President Donald Trump’s new $4.4 trillion budget includes drastic cuts to Medicare and food stamps, even as it doesn’t hesitate to increase spending on the military.
The new budget proposal — which would add $984 billion to the federal deficit next year and add an additional $7 trillion over the subsequent 10 years — would spend $200 billion on his infrastructure plan alone, according to The New York Times. The budget plan would also spend $85.5 billion on discretionary funding for veterans’ health care, increase the Pentagon’s budget by $80 billion and spend $13 billion to tackle opioid abuse.
At the same time, the budget would also cut $237 billion from Medicare, $2.8 billion from the Environmental Protection Agency (or 34 percent of its current budget), $757 million from federal Amtrak spending and reduce cash spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by roughly one third, according to Bloomberg. The SNAP cuts, which are intended to be paired with a program that sends hungry Americans foods “such as shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit, vegetables, and meat, poultry or fish,” are intended to save $214 billion over the next decade.
There are other programs that have been slated to get cut entirely, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Global Climate Change Initiative, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The budget also attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, something that the Trump administration failed to do in Congress last year.
President Trump's budget proposes to repeal the ACA and replace it with a block grant to states, also capping federal Medicaid spending. It would reduce federal spending on health coverage by $675 billion over a decade. pic.twitter.com/cQabHbxk6H
— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) February 12, 2018
It’s worth noting that, although the budget does establish both Trump’s and the Republican Party’s larger legislative priorities, the current proposal is widely expected not to pass. Budget proposals are, as Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. put it to The Washington Post, “aspirational documents and seldom have a real impact on spending.”
Experts have taken to Twitter to denounce Trump’s budget proposal.
Just a reminder that taking health care away from millions of Americans remains the official position of the Trump administration. https://t.co/sJs0NUCS2u
— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) February 12, 2018
And yes I said "care." Insurance and care aren't always the same thing. But when you take insurance away from this many people — without an adequate replacement — they will go without care.
— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) February 12, 2018
Of course, for many the primary impact will be financial, not medical: They'll experience financial hardship, sometimes severe, because they cannot pay their medical bills.
— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) February 12, 2018
Trump's proposed FY19 budget is out. Over 10 years:
– $300+ billion cut to Medicaid
– $213 billion cut to SNAP
– $21 billion cut to TANF
– $72 billion cut to disability programs
– eliminates Social Svcs Block Grant (helps pay for child care and foster care) 1/— Chad Bolt (@chadderr) February 12, 2018
Remember: his budget proposal is just a proposal, but it's a clear statement of his priorities. Making deep cuts to programs families rely on has been a priority since Day 1. The budget also assumes passage of (at least part of) Graham-Cassidy #TrumpCare. Not giving up. 2/
— Chad Bolt (@chadderr) February 12, 2018
On SNAP: This is absurd. The Admin wants to turn a portion of it into a delivery system, where the government controls what people eat, how much, and when they get it. This, in the name of "improving nutritional value" and reducing alleged "fraud." 3/ pic.twitter.com/xhgXmuJOrJ
— Chad Bolt (@chadderr) February 12, 2018
It bears repeating, as we marvel at the cruelty of these proposed cuts, that Repubs just voted to add $1.5 trillion to the deficit to give huge tax cuts to their wealthiest friends and corps. The #GOPTaxScam bill has come due, and we now know (as we always did) who'll pay. 4/4
— Chad Bolt (@chadderr) February 12, 2018
