion in student aid funding over the next decade by eliminating some types of federal student loans; changing the loan repayment safety net; and ending forgiveness for borrowers who work in public service. And it would cut over $1.4 billion in annual grant aid and student support to low-income students.

Last week, a congressional budget deal raised caps in spending, amounting to an additional $2 billion for higher education in both 2018 and 2019. To account for new spending levels, Trump’s original budget proposal came with an addendum that walked back some of the cuts in light of the new funds available. Continue reading “Trump’s Budget Proposes More Than $200 Billion in Cuts to Students”

A Bad Budget for America’s Place in the World

The following article by John Norris was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 13, 2018:

President Trump walks from Marine One upon arrival on the South Lawn of the White House, August 27, 2017. Credit: Getty/Saul Loeb

As President Donald Trump dreams of a military parade in the streets of the nation’s capital and dishes out enormous tax breaks to billionaires, he continues to hobble American diplomacy and international development to an unprecedented degree.

The just-released budget, while thin on details, calls for devastating cuts of more than 30 percent to diplomacy and development programs from the levels enacted in 2017. These cuts, if adopted, would leave America less equipped to tackle conflict, pandemic disease, and extremism before they reach the nation’s shores; ill-prepared to champion American exports overseas; and more likely to end up in military conflict. It will also cause untold suffering for millions of people—particularly the most vulnerable women and children across the developing world. Continue reading “A Bad Budget for America’s Place in the World”

Trump’s budget cuts Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, breaking core campaign promise

The following article by Ryan Koronowski was posted on the ThinkProgress website February 12, 2018:

This would be over a trillion dollars in cuts to some of the nation’s most vulnerable.

Credit: Getty/Sebastian Rose

When he began his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to “save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts.”

This is a promise, however, President Trump would like to break. Trump’s 2018 budget proposal would cut all three programs, which help the most vulnerable in American society, by billions of dollars.

Fox News’s website tells readers that Medicare is spared “as he promised during the 2016 campaign,” but a cursory search of the White House’s own budget document reveals this is not true. Continue reading “Trump’s budget cuts Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, breaking core campaign promise”

Trump’s Budget Reveals that He Wants Everyday Americans to Pay for His Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

The following article by Seth Hanlon, Rebecca Vallas, Rachel West, Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Eliza Schultz, Heidi Schultheis, Kevin DeGood, Annie McGrew, Thomas Huelskoetter, Angela Hans, Erin Auel, Stephenie Johnson, Ben Miller, Antoinette Flores, Michela Zonta, Rejane Frederick, Alex Rowell, Alan Cohen and John Norris was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 12, 2018:

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting, February 12, 2017. Credit: Getty/Chip Somodevilla

In December 2017, President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress enacted legislation providing large tax cuts overwhelmingly weighted to corporations and the wealthy. By draining federal revenue, the tax bill will increase deficits by an estimated $1.5 trillion over 10 years. Congressional Republicans have been loath to discuss how they plan on paying for these massive giveaways. But the president’s budget, released today, reveals how the Trump administration proposes to pay for the tax cuts—and the picture is not pretty.

Trump’s budget would cut $675 billion from federal health care spending over 10 years by repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and eviscerating the traditional Medicaid program, leaving millions fewer with health coverage. It would decimate education funding, making the most significant cuts in 30 years. It would cut programs that millions of Americans depend on to find a good job, keep a roof over their head, or put food on the table. It would also slash Social Security and other programs for people with disabilities. And it would severely cut public investments that are necessary for broad-based economic growth and a strong middle class. And as new polling by the Center for American Progress shows, this Robin-Hood-in-reverse agenda is the opposite of what the American people want. Continue reading “Trump’s Budget Reveals that He Wants Everyday Americans to Pay for His Tax Cuts for the Wealthy”

Trump wants to overhaul America’s safety net with giant cuts to housing, food stamps and health care

The following article by Tracy Jan, Caitlin Dewey, Amy Goldstein and Jeff Stein was posted on the Washington Postwebsite February 12, 2018:

The White House’s spending priorities for 2018 renege on President Trump’s promises to lower the deficit and keep Medicare and Medicaid spending without cuts. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The budget that President Trump proposed Monday takes a hard whack at the poorest Americans, slashing billions of dollars from food stamps, public health insurance and federal housing vouchers, while trying to tilt the programs in more conservative directions.

The spending plan reaches beyond the White House’s own power over the government social safety net and presumes lawmakers will overhaul long-standing entitlement programs for the poor in ways beyond what Congress so far has been willing to do. Continue reading “Trump wants to overhaul America’s safety net with giant cuts to housing, food stamps and health care”

White House budget proposes increase to defense spending and cuts to safety net, but federal deficit would remain

The following article by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner was posted on the Washington Post website February 12, 2018:

The White House’s spending priorities for 2018 renege on President Trump’s promises to lower the deficit and keep Medicare and Medicaid spending without cuts. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The White House released a tax and spending plan Monday that would not eliminate the federal budget deficit after 10 years, its first public acknowledgment that large spending increases and the $1.5 trillion tax cut are putting severe pressure on the government’s debt.

The proposal, titled “Efficient, Effective, Accountable: An American Budget,” sets forth President Trump’s priorities as Congress prepares to consider spending bills for the next fiscal year. Continue reading “White House budget proposes increase to defense spending and cuts to safety net, but federal deficit would remain”

Trump’s budget balloons deficits, cuts social safety net

The following article by Andrew Taylor and Martin Crutsinger was posted on the Associated Press website February 13, 2018:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.4 trillion budget plan Monday that envisions steep cuts to America’s social safety net but mounting spending on the military, formally retreating from last year’s promises to balance the federal budget.

The president’s spending outline for the first time acknowledges that the Republican tax overhaul passed last year would add billions to the deficit and not “pay for itself” as Trump and his Republican allies asserted. If enacted as proposed, though no presidential budget ever is, the plan would establish an era of $1 trillion-plus yearly deficits. Continue reading “Trump’s budget balloons deficits, cuts social safety net”