CBPP today released a statement from Robert Greenstein, president, on President Trump’s new budget:
President Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal presents a deeply troubling vision for the nation.
It sharply cuts funding in the part of the budget that invests in future economic growth through education and training, scientific research, infrastructure, and the like.
It reverses progress in making affordable health care available to people who don’t have employer coverage or can’t afford private coverage. It cuts basic assistance substantially for families, children, and elderly and disabled people who are in need and struggle to get by. And, it doubles down on policies that take away health care, food, and housing when adults aren’t able to meet a work requirement.
Despite bemoaning deficits, it calls for making the costly 2017 tax cuts — which largely benefit those who already have high incomes and wealth — permanent.
While most proposals in the budget won’t be enacted this year, the budget is a roadmap to the types of policies the Administration will seek to implement with the tools at its disposal, including executive orders and regulatory changes.
Altogether, the budget would make poverty deeper and more widespread, increase the ranks of the uninsured, exacerbate inequality and racial disparities, and shrink opportunities for those trying to get ahead.
