Search Weight Loss Topics:




May 29

Editorial: In Missouri, as everywhere else, Trump’s budget is an exercise in selfishness – STLtoday.com

Exercise Programs Comments Off on Editorial: In Missouri, as everywhere else, Trump’s budget is an exercise in selfishness – STLtoday.com

The best news about President Donald Trumps $4.1 trillion budget unveiled last week is that it has zero chance of passing. The worst news about the budget is that the administration was shameless enough to put it in writing.

At least the presidents staff made sure he was out of the country when the budget was revealed, sparing him from having to defend it in person. That was left to budget director Mick Mulvaney, and what a bang-up job he did.

Were no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or the number of people on those programs, but by the number of people we help get off of those programs, Mulvaney said on Tuesday. Were not going to measure compassion by the amount of money that we spend, but by the number of people that we help.

Mulvaney explained that the taxpayer first budget has plenty of compassion, although it proposes 10-year cuts of more than $800 billion from Medicaid health care spending on the poor, the disabled and children; $192 billion from nutritional assistance; and $272 billion from other public assistance programs. As it doesnt say in the Sermon on the Mount, rich people need compassion, too, and theyll get it in the form of tax cuts.

One spectacular feature of the budget is the mother of all accounting errors. The budget counts the same $2 trillion twice: once to pay for a giant tax cut and once to reduce the deficit. We stand by the numbers, Mulvaney said.

Forget for a moment big cuts to crop insurance, the National Institutes of Health, housing and community development programs and an unwarranted $49 billion boost to defense spending. Oh, and it cuts Meals on Wheels a big hit for Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson: Like I want to go home after having (voted) against Meals on Wheels and say Oh, its a bad program, keeping seniors alive.

Lets bring the Trump budget home to Missouri.

The states average $1.37 per meal food stamp allotment would get chintzier as a slow-growth, tax-cutting state is asked to pick up 10 percent to 25 percent of the cost. Health insurance for 625,000 Missouri kids would face at least a 20 percent cut. Missouri will get $2 billion a year less in Medicaid funding, and state lawmakers would have to conduct a sort of morbid lottery to split whats left.

There will be $100 million less each year for single mothers and children in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Then there are the 140,000 Missourians who receive an average $1,171 a month in Social Security Disability payments. Trump wants to cut $72 billion from that program.

Trump titled his budget document A New Foundation for American Greatness. It is instead a milestone in American selfishness.

Continue reading here:
Editorial: In Missouri, as everywhere else, Trump's budget is an exercise in selfishness - STLtoday.com

Related Posts

    Your Full Name

    Your Email

    Your Phone Number

    Select your age (30+ only)

    Select Your US State

    Program Choice

    Confirm over 30 years old

    Yes

    Confirm that you resident in USA

    Yes

    This is a Serious Inquiry

    Yes

    Message:



    matomo tracker