Trump’s budget proposal attracts bipartisan dissent

It should come as no surprise that Democrats in Congress are unified in their opposition to the $4.1 trillion budget blueprint fashioned by President Donald Trump. A lot of the federal programs Trump wants to put on the chopping block have long been articles of political faith for the Democratic Party.

But what is surprising about the president’s first budget is the growing opposition to it from Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Consider this comment from Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, to Trump’s proposed reduction in farm subsidies: “We think it’s wrongheaded.”

Conaway is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and he isn’t about to let the new administration fiddle with the farming industry.

“Production agriculture is in the worst slump since the Depression – 50 percent drop in the net income for producers,” he said. “They need a safety net.”

Those two words –“safety net” – are driving the growing opposition to Trump’s budget proposal.

Cuts in benefit programs such as Medicaid, the government insurance plan for the poorest and many disabled Americans; federal employee pensions; welfare benefits; and support for farmers have become rallying cries for a whole host of special interests on Capitol Hill.

And since all politics is local, members of Congress are well aware that the priorities of their constituents take precedence over the priorities of the White House – especially when there’s a congressional election just around the corner.

But beyond the politics of President Trump’s budget, the funding cuts that have been proposed will carry a heavy human toll if they are implemented.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, The Vindicator detailed the fallout on the local and state levels from the administration’s budget.

Take, for example, the $600 billion cut in the Medicaid program over the next 10 years. What it means is that fewer Americans who are either poor or disabled will be covered. The aim of the Trump administration is to force people to go work.

Worthwhile goal

While that is a worthwhile goal, the ramifications of the reduction in Medicaid funding are much deeper than that.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich received national media attention after he expanded the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) so more Ohioans could qualify for benefits. More than 700,000 have been added to the rolls, many of them with mental-health problems.

The governor has described the enrollees as the “most vulnerable” and has pledged to fight any effort to roll back the Medicaid program, either through the Republican repeal of Obamacare, or through the reduction in funding as detailed in the Trump budget.

The danger in fiddling with Medicaid is that two-thirds of the $1 billion the governor has committed annually to the fight against the opioid epidemic comes from the federal government.

Another program with local and statewide ramifications that President Trump wants to gut is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – commonly referred to as food stamps – that now serves 1 million Ohioans.

Then there’s the administration’s plan to slash the Community Development Block Grant program that has been crucial for the revitalization of older cities like Youngstown.

Congressman Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, who wasted little time in criticizing the president’s budget titled “A New Foundation for American Greatness” had it right when he said, “Despite the president’s ability to talk a big game, he once again has moved to gut the very programs and institutions that make America the envy of the world.”

It is fortunate the Republican majority in Congress isn’t willing to roll over for Trump.

Indeed, any deliberations of the budget for the new fiscal year that begins in October must now take place within the context of last week’s report from the Congressional Budget Office on the House’s health-care bill to replace Obamacare.

The CBO scored the American Health Care Act and concluded that 23 million more Americans would be uninsured in 2026 than if Obamacare were to remain in place.