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| Trump’s Assault on Working Families | |
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Dear Neighbor, If the federal budget is a values test, the Trump Budget failed -- miserably. It is not a serious proposal, and it only serves to hurt working families. It would slash $900 billion from Medicaid and $500 billion from Medicare. It disinvests in our own future by cutting $170 billion from federal student loan initiatives and eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness initiative altogether. And it would rip the safety net out from under millions of Americans by cutting $180 billion from nutrition assistance for struggling families and children. But it’s Congress, and not the president, with the authority to set budgets and appropriate money, and the new House majority won’t support this draconian budget. Unfortunately, however, the President’s Budget isn’t his first attack on our social safety net, and I fear it won’t be his last. Just last week, my Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing on an Orwellian proposal that would throw more children and families into poverty. In May 2019, the Trump administration proposed a change in how the government calculates the poverty line. This is not some minor bureaucratic technicality. The ripple effects of this proposal would be tremendous and devastating. More than 300,000 children would lose healthcare. 200,000 school-age children would lose eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals. 40,000 infants and young children would lose benefits for supplemental nutrition. You just don’t solve the poverty problem by tweaking your math and changing your definition of poverty. The first grader who couldn’t afford breakfast this week isn’t any less hungry because the government took her off their list of hungry kids. Sadly, in our hearing, some in Congress chose to perpetuate the nasty, pervasive notion that Americans, especially children, somehow choose to experience poverty. No parent, and certainly no child, has ever made that choice, and I refuse to tolerate any insinuation to the contrary. Our morality as a nation is measured by the way we treat our children. All our children. This is a test about who we are as a people. This is a test about whether we are willing to invest in our kids, and their parents and guardians in the richest country in the world. To live with such poverty, and add to the stigma of blame like it’s their fault, is not worthy of our country. It’s not who we ought to be. And it’s why I won’t stop fighting for those who need our help. Sincerely,
P.S. you can watch my remarks at the hearing here. |
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