Key benchmarks in President Donald Trump’s budget

President Trump’s FY 2018 budget proposal to Congress includes just $1.6 billion for construction of new secure border fencing along the U.S. -Mexico border, less than 10 percent of the estimated price tag for the much-needed and long overdue border security infrastructure.

It restates the goals of the “skinny budget” the administration released in March, which was widely condemned by scientists and public health advocates.

But it could be the start of real bargaining that goes something like this: Trump doubles his offer (unlike Mulvaney, he doesn’t care about budgetary red ink), uses some money from a tax on foreign income of USA companies, gets Saudi Arabia and other countries to chip in for energy-related projects and some public-private deals.

“It’s important to remember the power of the purse rests with Congress”, Yoder said.

“This budget proposal is based on utterly bogus economic assumptions”, said California Gov.

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.

With Trump’s decision to “reprioritize” spending, though, are substantial cuts to non-defense spending, including so-called “entitlement programs” that low-income families rely on to pay for food, housing, and healthcare.

In 2015, federal and state spending on Medicaid was about $545 billion.

As a candidate and as president Trump has frequently talked about making health care more affordable for regular folks, including by lowering premiums and deductibles. The budget says the USA government will collect $328 billion in estate and gift taxes over the next decade, but it also says Trump will eliminate the estate tax.

The budget would also end housing fix grants for very low-income people in non-metro areas, saving $30 million from 2016 levels, and would end a program that provides loans for rural housing revitalization, saving another $20 million.

Under the law, those services are considered optional. Ten percent go to homes with elderly people.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures, bedrock Republican states that Trump won have long food-stamp rolls: 3.8 million people in Texas, 682,077 in Vice President Mike Pence’s home state of in, 815,000 in Alabama and 1.6 million in Georgia, for example.

Fortunately, presidential budgets are notoriously ephemeral, as illustrated by the fate of the “skinny budget”, which was quickly dismissed on Capitol Hill. However, the budget of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is slated to be cut by $400 million next year, including $116 million from SAMHSA’s Community Mental Health Services Block Grant program and $73 million less for substance abuse prevention efforts. The proposed cuts come as the CDC is operating with close to 700 vacancies and the approach of summer brings the threat of an outbreak of Zika, which causes birth defects in children of infected mothers.

“I have serious concerns with some of the steep cuts that are included in the president’s budget for 2018”, Blunt said.

He calls estimates below 1.9 percent annual growth “a pessimistic look at what the potential for this country and for what this country’s people is”.

According to a breakdown of the DOI’s proposed budget, the department’s funding includes $791.2 million in current and permanent funding for energy related programs, an increase of $16.3 million from FY2017. Seventy-four percent of voters oppose cuts to Medicaid, while 82 percent support raising taxes on the rich. “From Ebola to Zika to opioid misuse to diabetes to heart disease, the CDC is on the front lines keeping Americans healthy”.

Former Education Secretary John King called Trump’s budget “an assault on the American dream” and said it will make it harder for students to attend and finish college.

Trump seeks to balance the budget by the end of the decade, according to a preview given to reporters on Monday. His cuts to domestic agencies budgets approved by lawmakers each year would be redirected to the Pentagon.

The White House sent its budget to Congress as Trump flew from Israel to Italy on his first overseas trip as president.

Much of the media focus on the cuts has been to cuts that will impact states that voted for Trump, especially in the Rust Belt. “Taxpayers should not have to prop up Planned Parenthood’s failing, abortion-centered business model”. It will be officially released on Tuesday.

For what reason does President Trump insist that we must deny children healthcare?