President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled its third budget proposal Monday, cementing a vision for the United States that bolsters funding for defense and border walls, while severely cutting social programs for the nation’s poorest.
The $4.7 trillion budget proposal, which encompasses everything from funding for food aid, education, and health care to national defense, seeks to slash $845 billion from Medicare — a program Trump notably promised to leave untouched — $241 billion from Medicaid through major structural reforms, as well as a 9 percent cut across non-defense programs, all while increasing the defense budget to $750 billion, 5 percent more than the 2019 budget.
Additionally, Trump’s administration has asked Congress for $8.6 billion for the president’s border wall, a project the president declared a national emergency over earlier this year amid the nation’s longest government shutdown in history.
If Trump’s budget were to be enacted, some of the biggest policy changes would include:
- $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over 10 years, implementing work requirements as well as eliminating the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. The budget instead adds $1.2 trillion for a “Market Based Health Care Grant” — block grant to states, instead of paying by need. It’s not clear whether that would be part of Medicaid.
- An $845 billion cut to Medicare over 10 years, about a 10 percent cut, to be achieved through targeting wasteful spending and provider payments and lowering prescription drug costs.
-$25 billion in cuts to Social Security over 10 years, including cuts to disability insurance.
-A $220 billion cut to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps, over 10 years, including mandatory work requirements. The program currently serves around 45 million people.
-A $21 billion cut to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, an already severely underfunded cash-assistance program for the nation’s poorest.
-$207 billion in cuts to the student loan program, eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and cutting subsidized student loans.
-Increases defense spending by $34 billion next year, to a $750 billion budget baseline. That makes up a 5 percent boost to defense and military spending. To keep the defense budget within current caps, the White House uses a gimmick, putting $164 billion of this budget increase in an uncapped overseas contingency (OCO) fund.
$8.6 billion in funding for the southern border wall, separated between increased funding for the Department of Homeland Security and funding for military construction.
The Trump administration is proud of the proposed cuts.
“This budget will have more reductions in spending than any president in history has ever proposed,” a senior administration official told reporters Monday, expressing concern about the national debt. The deficit has swelled under Republican leadership in large part because of the tax cuts enacted last year. Trump’s administration, however, has balked at the notion that the decrease in revenue from cutting corporate taxes is the root cause of the growing debt.
“It’s not that Americans are taxed too little, it’s that Washington spends too much,” Russ Vought, the Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director, penned in a Fox News op-ed Monday.
Trump’s 2020 budget proposal seriously cuts the nation’s safety net