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Trump's Budget Takes From Safety Net, Gives To Military

Arthur Delaney

WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump wants Congress to cut food stamps and other anti-poverty programs in order to pay for more military spending and a border wall, according to a budget proposal the White House formally unveiled on Tuesday.

Trump’s budget for fiscal 2018 would plow the savings from welfare cuts into higher military spending and deficit reduction.

The document mostly honors Trump’s unorthodox campaign promise not to cut Social Security or Medicare, but it shows how the president’s domestic agenda is being shaped by Capitol Hill Republicans eager to cancel benefits to supposedly undeserving recipients.

“We’re 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,” Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said at the White House on Tuesday. Mulvaney is a former member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Mulvaney expounded on the meaning of “Trumponomics,” saying it’s all about rapid economic growth. This budget relies on optimistic growth projections that would help eliminate the federal deficit within 10 years. Though Trump himself hasn’t said a lot about social programs, such as food stamps and disability insurance, Mulvaney said reforming the safety net is key to achieving faster growth.

“If you’re on food stamps and you’re able-bodied, we need you to go to work,” Mulvaney said during a briefing with reporters on Monday. “If you’re on disability insurance and you’re not supposed to be, if you’re not truly disabled, we need you to go back to work. We need everybody pulling in the same direction.”

The budget cuts Social Security Disability Insurance by about 4 percent. Mulvaney argued that doing so doesn’t violate Trump’s Social Security campaign pledge because most people only think of retirement insurance when they think of Social Security. The proposal doesn’t touch retirement insurance, but Social Security advocates say Trump nevertheless broke his promise.

White House budgets are generally wish lists that serve as opening bids in annual spending negotiations that are ultimately decided by Congress. The new spending outline is a fuller version of a blueprint the Trump administration unveiled in March, which lawmakers in both parties panned.

The new proposal incorporates Medicaid cuts that were already included in the Republican health care bill approved by the House last month, and it adds more cuts on top. It also includes the very broad outline for tax reform that the Trump administration released in April, plus $2.6 billion more for border security and some wall construction.

The Trump budget would eliminate federal reimbursement for women’s health care services provided by Planned Parenthood, but it would also create a paid family leave program. Mulvaney said the paid leave proposal would help people remain attached to the workforce.

“We try and create the environment where people are more comfortable going back to work and staying at work knowing that if they do have a child, they’ll be able to spend time with that child under the paid parental leave program,” Mulvaney said.

The proposed cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is significant, as the $193 billion reduction amounts to more than a quarter of the food stamp program’s projected cost over the next decade. That’s proportionately bigger than the proposed cut to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. It’s a much sharper reduction than conservative House Republicans tried to achieve the last time lawmakers debated food aid on the House floor in 2014.

The proposal would achieve some of the food stamp savings by requiring states to help pay for benefits, which are currently fully funded by the federal government. The burden would give states a strong incentive to limit eligibility for the program, and the budget would give them the flexibility to make changes.

“I believe in the social safety net,” Mulvaney said. “And what we’ve done is not to try and remove the safety net for folks who need it but to try and figure out if there’s folks who don’t need it that need to be back in the workforce.”

This story has been updated to include a Tuesday comment from Mick Mulvaney as well as details about the Trump budget’s proposed cut to Social Security Disability Insurance.

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May 1920s

U.S. border guards check entering Mexicans
U.S. border guards check entering Mexicans

May 1920s

U.S. border guard and Mexicans behind the border fence.
U.S. border guard and Mexicans behind the border fence.

March 21, 1929

A line of cars carrying Mexicans over the border into California. The fence in the foreground is the border; the line of cars is in the main street of Mexicali.
A line of cars carrying Mexicans over the border into California. The fence in the foreground is the border; the line of cars is in the main street of Mexicali.

1930s

A flock of sheep at the border between Mexico and the United States.
A flock of sheep at the border between Mexico and the United States.

June 1937

A pic of state border plant inspection maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture between Mexico and the United States. Shoppers returning from Mexico (Juarez) to the United States (El Paso) over the bridge that carries all the traffic are required to open their packages for inspection.
A pic of state border plant inspection maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture between Mexico and the United States. Shoppers returning from Mexico (Juarez) to the United States (El Paso) over the bridge that carries all the traffic are required to open their packages for inspection.

June 1937

Crossing the international bridge between Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas.
Crossing the international bridge between Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas.

June 1937

Mexicans entering the United States via the United States immigration station at El Paso, Texas.
Mexicans entering the United States via the United States immigration station at El Paso, Texas.

1943

U.S. soldiers exchanging money at the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. soldiers exchanging money at the U.S.-Mexico border.

March 15, 1950

A view of the Sigma Pi sorority crossing under the Mexico border sign to Tijuana, Mexico in Calexico, California.
A view of the Sigma Pi sorority crossing under the Mexico border sign to Tijuana, Mexico in Calexico, California.

1950s

Pregnant woman at the border.
Pregnant woman at the border.

1954

Mexican farm laborers standing on the Mexican side of the border trying to get into the U.S.
Mexican farm laborers standing on the Mexican side of the border trying to get into the U.S.

1954

Mexican workers waiting just inside the U.S. border to be let in.
Mexican workers waiting just inside the U.S. border to be let in.

October 1, 1962

A border guard checks passes of Mexicans entering the United States near Nogales, Mexico.
A border guard checks passes of Mexicans entering the United States near Nogales, Mexico.

1967

Mexican workers crossing the border into Texas have their papers checked.
Mexican workers crossing the border into Texas have their papers checked.

Sept. 22 1984

Suspected undocumented immigrants cross into the U.S. from Tijuana, Mexico.
Suspected undocumented immigrants cross into the U.S. from Tijuana, Mexico.

1990

Men look across to the other side of the Tijuana border.
Men look across to the other side of the Tijuana border.

1990

Woman walking along the America-Mexico border, near Tijuana.
Woman walking along the America-Mexico border, near Tijuana.

1993

U.S. Customs agents patrolling the border.
U.S. Customs agents patrolling the border.

1994

At first light, undocumented immigrants wait to cross over into the United States.
At first light, undocumented immigrants wait to cross over into the United States.

1994

Undocumented immigrants wait on the other side of Mexico.
Undocumented immigrants wait on the other side of Mexico.

Aug. 19, 1997

Esther Pereyra Rubalcaba (left) kisses her daughter Patricia through the wall separating the US and Min Tijuana, Mexico.
Esther Pereyra Rubalcaba (left) kisses her daughter Patricia through the wall separating the US and Min Tijuana, Mexico.

July 20, 2005

Migrant activists lean against the border fence to pay homage to undocumented immigrants who died crossing over.
Migrant activists lean against the border fence to pay homage to undocumented immigrants who died crossing over.

Aug. 28, 2005

Young Mexican nationals peer through the border wall at the beach along San Ysidro, California.
Young Mexican nationals peer through the border wall at the beach along San Ysidro, California.

June 6, 2015

Paper doves in the shape of a heart are seen at the border fence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Paper doves in the shape of a heart are seen at the border fence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Sept. 25, 2016

Maria Rodriguez Torres, 70, looks towards her departing grandchildren after seeing them for the first time at the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Tijuana, Mexico. She had traveled with family members from Mexico City to see her grandchildren through the fence at "Friendship Park."
Maria Rodriguez Torres, 70, looks towards her departing grandchildren after seeing them for the first time at the U.S.-Mexico border fence in Tijuana, Mexico. She had traveled with family members from Mexico City to see her grandchildren through the fence at "Friendship Park."

Oct. 6, 2016

A burnt car is seen next to a section of the wall separating Mexico and the United States in Tijuana, Mexico.
A burnt car is seen next to a section of the wall separating Mexico and the United States in Tijuana, Mexico.

Feb. 4, 2017

A visitor stands next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence at Friends of Friendship Park in San Ysidro, California.
A visitor stands next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence at Friends of Friendship Park in San Ysidro, California.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.