Leaked copies of Donald Trump’s 2018 budget show that the President is hoping to cut entitlement programs for the needy by as much as $1.7 trillion dollars. At the same time, his administration and the Republicans in Washington are working on huge tax giveaways for the wealthy. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Transcript of the above video:
Tomorrow Donald Trump is set to officially announce and release his 2018 budget, but from what we know so far from leaked copies and reporters talking with insiders at the White House, we can expect close to $1.7 trillion in budget cuts for the United States with the lion’s share of that coming from so-called entitlement programs. Now, when Republicans say entitlement programs, what they really mean are programs that benefit the needy and less fortunate in the United States. For example, this specific budget is going to cut the SNAP program, which is food stamps, the CHIP program, which is children’s health insurance, in addition to SSDI, which is disability insurance for American citizens.
Now, he’s not going to touch Medicare, he’s not going to touch Social Security allegedly. He had promised during his campaign not to do that, but at this point, what would it matter if he went ahead and did it anyway? I mean, we’re taking programs away from people who cannot afford to buy food. We’re taking programs away from people who cannot afford to buy insurance for their disabled children, or they themselves are disabled and can no longer afford to get health insurance because of the cuts that Donald Trump’s budget will make. Meanwhile, we have Republicans in the House of Representatives working overtime to give a tax break to millionaires and billionaires. There is no more pretense here. There is no more camouflaging of this issue for Republicans.
This is not about trickle-down economics. This is about taking away from the needy and giving that money to the wealthy. That is exactly what this Donald Trump budget does. That is exactly what Republicans in the House of Representatives are working on with their healthcare bill, and that is what Republicans want to do. There is no other way around it. There is no other way to say it. If you’re not a member of the top 1% in the United States, they literally don’t care what happens to you. They don’t care if you can buy health insurance. They don’t care if you can feed your family. They just want to give more money to the already wealthy, which includes most of the Republicans in Congress. They’re not just the wealthy a tax break, they’re giving themselves a tax break. Donald Trump’s budget is not just taking from the poor and giving to the wealthy. It’s taking from the poor and giving back to himself. That is all that this budget accomplishes.
Republicans can talk all day long about we need to balance the budget. We’ve got to make necessary cuts. I know it’s tough, but we’re just spending, spending, spending. You want to cut something? How about the fact that the United States spends most of its money on our military. We spend more money on our military than any other country on this planet. In fact, some reports show that we could cut our military spending by 30 or 40% and still spend more on our military budget than any other country on the planet, but instead we’re going to ramp up military spending, buy more guns, and tanks, and bombs, and missiles, and jets.
Meanwhile, if you’re poor, you’re not going to be able to feed your kids because we’re cutting back on food stamps, because we need more guns. You’re not going to be able to get insurance for your disabled child because we want to buy a couple more tanks that we really don’t need. That’s what’s happening here. That is all this budget is about, taking away from those who have no other means to provide for themselves and their family, and giving it either to the military or to the wealthy elite who are going to continue to donate money to Republican campaigns. That is all this budget is about.
