The Trump administration’s budget for the 2018 fiscal year is set to cut huge amounts from programs like Medicaid and food stamps. White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney briefed reporters on the budget, which he called a “Taxpayer First Budget” on Tuesday. Mulvaney said that the cuts would result in a period of economic growth that would offset the cuts.
“I think what Trumponomics is and what this budget is a part of is an effort to get to sustained 3 percent economic growth in this country again,” Mulvaney said.
However, it was discussing the cuts to aid programs where Mulvaney showed the true purpose of the budget plan. Speaking of an $800 billion cut over ten years to a program that helps low-income people and the elderly, as well as a 29% cut of SNAP benefits (food stamps) that 44 million people received in 2016, that would become a problem for states to solve. Mulvaney said it was a problem that these programs spent other people’s money, despite that being how taxes work.
“You have to have compassion for folks who are receiving the federal funds, but also you have to have compassion for folks who are paying it,” he stated.
As a cherry on top, the budget also calls for cuts to other programs like the Environmental Protection Agency and cancer research.
If this sounds familiar, it should: in March, Mulvaney discussed cutting poverty programs while saying it was “compassionate” to not ask a “single mom of two in Detroit” to “give us [her] money.”
To their credit, both Republicans and Democrats have said this budget is a non-starter. “These senseless, irresponsible choices serve one purpose: to pave the way for tax cuts for the very wealthiest,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). “The good news is that this extremist proposal will go nowhere in the Senate.”
Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said that Democrats and Republicans would work together to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a line item that’s got to go, according to this budget, if they had to. Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) also thought it was a little much. “There will be some concerns if we go too deep in some of these areas,” he said.
(via Washington Post & Slate)