WASHINGTON, March 11 – Sen. Bernie Sanders, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, issued the following statement on President Donald Trumps’ FY20 budget after it was released Monday:
“The Trump budget is breathtaking in its degree of cruelty and filled with broken promises. Donald Trump promised the American people that he would be a different type of Republican, that he would be a champion of the working American and that he would not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But his budget does the exact opposite of what he promised the American people.
“At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, Trump’s budget pays for his huge tax break to the top one percent by cutting $1.5 trillion from Medicaid, $845 billion from Medicare and $25 billion from Social Security. Make no mistake about it: Trump’s budget is a massive transfer of wealth from working class families to the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in America.
“At a time when the U.S. already spends more on the military than the next 10 countries combined, Trump is proposing an $861 billion increase in base defense spending over a 10 year period. And he proposes to pay for it by cutting over $1 trillion from education, affordable housing, nutrition assistance and the needs of working families over a 10-year period. Trump’s proposed increase in base Pentagon spending could make public colleges and universities tuition-free over the next decade.
“This is a budget for the military industrial complex, for corporate CEOs, for Wall Street and for the billionaire class. It is dead on arrival. We don’t need billions of dollars for a wall that no one wants. We need a budget that works for all Americans, not just Donald Trump and his billionaire friends at Mar-A-Lago.”
Summary of the Trump budget:
Cuts Medicaid by nearly $1.5 trillion over 10 years.
Cuts Medicare by $845 billion over 10 years.
Cuts Social Security by $25 billion over 10 years.
Increases defense spending by $34 billion next year alone to $750 billion.
Increases base defense spending by more than $860 billion over the next 10 years – more than enough to make public colleges and universities tuition free.
Imposes over $1 trillion in cuts over ten years to the needs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor, including a $54 billion cut next year alone.
Cuts environmental protection by over 31 percent next year.
Cuts affordable housing by over 16 percent next year including the elimination of the HOME program and Community Development Block Grants.
Cuts transportation by over 22 percent next year.
Cuts health and human services by over 12 percent next year.
Cuts $207 billion from college affordability programs over 10 years including the elimination of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and subsidized student loans.
Cuts $220 billion over 10 years from the Food Stamp program.
