All Week - March 19 to March 24, 2017

Trump's Proposed Budget

Contact The White House, Senators, and House Representatives about the proposed Budget every or any day this week.

Key elements of Trump's slash-and-burn budget:

1.  Seniors: the Budget makes severe cuts in programs which help vulnerable seniors - e.g. NIH research, housing subsidies for seniors, jobs for low-income seniors, etc. More information at Forbes.

2.  Education:   

• the budget cuts the Education Department funding by $9.2 billion which will entail substantial cuts in (among other things) teacher training programs and after-school programs;
• the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is to remain fully funded;
• Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, which offer need-based aid to low-income college students will be eliminated;
• Federal Work-Study will be reduced;
• PELL Grants are to remain fully funded.
• savings are to go towards vouchers and charter schools.

More information at The Atlantic.

3.  The Environment and Public Health: 

• $2.1 billion in cuts to the EPA, including a complete defunding of the Clean Power Plan;
• funding for the EPA's enforcement division cut by over 25%;
• Superfund cut by $330 million;
• $2 billion cut from the Office of Energy Efficiency;
• $498 million cut from the Ag Department's Water and Wastewater loan and grant program;

More information at Wired.

4.  Defense: the proposed Budget gives an additional $54 billion to defense spending. More at CNBC.

5.  Tax Cuts: the Budget proposes to give $144 million over the next ten years in tax cuts to those who earn over $1 million a year. More at The New York Times.