Andrew Kramer

My Turn

Last month, President Trump released his $4.7 trillion 2020 budget, titled “A Budget for a Better America. Promises Kept. Taxpayers First.”. Once again, there’s a flagrant disconnect between Trump’s words and his actions. In fact, the budget reveals Trump’s true values and priorities which betray the American people, including his enthusiastic supporters.

For starters, Trump promises to control deficit spending, yet his budget would cause trillion dollar deficits for the next four years, even with its wildly unrealistic projection of 3 percent annual GDP expansion. Then, to add to our pain as taxpayers, Trump calls for the massive tax cuts for the wealthy elite enacted by the GOP in 2017 (that added $1.9 trillion to the deficit) to be made permanent. This, when its obvious we need to increase tax revenues by requiring the corporate and wealthy elite to pay a larger and fair share.

As for domestic programs, working people and their families, and the most vulnerable — the poor, the disabled, and the elderly — will suffer most. Virtually all of us would be harmed by Trump's budget to some extent. Several examples follow:

Regarding healthcare, Trump’s budget calls for slashing Social Security disability insurance, reversing Medicaid expansion and ending the Affordable Care Act. Although Trump recently reversed position on terminating the ACA due to bipartisan pressure, Trump’s intention to deny health insurance for millions and undermine Medicaid is clear. He would cause and remain oblivious to the suffering of millions.

Funding for public education would be cut 10 percent, the third consecutive year of cuts, while funds and tax breaks would be given to private schools. After-school programs for students of low-income families would be eliminated. In addition to weakening public education, Trump would make college less affordable by cutting funding for several key programs that assist with college tuition. These measures would exacerbate the student loan debt which already totals an astounding $1.5 trillion.

Funding for the working poor would be slashed. Food stamps, which assist some 4 million children who live in poverty, would be cut 30 percent over the next ten years. Subsidies for public housing would be reduced making it more difficult for low-income people to find housing. Home energy assistance would be eliminated, causing many to suffer in the cold during winter.

The budget for the Labor Department would be cut, thereby reducing funding for unemployment insurance, even though unemployment is expected to increase as the economy slows. The job corps that helps poor young people enter the workforce would be slashed. Federal employees — those thousands who struggled during Trump’s government shutdown - would be hammered once again with less take-home pay and pension cuts.

And, as expected from one of the most anti-environment presidents in our history, funds for the Environmental Protection Agency would be slashed almost one-third next year alone. This underfunding combined with a former coal industry lobbyist now heading the EPA, would virtually assure us of more polluted air and water, more toxins in our food chain, and other hazards that threaten our health and the planet.

Then, in spite of Trump claiming “we must write the next chapter of the great American adventure, turbocharging the industries of the future and establishing a new standard of living for the 21st century”, his budget does the opposite. Funding for research and development in technology, invention and innovation is slashed. In the first year alone, funds for the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are each cut 12 to 14 percent. Investment in R&D for renewable energy and energy efficiency is virtually eliminated. Subsidies for renewable energy are reduced while unnecessary subsidies for fossil fuels, including coal, are increased. For our decaying infrastructure, Trump allows $200 billion over ten years when trillions are required. Further, his budget calls for cuts to agencies that implement infrastructure upgrades — a 22 percent cut to the Army Corp of Engineers and almost 20 percent reduction to the Department of Transportation.

Trump’s budget claims to support working families by assisting families with child-care needs and providing paid parental leave, however, this is deceitful lip service. Appropriations for these programs are either woefully inadequate or non-existent.

In summary, while statements in Trump’s budget profess to put the needs of the American worker first, in reality, his budget betrays the American people. While the rich benefit, working people get the shaft. Public investment essential to our future is deprived. As Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, states: “Altogether, the budget would make poverty deeper and more widespread, increase the ranks of the uninsured, exacerbate inequality and racial disparities, and shrink opportunities for those trying to get ahead.” In short, this social and economic decline would not “make America great again”.

Fortunately, we have a Democratic majority in the House that will not allow Trump’s harmful assault on America to stand. But that does not absolve Trump of his underlying agenda, his values and motivations which are to transfer as much wealth as possible from the vast majority to the wealthy elite.

The question is, how long will his supporters remain blind to his false promises? And how long will congressional Republicans (and corporate Democrats) remain beholden to their wealthy donors instead of the American people?

Andrew Kramer lives in Ivins.