Trump’s Slash-and-Burn Budget Bad for Most Americans

Cuts to education, health care and basic living standards will undermine decades of progress

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the Trump administration unveiled its full budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2018, and as expected, the plan contains drastic cuts to many of the assistance programs that help working- and middle-class families get ahead when times are tough or wages are not enough. The proposed budget eliminates $1.7 trillion in funding that provides basic living standards to millions of Americans, gutting key programs and assistance that help families afford food, housing and health care.

“From rural America to the urban streets, from the poor to the middle class, President Trump’s budget is an affront to hardworking American families across this nation. This budget clearly shows where his priorities lie and it’s not with the vast majority of Americans. Rather than stripping funds from much-needed programs that serve working families struggling to make ends meet, our budget should prioritize job creation, safety net programs and explore realistic ways to reduce the deficit,” said NCLR (National Council of La Raza) President and CEO Janet Murguía. “This budget threatens the economic security and the progress of millions of Americans, including many Latinos.”

As it stands, Trump’s budget proposal eliminates or strips funding from critical programs that safeguard the economic footing of Latino families, including the elimination of affordable housing programs like the Community Development Block Grant Program, which offers housing assistance for low-income families, and significantly reduces funding for higher education programs geared at improving education outcomes for young Latino students.

Most troubling, the president’s proposal slashes $193 billion in funding for nutrition assistance and ends Medicaid as we know it, while calling for increased spending on immigration enforcement, as well as tax cuts for the wealthy. Currently, the government already spends more on immigration enforcement than on all other federal law enforcement agencies combined.

“With this budget, the administration is proposing taking food off the tables of American families, taking health coverage from those who need it most, and relegating education to the bottom of the priorities list, all while helping the wealthy get wealthier and unnecessarily directing billions more to mass deportations designed to split families apart and leave millions of innocent citizen children destitute,” Murguía continued.

“We reject a federal budget that scales back the progress for American families, that seeks to pull the rug from under the most vulnerable in our society, and we call on Congress to enact a budget that reflects the needs of their constituencies. The budget should prioritize our nation’s workers, families, students, and innocent children, not the one percent,” Murguía added.