Trump cuts benefits in bid to balance budget

PRESIDENT Donald Trump was set to release a 2018 budget request yesterday that includes huge Medicaid cuts and changes to anti-poverty programmes as it strives to balance the budget within a decade, the White House said in previewing the plan.

The proposal includes a staggering $1.7 trillion in cuts over 10 years to a category of spending that includes key social and “mandatory” programmes for lower-income Americans.

Several elements are on the chopping block, including $272 billion worth of welfare programmes such as food stamps and a curtailing of children’s health insurance programmes.

The plan boosts defence spending by $54 billion, or 10 percent above 2017 levels, and notably adds $2.6 billion for border security and immigration enforcement, including $1.6 billion for building a border wall.

It also proposes a “fully paid for” six-week family leave programme for new parents, costing $18 billion over 10 years.

Certain popular entitlements will remain unaffected.

“We do not touch mainline Social Security, and we do not touch Medicare in this programme,” White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters Monday.

Trump campaigned heavily last year on promises not to cut Social Security, the Medicare health insurance programme for those over age 65, or Medicaid, which funds health care for lowincome and disabled people.

But Medicaid will suffer a hit of $800 billion over a decade, as part of the reforms included in the Republican bill that repeals and replaces Obamacare.

Democrats have savaged Trump’s plan as breaking his vow not to cut Medicaid.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned it will leave Americans worse off.