Millions of Americans might be driven off food stamps as trump plans to deliver his first budget. The president plans to cut up to $1.7 trillion in Government Spending over the next ten years. Programs that are likely to receive little funding are Medicaid, federal employee pensions, welfare benefits and farm subsidies.
Medicaid, for example, provides healthcare to low-income earners. Trump plans to reduce its budget by $800 billion. He, however, plans to increase funding to defense and border security. Cuts in government spending are likely to lower the growth of the U.S GDP as government spending constitutes a big portion of the GDP.
The U.S economy only grew by 1.6% in 2016 down from 2.6% in 2015.
A reduction in government spending comes after Trump stated that he plans to reduce the corporate tax in the U.S from as high as 28.9% to 15%.
These government sectors will receive less funding over the next 10 years
- $880 billion cut in Medicaid which is a 47% reduction in financing to the program.
- $191 billion cut in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, this is about a 25% in funding for the program.
- $40.4 billion in cuts to the child tax credit and earned income tax credit. This program is a safety net for poor people.
- $21.6 billion in cuts to assistance for needy families which will be a 13% cut to the program.
- Massive cuts to some federal agencies such as a 31.4% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency. Others are a 29.1% cut to the State Department, 20.5% to Agriculture, 19.8% to Labor, 16.2% of Health and Human Services, 15.8% to Commerce, 13.2% to Housing and Urban Development, 12.7% to Transportation, and 10.9% to Interior.
The cuts that Trump proposes contradicts statements he made on Twitter back in May 2015.
I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Huckabee copied me.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2015
"I am going to save Social Security without any cuts. I know where to get the money from. Nobody else does." - my @SRQRepublicans speech
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 22, 2015
Areas that will receive additional funding over the next ten years are 4.6% increase in defense spending, 5.8% increase to the department for veteran affairs and 6.8% increase to the department for homeland security.
Trump is thus more focused on securing the country and its people than helping the poor.
The poor will be thrown in disarray
It is evident from Trumps budget cuts will affect the poor the most. It is believed that more than 40 million Americans live on food stamps. The program was created back in the early 1940s by a U.S Secretary of Agriculture. The tax cuts will overburden the unemployed considering that 7 million Americans are unemployed while others have school loans and mortgages to repay.
