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By Mark Gruenberg
WASHINGTON—Congressional Democrats, progressive groups, and defenders of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid all blasted President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
Two top government worker unions chimed, in, too, slamming Trump for proposing only a 1% raise for calendar 2021, far below inflation and below this year’s 3.1%, which Trump had resisted. Meanwhile, Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten blasted Trump’s plans to slash programs that help kids—and their parents.
Trump’s $4.8 trillion spending plan, including a $1 trillion deficit, proposes an 8% hike, to $780 billion, in spending for the military and cuts just about everywhere else: Food stamps, Social Security ($30 billion drop in disability benefits spending), Medicaid ($700 billion-$1 trillion slashed over 10 years), and Medicare.
One estimate put Trump’s Medicare cut at $478 billion over a decade, while another, from former Democratic White House aide Keith Boykin, topped $850 billion. The Medicaid cuts would both throw people out of the program and cut the payments the federal government makes to states for those who remain....
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