Leroy N. Soetoro
2017-05-24 18:43:10 UTC
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/us/politics/budget-food-stamps-
poverty.html?ribbon-ad-idx=10&rref=us
WASHINGTON President Trumps spending blueprint seeks to balance the
federal budget through unprecedented cuts to programs for poor and
working-class families, effectively pitting them against older Americans
who would largely escape the budget ax.
In ways large and small, the budget, to be released Tuesday, seeks to
curtail spending on poorer recipients of government largess. The
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known commonly as food stamps,
would be cut by $192 billion over the next decade. Medicaid, the health
program for the poor, would be cut by $800 billion, and Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families, commonly known as welfare, would be cut by
$21 billion.
By requiring Social Security numbers to obtain tax refunds, the White
House would also pare back the earned-income tax credit and child tax
credit wage supplements for the working poor. Mr. Trump also wants to
make large cuts to educational programs aimed at helping often low-income
students secure federal loans or grants, and he would cut access to
disability payments through Social Security.
Taken together, the cuts represent a significant reordering of the social
safety net, away from poor families and toward older Americans, regardless
of income. Medicare would be untouched, and the main function of Social
Security retirement income would flow unimpeded.
In that sense, the plan, which was quickly denounced by several
organizations and congressional Democrats, would align government spending
with the views of senior administration officials like Ben Carson, the
head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Mick
Mulvaney, the White House budget director, who maintain that too much help
to the poor is creating dependency on the government and discouraging
work.
We are no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or
the number of people on those programs, Mr. Mulvaney said Monday. We are
going to measure compassion and success by the number of people we help
get off of those programs and get back in charge of their own lives.
Conservatives cheered the proposals.
The way that the left approaches it is as if any spending level in the
current system that has ever been attained is sacrosanct, and they will
fight to the death to maintain that even if the programs are of pretty
dubious value, said Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the
conservative Heritage Foundation who specializes in welfare and poverty.
If you look at cash, food and housing for families with children, the
total spending is roughly twice what is needed to raise every single child
above the poverty level.
Not since President Ronald Reagans first budget proposal have programs
for the poor been targeted so thoroughly. To critics, it is the opposite
of compassion, especially in light of Mr. Trumps broader plan to cut
taxes for the rich, increase military spending and fund his proposed wall
on the Mexican border.
This is overall an assault on a wide range of ordinary Americans for the
purpose of providing tax cuts to the wealthiest, said Olivia Golden,
executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy, a nonprofit
group focused on low-income Americans. Its both devastating and its, to
me, completely in opposition to our national interests investing in
children and families and workers.
The effect would be broad. About 44 million people received food stamp
benefits in 2016, up from the 28 million people who received such benefits
in 2008, according to federal data. Those numbers have only receded
slightly as the effects of the 2008 recession have faded.
To counter that, Mr. Mulvaney said the president would shift some food
stamp program costs to state governments, which now do not pay any of the
benefits but do pay for half of the cost of administering the program. Mr.
Mulvaney also said the budget would propose a work requirement for food
stamp beneficiaries.
What we have done is not try to remove the social safety net for the
folks who need it, but to try to figure out if there are folks who dont
need it and that need to be back in the work force, he said.
Sharon Parrott, a senior fellow at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities, said shifting the cost to states might end up much like
Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, where some states
greatly reduced the numbers of uninsured while more conservative states
chose not to act. If states are asked to pay for part of the benefits that
people receive, she said, people in states with conservative governments
could go hungry.
The food stamp program has always had as its basic premise that poor
people, particularly poor kids, should not be allowed to go hungry because
of the state they live in, Ms. Parrott said. Realistically, if you shift
costs to states, that is going to come with more flexibility for states,
and that could undermine the basic food assistance safety net for people
across the country.
She also pointed out that as a candidate, Mr. Trump promised not to cut
Social Security, but on Monday he proposed to cut millions from
Supplemental Security Income disability, a program that she described as
central to the Social Security system.
Mr. Mulvaney said the president was keeping his promises.
He said, I promised people on the campaign trail that I would not touch
their retirement and I would not touch Medicare. And we dont do it, Mr.
Mulvaney said of the president. If you ask, 999 people out of 1,000 would
tell you that Social Security disability is not part of Social Security.
Old age retirement that they think of as Social Security.
Able bodied people and people who are not truly disabled need to go
back to work, he said.
In total, Mr. Trumps budget would save $272 billion over the coming
decade through efforts to reform the welfare system. Of that, $40
billion would come from the earned-income tax credit, which benefits low-
and moderate-income workers, and the child tax credit, which can be worth
as much as $1,000 per qualifying child depending upon a persons income.
Too many of those credits are being claimed by immigrants in the country
illegally, Mr. Mulvaney said.
Mr. Trump also proposed deep cuts to educational programs that often
benefit low-income students including Pell grants, subsidized student
loans, and the federal TRIO programs, which provide outreach and services
to first-generation college students and people with disabilities.
Enacting the proposals will be difficult. A budget could squeeze through
Congress on Republican votes only, but changes to entitlement programs
like food stamps will likely take Democratic support. Representative Nancy
Pelosi of California, the House minority leader, called the budget
shortsighted and cruel. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the
Democratic leader, said Mr. Trump has turned his back on the working-
class Americans who helped him win the presidency.
Jim Weill, president of the Food Research & Action Center, an organization
focused on hunger, said the budget plans were much bigger than the Reagan
proposed cuts that Democrats have said for years led to increases in
homelessness and poverty. They basically remove the entire safety net
under tens of million of low-income people, he said.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
poverty.html?ribbon-ad-idx=10&rref=us
WASHINGTON President Trumps spending blueprint seeks to balance the
federal budget through unprecedented cuts to programs for poor and
working-class families, effectively pitting them against older Americans
who would largely escape the budget ax.
In ways large and small, the budget, to be released Tuesday, seeks to
curtail spending on poorer recipients of government largess. The
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known commonly as food stamps,
would be cut by $192 billion over the next decade. Medicaid, the health
program for the poor, would be cut by $800 billion, and Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families, commonly known as welfare, would be cut by
$21 billion.
By requiring Social Security numbers to obtain tax refunds, the White
House would also pare back the earned-income tax credit and child tax
credit wage supplements for the working poor. Mr. Trump also wants to
make large cuts to educational programs aimed at helping often low-income
students secure federal loans or grants, and he would cut access to
disability payments through Social Security.
Taken together, the cuts represent a significant reordering of the social
safety net, away from poor families and toward older Americans, regardless
of income. Medicare would be untouched, and the main function of Social
Security retirement income would flow unimpeded.
In that sense, the plan, which was quickly denounced by several
organizations and congressional Democrats, would align government spending
with the views of senior administration officials like Ben Carson, the
head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Mick
Mulvaney, the White House budget director, who maintain that too much help
to the poor is creating dependency on the government and discouraging
work.
We are no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or
the number of people on those programs, Mr. Mulvaney said Monday. We are
going to measure compassion and success by the number of people we help
get off of those programs and get back in charge of their own lives.
Conservatives cheered the proposals.
The way that the left approaches it is as if any spending level in the
current system that has ever been attained is sacrosanct, and they will
fight to the death to maintain that even if the programs are of pretty
dubious value, said Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the
conservative Heritage Foundation who specializes in welfare and poverty.
If you look at cash, food and housing for families with children, the
total spending is roughly twice what is needed to raise every single child
above the poverty level.
Not since President Ronald Reagans first budget proposal have programs
for the poor been targeted so thoroughly. To critics, it is the opposite
of compassion, especially in light of Mr. Trumps broader plan to cut
taxes for the rich, increase military spending and fund his proposed wall
on the Mexican border.
This is overall an assault on a wide range of ordinary Americans for the
purpose of providing tax cuts to the wealthiest, said Olivia Golden,
executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy, a nonprofit
group focused on low-income Americans. Its both devastating and its, to
me, completely in opposition to our national interests investing in
children and families and workers.
The effect would be broad. About 44 million people received food stamp
benefits in 2016, up from the 28 million people who received such benefits
in 2008, according to federal data. Those numbers have only receded
slightly as the effects of the 2008 recession have faded.
To counter that, Mr. Mulvaney said the president would shift some food
stamp program costs to state governments, which now do not pay any of the
benefits but do pay for half of the cost of administering the program. Mr.
Mulvaney also said the budget would propose a work requirement for food
stamp beneficiaries.
What we have done is not try to remove the social safety net for the
folks who need it, but to try to figure out if there are folks who dont
need it and that need to be back in the work force, he said.
Sharon Parrott, a senior fellow at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities, said shifting the cost to states might end up much like
Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, where some states
greatly reduced the numbers of uninsured while more conservative states
chose not to act. If states are asked to pay for part of the benefits that
people receive, she said, people in states with conservative governments
could go hungry.
The food stamp program has always had as its basic premise that poor
people, particularly poor kids, should not be allowed to go hungry because
of the state they live in, Ms. Parrott said. Realistically, if you shift
costs to states, that is going to come with more flexibility for states,
and that could undermine the basic food assistance safety net for people
across the country.
She also pointed out that as a candidate, Mr. Trump promised not to cut
Social Security, but on Monday he proposed to cut millions from
Supplemental Security Income disability, a program that she described as
central to the Social Security system.
Mr. Mulvaney said the president was keeping his promises.
He said, I promised people on the campaign trail that I would not touch
their retirement and I would not touch Medicare. And we dont do it, Mr.
Mulvaney said of the president. If you ask, 999 people out of 1,000 would
tell you that Social Security disability is not part of Social Security.
Old age retirement that they think of as Social Security.
Able bodied people and people who are not truly disabled need to go
back to work, he said.
In total, Mr. Trumps budget would save $272 billion over the coming
decade through efforts to reform the welfare system. Of that, $40
billion would come from the earned-income tax credit, which benefits low-
and moderate-income workers, and the child tax credit, which can be worth
as much as $1,000 per qualifying child depending upon a persons income.
Too many of those credits are being claimed by immigrants in the country
illegally, Mr. Mulvaney said.
Mr. Trump also proposed deep cuts to educational programs that often
benefit low-income students including Pell grants, subsidized student
loans, and the federal TRIO programs, which provide outreach and services
to first-generation college students and people with disabilities.
Enacting the proposals will be difficult. A budget could squeeze through
Congress on Republican votes only, but changes to entitlement programs
like food stamps will likely take Democratic support. Representative Nancy
Pelosi of California, the House minority leader, called the budget
shortsighted and cruel. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the
Democratic leader, said Mr. Trump has turned his back on the working-
class Americans who helped him win the presidency.
Jim Weill, president of the Food Research & Action Center, an organization
focused on hunger, said the budget plans were much bigger than the Reagan
proposed cuts that Democrats have said for years led to increases in
homelessness and poverty. They basically remove the entire safety net
under tens of million of low-income people, he said.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.