President Donald Trump wants Congress to cut spending by 3.6-trillion dollars over the next decade.
As written in the president’s first budget proposal, the drastic drop in spending would come from deep cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, children’s health insurance and student loan programs. Medicare and Social Security remain relatively untouched in the plan, and there’s new spending, too, including increases in military and border security budgets, and incentives to improve the nation’s ailing infrastructure.
The plan isn’t getting a warm reception in Congress or among many economists. They say it anticipates a level of economic growth that’s being called unrealistically optimistic, and many of the cuts it calls for are politically unpalatable for many representatives.
As the budget debate begins, we look at who might benefit and who stands to suffer.
GUESTS
Rep. Barbara Lee, Democratic congresswoman representing a district that consists of the northern portion of Alameda County, which includes Oakland and Berkeley; member of the House
Budget Committee and Appropriations Committee; former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and former co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum; chief economist and director (2003-2006), Congressional Budget Office
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, White House reporter, The New York Times
Carmel Martin, Executive vice president for policy, Center for American Progress; former assistant secretary at the Department of Education during the Obama administration; former general counsel and deputy staff director for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
For more, visit http://the1a.org.
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