Safety net programs face big cuts in Trump budget; military gains

The poor and the disabled are big losers in President Donald Trump's $4.1 trillion budget proposal while the Pentagon is a big winner.

Trump's plan for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 makes deep cuts in safety net programs, including Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. The proposal also includes big cuts in Social Security's disability program.

Defense spending and border security would get significant boosts.

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The winners and losers:

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WINNERS

—The military: Trump's budget proposal would add $469 billion to defense spending over the next decade.

—Border security: The proposal includes $2.6 billion for border security technology, including money to design and build a wall along the southern border. Trump repeatedly promised voters during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall, a notion that Mexican officials rejected. Instead, the U.S. taxpayer will foot the bill.

—The elderly: Trump's budget plan does not address Social Security or Medicare benefits for retirees, even though both programs are on track to become insolvent in the coming decades.

—New parents: The budget plan includes a new paid leave program for the parents of newborn children. Under the program, mothers and fathers could take up to six weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. Trump's budget summary says the program is fully paid for but includes only $19 billion over the next decade.

—Veterans: The budget proposal calls for an increase for the Veterans Administration, including $29 billion over the next decade for the Choice program. The program allows veterans to seek outside medical care from private doctors.

—Doctors: The budget proposes to cap jury awards in medical malpractice lawsuits.

— Medicare and Medicaid fraud prevention efforts would get a $70 million increase next year.

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LOSERS

—The Poor: Trump's budget would slash Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program by $616 billion over the next decade. These programs provide health insurance for millions of poor families.

—The Poor, Part II: Trump's budget would cut the food stamp program by $191 billion over the next decade.

—The Poor, Part III: Trump's budget would cut funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program by $22 billion over the next decade.

—The Disabled: Trump's budget calls for cutting Social Security disability benefits by nearly $70 billion over the next decade by encouraging and, in some cases, requiring people receiving the benefits to re-enter the workforce.

—College Students: Trump's proposal would cut student loans by $143 billion over the next decade.

—Farmers: The budget plan would cut farm subsidies by $38 billion over the next decade.

—Young Workers: By not addressing Social Security or Medicare benefits for retirees, Trump's budget increases the likelihood that young workers will eventually face either significant benefit cuts or big tax increases. Social Security's trust funds are projected to run dry in 2034 and Medicare's is projected to run out of money in 2028. If Congress allows either fund to run dry, millions of Americans living on fixed incomes would face steep cuts in benefits.

—The Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay: Trump's budget would eliminate the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Chesapeake Bay Program, saving $427 million next year.

—Planned Parenthood: The budget would prohibit any funding for certain entities that provide abortions, including Planned Parenthood.

—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The agency, which fights everything from AIDS to Zika, would have its budget cut about 18 percent, to $6.3 billion.

— The National Institutes of Health: The budget for the premier medical research agency would be cut by 18 percent, to $26 billion.

—Science: The American Association for the Advancement of Science estimates the budget proposal would cut overall federal spending on scientific research by 16.8 percent.

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Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Hope Yen, Lauran Neergaard and Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.

KAINE STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’s BUDGET

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement on President Trump’s FY2018 budget:

“The detailed budget released today confirms where President Trump’s priorities lie: he wants to dismantle critical programs that support Virginia’s families, children, seniors, and businesses in exchange for misguided spending and tax cuts that leave working families behind. After promising not to cut Medicaid, Trump’s budget would slash the program, which provides more than one million Virginians – including more than 594,000 kids, 112,000 seniors, and 186,000 people with disabilities – with health care, and make drastic cuts to programs like Social Security and Meals on Wheels that support those in need. It would cut nutrition assistance that keeps the poorest Americans from going hungry, take away job training initiatives that are critical to American workers’ success, and hurt the environment and our tourism industry. Trump’s budget would cause disproportionate pain in the rural communities he promised to help - including those in Southern and Southwest Virginia and the Valley - by eliminating the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Economic Development Administration, and clean coal research that could help revitalize Southwest Virginia’s economy.

“It’s particularly disappointing that President Trump ignored the concerns raised by Virginians and local organizations across the Commonwealth that highlighted just how painful these cuts would be to their communities. I will work with my Budget Committee colleagues on both sides of the aisle to prevent these harmful, short-sighted cuts.”

Below is a list of some of the impacts President Trump’s budget would have on Virginians:

Medicaid: President Trump’s budget cuts $610 billion in Medicaid, on top of the hundreds of billions in Medicaid cuts that were included as part of efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This has the potential impact of affecting nearly 1.3 million Virginians who rely on the program for health care or long-term care coverage.

Economic Development Administration (EDA): President Trump’s budget abolishes the EDA, which in just the past two years alone has provided $1.5 million to Roanoke for infrastructure improvements to support a manufacturing facility that will create 154 jobs and $2 million to Boydton for wastewater treatment that was critical to securing a new Microsoft plant in Southern Virginia.

Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC): President Trump’s budget abolishes the ARC, which in the last two years alone has supported 38 projects in Virginia’s 25 Appalachian counties, creating or retaining some 1,350 jobs, supporting job training initiatives that trained more than 800 students and workers, and attracting more than the total ARC amount in private investments.

SNAP: President Trump’s budget cruelly restricts access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a safety net to prevent the most vulnerable Americans—particularly seniors and children—from going hungry. In Virginia in 2016, some 826,000 residents participated in SNAP, and the average monthly SNAP benefit to each household member was $118, or $1.31 per meal.

Advanced Coal: In addition to huge cuts to renewable energy research and development, President Trump’s budget cuts the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy R&D office in half. This is a decision at direct odds with the President’s stated desire to bolster the coal industry.

Opioids: Despite claiming to protect funding for the opioid epidemic, the budget cuts Community Mental Health Services block grantsby $116 million and reduces other state mental health grants by $136 million. Substance abuse treatment grants for states would fall by $73 million and public awareness programs would be cut by $74 million.

Student Loans: President Trump’s budget proposes a $143 billion cut in student loan programs, including abolishing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs, which undermines the commitment the federal government has made to those who committed their lives to public service.

Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTE) State Grants: President Trump’s budget cuts $168 million to grants given to states to strengthen high quality CTE programs even though President Trump has said he is committed to creating jobs and ensuring workers are qualified to fill new jobs.

Chesapeake Bay Program: President Trump’s budget eliminates the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program, a bipartisan, public-private initiative first established during the Reagan Administration that provides grants to help localities, farmers, and others take steps to reduce the pollution flowing into the Bay.

Rural Water: President Trump’s budget eliminates the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural water and wastewater loan and grant program, which has helped countless small rural Virginia communities finance water infrastructure.

Transportation Infrastructure: President Trump’s budget eliminates the TIGER transportation infrastructure program. TIGER has been in such high demand that it has funded only 6% of the applications submitted nationwide over the life of the program. In Virginia, it has funded an I-564 connector from Norfolk International Terminals; the Richmond Pulse bus-rapid transit corridor; the I-64 Delta Frames Bridges in Rockbridge County, and others. Countless other project applications have fallen short due to limited funds.

Federal Employees: The President’s budget eliminates Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) for the Federal Employees Retirement System and would reduce COLAs for the Civil Service Retirement System by 0.5%. These retirement benefit cuts not only threaten the retirement security of current public servants but will depress the ability of the federal government to recruit talented public servants in the future. The President’s budget could also hurt the retirement income of current retirees because of its proposed changes to annuities, hurting retirees on fixed incomes and suddenly altering the retirement plans of current employees.

Veterans Individual Unemployability and COLA: The budget eliminates unemployment assistance to retirement age veterans, impacting more than 225,000 veterans. The budget also plans to “round down” cost-of-living increases for all veterans receiving benefits checks.

Legal Services Corporation: President Trump’s budget eliminates funding for Legal Services Corporation, which Congress funded at $385 million in FY2017 to provide access to justice for low-income Americans, especially vulnerable populations like the elderly and military veterans.

Community Development Block Grants (CDBG): President Trump’s budget eliminates the $3 billion CDBG program, which awarded $50 million in competitive grants to more than 30 Virginia cities and counties last year alone.

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): The President’s budget makes cuts to the Social Security Disability Insurance program, going against his campaign pledge to protect Social Security, and penalizes families with more than one disabled family member.

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Chairman Whitbeck: President's Budget a Critical Step in the Right Direction

RPV Chairman John Whitbeck issued the following statement:

"President Trump's budget is yet another promise kept and a critical step in the right direction toward fixing our nation's long term spending problems. Unlike budgets from President Obama, this document puts the budget on a path to balance in just 10 years."

"The budget also reflects the President's commitment to national security. It begins the process of rebuilding our military and securing our border. It also keeps our promise to end taxpayer funding for abortions by defunding Planned Parenthood, and puts our nation back on a path to prosperity. It is clear that this budget proposal will put taxpayers first."

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Capito Statement on President’s Budget Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) today issued the following statement regarding the administration’s detailed FY2018 budget proposal:

“The president’s budget proposal lays out the administration’s priorities. However, it’s ultimately up to Congress to determine how we will fund the government and where to allocate our limited resources. While I am pleased the administration has proposed funding to continue certain programs like those within the Office of National Drug Control Policy, I also have serious concerns about how the proposed cuts would affect West Virginians and others across the country. In the coming months, I will use my leadership role on the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure programs and projects important to West Virginians are funded at adequate levels.”

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MANCHIN STATEMENT ON THE PRESIDENT’S 2018 BUDGET PROPOSAL

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) released the following statement on the President’s 2018 budget proposal. As written, the proposal would cut funding from programs that West Virginians and the state’s economy rely on. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Manchin will carefully scrutinize the President’s budget to see how it will impact West Virginia.

“While the President’s proposed budget includes critical funding and many important policy changes, such as funding to fight the opioid epidemic in this country and infrastructure spending, it falls short of the big fix that this country needs,” Senator Manchin said. “The proposal, which cuts $274 billion in spending, will balance the budget in 10 years but at the cost of not helping our most vulnerable Americans and many West Virginians. My grandmother, Mama Kay, was always helping our neighbors and taught to us to help others. She was constantly taking in people who were down on their luck and gave them a hand up, not a hand out. That’s what we should be doing for our fellow citizens.

“In the coming weeks, a budget must be negotiated by first bringing all parties to the table, where we should focus on an open and honest discussion of the choices we must make as a nation. As I have done throughout my career, I am willing to work with anyone from any party to set our priorities, cut waste and redundancy, and rein in out-of-control spending. And, while no single Senator, Representative or even President can be expected to have all the answers, we as a nation just can’t afford months of political posturing that will delay the hard work the American people demand of us. I am hopeful that, when we come together, we will craft a budget proposal that reflects a true bipartisan agreement that puts commonsense priorities for Americans and West Virginians first.”