Trump’s budget to cut health care, food stamps
‘Astonishing’ proposal draws strong Democratic opposition and Republican skepticism
WASHINGTON— The White House budget chief on Wednesday delivered a spirited defence of U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash programs from food stamps to health care for the poor in the face of strong Democratic opposition and Republican skepticism.
Mick Mulvaney, the former tea party congressman, told the House Budget Committee that he went line by line through the federal budget and asked, “Can we justify this to the folks who are actually paying for it?”
As a presidential candidate Donald Trump promised better and more affordable health care, but as president his first full budget calls for deep cuts to popular insurance programs. And it omits any proposal for negotiating prescription drug prices, a frequent Trump talking point.
While not addressing Medicare’s long-term financial problems, the budget targets the much smaller Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. And Trump’s Medicaid cuts appear even bigger than those in the health-care bill recently passed by House Republicans, above what would be needed to fulfil the GOP vow to repeal “Obamacare.”
Both safety net programs are federal-state collaborations, and such cuts would leave states with hard choices: spend more of their own money; restrict enrolment; cut benefits, or reduce payments to hospitals and doctors. “If states get fewer dollars from the federal government, there are only so many options, because states have to balance the budget every year,” said Elizabeth Carpenter, a health policy expert with the consulting firm Avalare Health.
Democrats charged that Trump’s cuts would rip apart the social safety net. Rep. Pramila Jayapal told Mulvaney that cuts to food stamps, pay- ments to the disabled and other programs are “astonishing and frankly immoral.”
“We are talking about half the births in the United States, 30 million children, and half of all nursing home and long-term care nationwide for senior citizens and people with disabilities,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky citing Medicaid’s wide reach.
“When you say cut are you speaking Washington or regular language?” Mulvaney shot back.
Mulvaney’s appearance was one of four slated on Wednesday as Trump cabinet officials fanned out on Capitol Hill to defend Trump’s budget, which contains jarring, politically unrealistic cuts to the social safety net and a broad swath of domestic programs. The plan, Trump’s first as president, combines $4.1 trillion for the upcoming 2018 fiscal year with a promise to bring the budget back into balance in 10 years, relying on aggressive spending cuts and a surge in economic growth.
Trump’s budget is simply a proposal. There’s little appetite among Capitol Hill Republicans for a genuine effort to balance the budget; GOP lawmakers this year are instead pressing to rewrite the tax code and forge a spending deal with Democrats that would permit higher military spending and restore Trump proposals to cut domestic agencies and foreign aid.