Under Trump’s budget, the Education Department would see a 14 percent cut, which, for those who believe the federal government should have no role in local education, is around 86 percent too little.
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The prez aims to direct an extra $54 billion (a mere 1.3 percent of the $4 trillion in federal spending) to defense, taking it from other discretionary areas.
Neither Obama’s nor Trump’s initial budget documents fully satisfies the Budget Act requirements but Trump’s is further from complete.
“It makes abundantly clear that every critical domestic program important to working families is on the chopping block”, she said. Focusing first on the part of the budget that isn’t raising the tide of red ink, he would slash education, research, foreign aid and many domestic programs to make room for one of the biggest military build-ups in history. Other agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts will also get the axe.
Past Inside Higher Ed articles (on the NEH here and AmeriCorps here) note concerns in academe about these programs potentially being eliminated. But this morning, he issued a statement in which he said he was “greatly saddened” by the proposal and said the NEH would continue normal operations for now.
The budget plan would alsokill the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center, both of which support the work of scholars.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s budget would be cut by 31 percent, eliminating its climate change programs and trimming back core initiatives aimed at protecting air and water quality. “While we support more funding for our military and defense, we must maintain support for our farmers and ranchers”.
Washington state Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee said the plan contained few specific details but that he had asked state agencies to review it to see how state services would be affected.
Other programs, from to medical research to the arts, would also lose a significant chunk – if not all – of their federal funding.
Petri describes the budget’s name as “an exercise program where you eat only what you can catch, pump up your guns and then punch the impoverished in the face”.
President Trump’s first pass at budget reform has his critics screaming – clearly, a good start.
Even though the United States faces no significant military threat, and even though China is slowing its military spending and Russian Federation is cutting theirs, Trump is proposing a $54 billion increase to America’s already bloated military budget.
It also proposes to eliminate the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which helps low-income senior citizens find jobs. The administration says the program is ineffective: A third of participants don’t complete it, and only half of those who do complete it move into unsubsidized jobs.
OMB Director Mulvaney was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from SC before Trump named him to be his budget director.
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Studies have shown that after school programs do help students’ performance in terms of metrics such as grades, test scores, attendance, participation ratings and more. Two-thirds of American roads are in “less than good” condition, almost half of Americans lack access to basic mass transit, and U.S. infrastructure lags far behind that of other Western countries.
