PBS, NPR, Big Bird, the National Endowment for the Arts are all on the chopping block in the Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal that was released last week.
The budget would increase the defense budget by $54 billion dollars and funding for nuclear weapons by 11 percent.
And the “big, beautiful wall” that Mexico was going to pay for? Repairs to the wall are in the budget for $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year, with another $2.6 in 2018. The total cost to actually build the wall is projected to be $22 billion.
When Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney was asked about the cuts to NPR, PBS, and arts funding, he replied: “I put myself in the shoes of that steelworker in Ohio, the coal-mining family in West Virginia, the mother of two in Detroit, and I’m saying,OK, I have to go ask these folks for money, and I have to tell them where I’m going to spend it. Can I really go to those folks, look them in the eye and say, look, I want to take money from you, and I want to give it to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting?”
What a disingenuous response. It’s a great way to position the administration as the friend of the hard-working, long-suffering regular Americans by sticking it to the NPR-listening, latte-sipping, coastal-dwelling immigrant lovers. What much of the media and certainly Mr. Mulvaney are not talking about are the cuts to the programs that people in Detroit, Ohio and West Virginia depend on.
Mr. Mulvaney isn’t shedding tears about wiping out safety-net programs that are keeping those families warm and fed. Fuel assistance is wiped out in Trump’s budget. The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding for community action agencies is also jettisoned. Federal funding for the Legal Services Corporation program is gone. Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to cities and towns are also eliminated.
And where are the people that will lose the CSBG-funded food pantries and job training, the CDBG-funded infrastructure improvements, affordable housing, and Meals on Wheels? Where are the seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and families with young children who receive fuel assistance? What about the survivors of domestic violence that have been helped by Legal Services? Well, more than half of them live in states that voted for Trump.
Those states will lose over $4.6 billion if these programs go away. That’s more than enough to cover the wall repairs this year. Did Trump’s voters think that their mother would be cut off fuel assistance so that Trump could keep a phony campaign promise to build a wall?
The “Budget to Make America Suffer Again” was driven off the front pages of the paper by the Trumpcare battle in Congress. While Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan last that fight, they have not given up on shredding the safety net. It is increasingly clear who are the losers in the America of Trump and Ryan. If you are living on a low income, between jobs, or older, or if you live in rural America, then you are out of luck. Mighty Donald struck out on health care, but we are still in the first inning.
Every pet issue of the Republican right wing is either in the president’s budget or the health care bill. Planned Parenthood is of course singled out for opprobrium; the 2.5 million women who are on Medicaid won’t be able to go to Planned Parenthood clinics for routine health care because Republican bill writers wrote language mandating a one-year prohibition on federal funding for non-profits that are “primarily engaged in providing family planning and reproductive health services,” offer abortions, and spend more than $350 million a year under the Medicaid program. The same bill has big tax cuts for billionaires. So women lose and billionaires get $275 billion.
Defense contractors, Homeland Security, and nuclear waste dumps are big winners in the proposed budget. The defense increases will add to the $598 billion that we already spend on the military. Meanwhile, Trump’s pal Vladimir Putin is cutting defense spending. Ultimately, Russia’s entire military budget will be less than Trump’s proposed increase.
The Republicans have set up false choices. Safety vs. the arts, freedom vs. comprehensive health care, budget austerity vs. a real safety net. We need fuel assistance and NPR, the Community Services Block Grant and the National Endowment for the Arts. We need Planned Parenthood and Legal Services and PBS.
“Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses, too.”
Clare Higgins, of Northampton, a former mayor of the city, is executive director of the nonprofit Community Action! of the Franklin, Hampshire and North Quabbin Regions.
PBS, NPR, Big Bird, the National Endowment for the Arts are all on the chopping block in the Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal that was released last week.
The budget would increase the defense budget by $54 billion dollars and funding for nuclear weapons by 11 percent.
And the “big, beautiful wall” that Mexico was going to pay for? Repairs to the wall are in the budget for $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year, with another $2.6 in 2018. The total cost to actually build the wall is projected to be $22 billion.
When Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney was asked about the cuts to NPR, PBS, and arts funding, he replied: “I put myself in the shoes of that steelworker in Ohio, the coal-mining family in West Virginia, the mother of two in Detroit, and I’m saying,OK, I have to go ask these folks for money, and I have to tell them where I’m going to spend it. Can I really go to those folks, look them in the eye and say, look, I want to take money from you, and I want to give it to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting?”
What a disingenuous response. It’s a great way to position the administration as the friend of the hard-working, long-suffering regular Americans by sticking it to the NPR-listening, latte-sipping, coastal-dwelling immigrant lovers. What much of the media and certainly Mr. Mulvaney are not talking about are the cuts to the programs that people in Detroit, Ohio and West Virginia depend on.
Mr. Mulvaney isn’t shedding tears about wiping out safety-net programs that are keeping those families warm and fed. Fuel assistance is wiped out in Trump’s budget. The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding for community action agencies is also jettisoned. Federal funding for the Legal Services Corporation program is gone. Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to cities and towns are also eliminated.
And where are the people that will lose the CSBG-funded food pantries and job training, the CDBG-funded infrastructure improvements, affordable housing, and Meals on Wheels? Where are the seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and families with young children who receive fuel assistance? What about the survivors of domestic violence that have been helped by Legal Services? Well, more than half of them live in states that voted for Trump.
Those states will lose over $4.6 billion if these programs go away. That’s more than enough to cover the wall repairs this year. Did Trump’s voters think that their mother would be cut off fuel assistance so that Trump could keep a phony campaign promise to build a wall?
These particular cuts were driven off the front pages of the paper by the Trumpcare battle in Congress. It is increasingly clear who are the losers in Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan’s health care scam. If you are living on a low income, between jobs, or older, or if you live in rural America, then you are out of luck. If you have a pre-existing condition, then it’s back into the high-risk pool for you.
Remember, Trump promised insurance for everyone, no cuts to Medicaid, and that no one would be worse off financially. Three swings – three misses. It looks like Mighty Donald has struck out.
Every pet issue of the Republican right wing is either in the president’s budget or the health care bill. Planned Parenthood is of course singled out for opprobrium; the 2.5 million women who are on Medicaid won’t be able to go to Planned Parenthood clinics for routine health care because Republican bill writers wrote language mandating a one-year prohibition on federal funding for non-profits that are “primarily engaged in providing family planning and reproductive health services,” offer abortions, and spend more than $350 million a year under the Medicaid program. The same bill has big tax cuts for billionaires. So women lose and billionaires get $275 billion.
Defense contractors, Homeland Security, and nuclear waste dumps are big winners in the proposed budget. The defense increases will add to the $598 billion that we already spend on the military. Meanwhile, Trump’s pal Vladimir Putin is cutting defense spending. Ultimately, Russia’s entire military budget will be less than Trump’s proposed increase.
The Republicans have set up false choices. Safety vs. the arts, freedom vs. comprehensive health care, budget austerity vs. a real safety net. We need fuel assistance and NPR, the Community Services Block Grant and the National Endowment for the Arts. We need Planned Parenthood and Legal Services and PBS.
“Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses, too.”
Clare Higgins, of Northampton, a former mayor of the city, is executive director of the nonprofit Community Action! of the Franklin, Hampshire and North Quabbin Regions.