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President Trump's 2021 Budget Proposal Seeks More Detention Beds, Cuts To Food Stamps And Medicaid
By
Sophia Chang
Published Feb 10, 2020
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By
Sophia Chang
Published Feb 10, 2020
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President Donald Trump's new proposed $4.8 trillion budget was released Monday afternoon, and as he has done for the past three years, Trump has promised to slash funding for key domestic agencies, many which provide the country's social safety net.
The deficit is projected to surpass a trillion dollars for the first time since 2012, according to news reports, but Trump's new budget "projects that the deficit can be trimmed by $4.6 trillion over a decade and sees a balanced budget possible in 15 years," budget chief Russell Vought told NPR Monday.
The new budget also forecasts the economy growing at three percent -- a projection that exceeds analyses from the Federal Reserve, the Congressional Budget Office and private forecasters. Actual GDP growth in 2019 was 2.3 percent.
Overall, Trump's budget increases military spending by 0.3 percent while cutting non-defense discretionary spending by five percent.
One request that surprised analysts: Trump asked for funding for 60,000 detention beds as part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget, which is 6,000 more beds than his previous budget had asked for. The request may indicate Trump changing his immigration focus from the wall on the border of Mexico to detention instead. But the budget still seeks $2 billion in funding for the border wall, pushing the total cost over $20 billion, with only 100 miles of wall actually built.
The agencies most affected by Trump's scalpel include food stamps and Medicaid (and the Children's Health Insurance Program), with hundreds in billions of dollars in proposed cuts over the next decade.
Trump has also proposed cutting the budgets of the State Department by nearly 21 percent, the Department of Transportation by 13 percent, the Environmental Protection Agency by nearly 27 percent, the Education Department by 8 percent, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 15 percent -- not to mention eliminating federal funding for PBS and NPR altogether.
In the midst of the fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would get a 9 percent budget cut, though Politico points out "billions of dollars to fight infectious diseases would be preserved."
It's unlikely the budget proposal in its current form will get anywhere in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. On Sunday, House Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth, a Democrat, released a statement excoriating Trump for “proposing deep cuts to critical programs that help American families... This destructive and irrational President is giving us a destructive and irrational budget. Just six short months ago, the President signed a bipartisan two-year budget deal into law but now, the President is apparently going back on his word. Instead, he is proposing deep cuts to critical programs that help American families and protect our economic and national security. "
Tagged
immigration and customs enforcement
coronavirus
food stamps
medicaid
budget
trump
detention center
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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