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.
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Deep cuts proposed by President Donald Trump to federal Medicaid and research spending in his $4.1 trillion budget plan drew bipartisan pushback in Boston on Tuesday over concerns that the plan could strain thinly stretched state tax dollars and cut off a key line of support for the life sciences and health sectors.
The budget also calls for tax cuts and a balanced budget, according to projections from Trump’s team. Trump’s new budget is based on sustained growth above 3 percent, sharply higher than the expectations of most private economists.
“Here’s what I’m happy about: we finally have a president who’s willing to actually even balance the budget”, said Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in a House GOP news conference on Tuesday.
Veterans: The budget proposal calls for an increase for the Veterans Administration, including $29 billion over the next decade for the Choice program.
Like the Department of Homeland Security budget, which includes billions for expanded immigration detention, more border agents and technology to catch those crossing the border illegally, the Justice Department budget is a reflection of the new get-tough policies promised by Sessions. This budget aims to increase funding for more border agents and immigration judges, increased immigrant detentions, and fighting the opioid crisis, but it does not earmark additional funds for training police.
An analysis from the Urban Institute estimates those cuts would cost IL $24 billion in federal Medicaid funds over ten years.
Social Security and Medicare remain untouched.
But to achieve balance, Trump is seeking sharp cuts in a variety of programs for the poor from Medicaid to food stamps and disability payments.
College Students: Trump’s proposal would cut student loans by $143 billion over the next decade.
Trump’s budget would reduce funding for educational and cultural exchanges by 52 percent, including a 47 percent cut to the Fulbright Program, which enables USA citizens to go overseas and brings foreign students to study in the United States. The American Health Care Act would provide states with block grants and allow each state to decide how to spend the money, which, given the cuts to the overall program, would force states to make hard choices.
The budget proposal also includes a steep cut to funding for worldwide organizations, without specifying which groups might lose their funding.
$610 billion How much the president proposes to save over the coming decade in Medicaid, the program that pays the health care and nursing home bills for millions of low-income Americans. This program has also grown excessively – from $56 billion in 2000 to $144 this year.
Parental leave would be mandatory, but not uniform: “States would be required to provide six weeks of parental leave and the proposal gives states broad latitude to design and finance the program”, the administration wrote in its budget. This HUD program funds a variety of housing-related services for low-income communities, including affordable housing services, natural disaster recovery, and the Meals on Wheels program for the elderly.
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. If the states believe that programs are crucial, they can pony up the funding themselves.
Trump’s proposal to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 31 percent is raising alarms from government workers and environmentalists in Chicago and northwest Indiana. “It sends all of the right signals for the first time in almost a decade – a budget that actually is focused on the best interests of the American taxpayer rather than what’s popular in Washington”, he said.
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– For 2018, eliminates $454 million of the $484 million spent on public broadcasting. That would include a $575 million cut to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and $838 million cut to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is involved in a wide range of diseases including AIDS and Zika.
