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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

Trump 2021 Budget Roundup

| By CBPP

Updated February 21

Here are the CBPP statements, blog posts, and papers to date on President Trump’s 2021 budget; we’ll update this list as we issue more analyses:

Greenstein: President Trump’s 2021 Budget Would Widen Country’s Divisions

In the face of a bitterly divided country that needs healing, President Trump today threw gasoline on the fire by releasing a stunningly harsh budget that would tear us further apart.

It would push tens of millions of less fortunate Americans into or deeper into poverty and cause widespread hardship even as it doubles down on tax cuts for the most well-off. It would take health coverage away from millions of people and cut aid to millions of families and individuals struggling to make ends meet. At the same time, the budget would make permanent the 2017 tax law’s tax cuts for individuals, which are heavily weighted toward the top. As a result, the budget would further widen inequality and racial disparities. . . .

2021 Trump Budget Would Increase Hardship and Inequality

President Trump’s 2021 budget, released today, would increase the ranks of the uninsured, severely cut basic assistance for low-income families, and cut an array of other non-defense programs, while investing relatively little in our nation’s infrastructure. At the same time, it would permanently extend the 2017 tax law’s costly tax cuts for individuals, including those for high-income taxpayers. Together, the proposed program changes and tax cuts would increase income disparities and widen inequality across racial and ethnic lines. . . .

President’s “Health Reform Vision”: $1 Trillion in Cuts, No Plan to Protect People With Pre-Existing Conditions

For months, the Administration has promised that it has a plan for Americans’ health care if it wins its lawsuit seeking to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The President has also pledged to pursue ACA repeal legislation in 2021 if Republicans control Congress.

The President’s new budget doesn’t outline a health care plan. Instead, it includes an “allowance for the President’s health reform vision”: a line of numbers backed up with minimal policy specifics. But despite the lack of detail, the budget sheds light on what the President’s vision for health care entails, including significant cuts and an empty promise to protect people with pre-existing conditions. . . .

Medicare in the 2021 Trump Budget

President Trump’s 2021 budget proposes about $500 billion in net Medicare spending reductions over ten years, most of which would come from reducing payments to health care providers and not affect beneficiaries directly.

For the most part, the budget does not reflect the President’s efforts to end the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or his executive order calling for various Medicare changes. These policies, which a budget would typically include, would weaken Medicare in several ways. . . .

Trump’s Budget Threatens States and Their Residents

President Trump’s 2021 budget would slice federal aid to state and local governments that provides health care, K-12 education, and more.

Large federal aid cuts would do lots of damage in states. Federal grants provide roughly 30 percent of state budgets across the country, and over 40 percent in some states, according to the most recent data. The President’s budget would sharply cut Medicaid — the largest single source of federal funding to states. Plus, it would deeply cut funding for non-defense discretionary programs, the part of the budget that includes most other grants to states, including funding for schools, child care, and housing assistance. . . .

President’s 2021 Budget Would Cut Food Assistance for Millions and Radically Restructure SNAP

President Trump’s 2021 budget proposes to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) by more than $180 billion — nearly 30 percent — over the next ten years by radically restructuring how benefits are delivered, taking SNAP away from millions of adults who are not working more than 20 hours a week, and reducing benefits for many other households. The budget also includes two proposals to curtail students’ access to free and reduced-price school meals. The proposed cuts would come on top of nearly $50 billion in cuts over ten years that the Administration is seeking through regulatory action, bringing the Administration’s total plan for cutting SNAP to about $230 billion over ten years compared to current policies. . . .

Trump Budget Would Hurt Older Americans

Older Americans are among the many groups that President Trump’s proposed 2021 budget would seriously harm. While running for president, Trump repeatedly promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, which serve tens of millions of seniors — and he made a similar promise at his State of the Union just last week. Nevertheless, his budget calls for cutting Social Security and Medicaid as well as cutting or eliminating other critical supports for older Americans, many of them struggling to get by. And that’s even as he proposed to extend the 2017 tax law and he plans even more tax cuts, which would provide a bonanza to the most well-off Americans and profitable corporations. . . .

President’s Budget Would Hurt People With Disabilities

President Trump’s 2021 budget would make it harder for millions of people with disabilities to afford such basics as food, housing, and health care by cutting tens of billions of dollars from disability programs, including Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). And it would compound the hit for those with disabilities by also severely cutting Medicaid, food assistance, and housing vouchers, all while proposing to extend tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit those at the top. . . .

Budget Exposes Trump Administration’s Empty Rhetoric on Homelessness, Fair Housing

The Trump Administration has said that it wants to help communities address the nation’s serious housing affordability challenges, but the President’s 2021 budget would do the opposite, slashing housing assistance and community development aid next year by $8.6 billion, or 15.2 percent (not counting the impact of inflation). . . .

Trump Would Cut TANF by $21 Billion, Impose Harmful Spending Restrictions

In his new budget, President Trump proposes to cut Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) by $21 billion over ten years, which would leave many families with less assistance when they fall on hard times. The cuts include a 10 percent reduction in the annual block grant funding for states and an end to the $608 million TANF Contingency Fund, which gives states additional funds at times of economic distress. . . .