Trump’s Proposed Budget Slices Safety Net For Poor, Disabled
President Donald Trump wants to slash Medicaid by more than $800 billion, and slim down the Children's Health Insurance Program, as well.
The Associated Press:
Trump Administration Sending Congress $4.1 Trillion Budget
President Donald Trump is sending Congress a $4.1 trillion spending plan that relies on faster economic growth and steep cuts in a range of support programs for low-income individuals to balance the government’s books over the next decade. (Taylor and Crutsinger, 5/23)
The Washington Post:
Trump’s Budget Proposal Slashes Spending By $3.6 Trillion Over 10 Years
President Trump on Tuesday will propose cutting federal spending by $3.6 trillion over 10 years, a historic budget contraction that would severely ratchet back spending across dozens of programs and could completely reshape government assistance to the poor. The White House’s $4.094 trillion budget request for fiscal 2018 calls for cuts that hit Medicaid, food assistance and other anti-poverty programs. It would cut funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides benefits to the poor, by roughly 20 percent next year. (Paletta and Costa, 5/22)
The New York Times:
Trump’s Budget Cuts Deeply Into Medicaid And Anti-Poverty Efforts
Over the next decade, it calls for slashing more than $800 billion from Medicaid, the federal health program for the poor, while slicing $192 billion from nutritional assistance and $272 billion over all from welfare programs. And domestic programs outside of military and homeland security whose budgets are determined annually by Congress would also take a hit, their funding falling by $57 billion, or 10.6 percent. The plan would cut by more than $72 billion the disability benefits upon which millions of Americans rely. It would eliminate loan programs that subsidize college education for the poor and those who take jobs in government or nonprofit organizations. (Davis, 5/22)
The Washington Post:
Trump To Poor Americans: Get To Work Or Lose Your Benefits
Making low-income Americans work to qualify for so-called welfare programs is a key theme of the budget. “If you are on food stamps and you are able bodied, we need you to go to work,” said budget director Mick Mulvaney during a White House briefing on Monday. He said the strengthened requirements in the budget focuses on putting the 6.8 million unemployed or underemployed Americans back to work. “There is a dignity to work,” he said, “and there’s a necessity to work to help the country succeed.” (Dewey and Jan, 5/22)
The New York Times:
Trump Budget Cuts Programs For Poor While Sparing Many Older People
Taken together, the cuts represent a significant reordering of the social safety net, away from poor families and toward older Americans, regardless of income. Medicare would be untouched, and the main function of Social Security — retirement income — would flow unimpeded. (Alcindor, 5/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Budget Shows Tiny Surplus In 10 Years, With Rosy Economic Forecast And Trillions In Domestic Cuts
The budget to be released Tuesday will show that the annual federal deficit, which was $585 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, will steadily decline until fiscal year 2027, when the nation will have a $16-billion surplus — the first since the start of the George W. Bush administration, though small in the context of what by then would be a nearly $6-trillion budget. (Bennett, 5/22)
The Washington Post:
Trump Budget Seeks Huge Cuts To Disease Prevention And Medical Research Departments
President Trump's 2018 budget request to Congress seeks massive cuts in spending on health programs, including medical research, disease prevention programs and health insurance for children of the working poor. The National Cancer Institute would be hit with a $1 billion cut compared to its 2017 budget. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute would see a $575 million cut, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would see a reduction of $838 million. The administration would cut the overall National Institutes of Health budget from $31.8 billion to $26 billion. (Achenbach and Sun, 5/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Donald Trump’s Plan To Shift FDA Funding To Industry Draws Criticism
President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget proposed for the Food and Drug Administration puts the administration on a collision course with some in its own party in Congress over possible cuts in funding for the agency, according to FDA and congressional officials. The Trump plan calls for reductions in taxpayer funding of reviews of drugs and other medical products, as well as monitoring of food safety and medical-product safety, said staffers at the FDA and on Capitol Hill. Under the Trump plan, the cuts would be offset by an increase in user fees paid by the drug and medical-device industries to the agency for new-product reviews. (Burton, 5/22)