"DeLauro: Trump’s Budget is a Betrayal of Working Americans and an Assault on the Vulnerable"

 

The following is the most recent release from the office of U.S. Rosa DeLauro: (unedited here)

 

WASHINGTON, DC — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) released the following statement regarding President Trump’s 2018 budget after the Department of Health and Human Services’ budget was posted earlier today. DeLauro is the Senior Democrat on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.

“President Trump’s budget is a betrayal of working Americans and an assault on the vulnerable. Despite campaigning on the promise that he would fight for the American worker and the forgotten men and women of this country, President Trump proposes to recklessly slash critical programs that serve millions of Americans. The programs targeted in President Trump’s budget have a real and measurable impact on people’s lives, yet the Trump Administration feels no need to invest in their future.

“From completely eliminating LIHEAP, Preschool Development Grants, and the Community Services Block Grant, to cruelly cutting Head Start and the Child Care Development Block Grant, the Trump Administration is taking away lifelines for millions of working families. Combined with the Trump Administration’s $193 billion cut to SNAP, President Trump is set on making it harder for working families and the poor to get ahead.

“On health care, President Trump wants to make an unconscionable $7.5 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health and a $1.2 billion cut to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Further, he is proposing to slash nearly $616 billion from Medicaid and CHIP, as well as cut hundreds of millions of dollars from mental health programs. Where are the Trump Administration’s values? These cuts jeopardize the health and well-being of the American people.

“Budgets reflect our values and it is more clear than ever that President Trump only values corporations and the wealthy, not working Americans and the vulnerable. President Trump misled the American people during his campaign and he has now betrayed them with this budget. Congress must reject President Trump’s proposal and put forth a budget that works for America’s most vulnerable, not balance it on their backs.”