| Dear Katy, The first Trump budget has arrived, and it is as cruel and heartless as we expected. Donald Trump's proposed budget would take an axe to the social safety net at a time when rampant economic inequality leaves too many struggling to get by. Trump wants to slash food stamps – and even cut Social Security, despite his repeated promises he would not do so. He and Betsy DeVos want to cut $11 billion from public education, eliminating 22 programs. Perhaps worst of all are massive funding cuts for Medicaid, which would end the program as we know it and steal health care from about 10 million low-income Americans.1,2 Sen. Elizabeth Warren has said it best: This budget "would ruin lives."3 This is the budgetary equivalent of Trumpcare: cruel, heartless and deeply unpopular. We need to insist that Democrats stay united in their resistance and show wavering Republicans that these proposals are toxic. Tell Congress: Block and resist Trump's cruel and heartless budget. Click here to sign the petition. The Trump-Republican budget hammers poor and middle-class Americans while delivering massive tax cuts to the wealthy and obscene handouts to war profiteers. In addition to cutting Medicaid, it would give conservative governors and legislatures permission to impose harsh new requirements on people who are counting on a little bit of support to survive. It would repeal rules and regulations that keep Americans safe and healthy. Trump's plan would even cut Social Security – slashing Social Security Disability Insurance that millions of Americans rely on – in a betrayal of all his promises to protect Social Security.4 Other targets of Trump's crusade against everyday Americans include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Violence Against Women grants, legal aid for poor Americans and programs to improve energy efficiency, reduce fossil fuel emissions;, civil rights enforcement, community policing, housing, and food assistance.5 The "Trump-DeVos" budget, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren calls it, would slash public education. After-school programs, foreign languages, teacher training, physical education, arts programs, class-size reduction – all gone. It would even cut the Special Olympics. College students would be crushed, too, with the elimination of public service loan forgiveness, cuts to Pell Grants and an end to subsidies for low-income students.6 The only people who come out ahead in this budget are wealthy billionaires. We need a sharp and fierce outcry to stiffen Democrats and make sure Republicans feel pressure. Tell Congress: Block and resist Trump's cruel and heartless budget. Trump's budget proposes to increase wasteful military spending by 10 percent, or $54 billion, even though Congress is already funding weapons projects the military does not want.7 It also includes massive tax cuts for the wealthiest few and international corporations that hide money overseas.8 This budget is not just cruel and heartless – it is a betrayal of all the people who believed Trump's promises. We do not have a spending problem. We have a defense spending problem. We spend more on defense than we do on all other areas combined. More than half the discretionary budget goes to the military-industrial complex, and the "non-discretionary" budget – things like Social Security – is funded for decades, or longer with small fixes.9 Trump and his Republican backers are not serious about spending, they are simply declaring war on the poor as an excuse to pass massive tax breaks for their wealthy campaign donors and corporate pals. Some Democrats will face the temptation to compromise in order to show their friends at Washington cocktail parties that they are "serious" about spending. If they do so, they will be complicit in making America sicker, poorer, less prosperous and less well-educated. We need to declare in no uncertain terms that Congress must resist the Trump cuts. Tell Congress: Block and resist Trump's cruel and heartless budget. Click below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/stop_trump_budget?t=8&akid=23202.12967895.X6aGU4 Thank you for speaking out, Murshed Zaheed, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Damien Paletta, "Trump to propose big cuts to safety net in new budget, slashing Medicaid and opening door to other limits," The Washington Post, May 21, 2017.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, "I just got a preview of the reported budget…" May 22, 2017.
- Ibid.
- Paletta, "Trump to propose big cuts to safety net in new budget, slashing Medicaid and opening door to other limits." The Washington Post, May 21, 2017.
- Bryce Covert, "Trump preparing budget with most extreme cut in government spending yet," ThinkProgress, Jan. 19, 2017.
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, "I just got a preview of the reported budget…" May 22, 2017.
- Alex Morash and Craig Harrington, "Economists And Experts Hammer Trump's Plan To Increase Military Spending At Expense Of Nearly Everything Else," Media Matters for America, Feb. 27, 2017.
- Paletta, "Trump to propose big cuts to safety net in new budget, slashing Medicaid and opening door to other limits."
- Charles Osterndorf, "Bernie Sanders is right—America spends too much money on its military," The Daily Dot, Aug. 26, 2015.
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