President Trump’s proposed budget is an attack on working class people
Statement of Alderman Michael J. Murphy March 16, 2017
Donald Trump. Photo from whitehouse.gov.
I am shocked at the short-sighted and mean-spirited federal budget proposed this week by President Donald Trump. In its attempt to pander to the most extreme wing of the Republican Party, what this budget proposes could hamstring economic development here in Milwaukee and have very serious consequences for low income and working class people nationwide who are just trying to get by.
The draconian cuts included in this budget include the complete elimination of many programs that reasonable people can agree serve vital purposes in our society. While it’s difficult to discern which will be the most detrimental, there are several that would hurt us a great deal here in Milwaukee that I would like to highlight:
- The Community Development Block Grant program, in this morning’s USA Today, is called the “bread-and-butter funding source for local communities,” and that is no understatement. CDB grants provide millions of dollars to the City of Milwaukee each year to help fund vital city services, urban revitalization, employment initiatives, community-based organizations and many more important programs. The loss of these support services would be devastating to our most vulnerable residents.
- The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps the elderly and the poor pay their heating and power bills when times get tough. This program has served as a literal lifeline for Wisconsinites struggling to survive our cold, unforgiving winters, and its proposed elimination is simply callous and unnecessary.
- The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program has provided Milwaukee with an important tool to help modernize our city’s infrastructure while creating jobs for our residents. These grants have helped us turn around Milwaukee’s economic fortunes, and it seems President Trump is targeting them just because they’re part of President Obama’s legacy.
- The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and dozens of other programs that President Trump is proposing to eliminate under the Environmental Protection Agency are important, not only because of the jobs they provide Milwaukee as a freshwater sciences hub. But this agency and these programs are needed to preserve the quality of water and air necessary for future generations to thrive.
- The National Endowment for the Arts has been a particular benefit to us in Milwaukee through its support of the MKE Plays program, which is building new playgrounds for children in underserved neighborhoods throughout the city.
I hope that, for the good of Milwaukee and especially for its most vulnerable residents, Congressional leaders will see the folly of these proposed cuts and cooler heads will prevail.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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Mike before you throw a stone at Trump maybe you should look in your own play area. You and Barrett keep promising your own working class employees at the city a pension that will generate Bernie Maddoff type returns each year. At least Trump is trying to preserve Medicare and Social Security. You just keep lying to your own workers and the Milwaukee tax payer.
That’s some nice spin Jason, but it’s a disingenuous deflection. Trump’s budget and healthcare plan hurt the poor people he pledged to help. They bow to the special interests he pledged to reject. Those people should be experiencing some serious buyer’s remorse right about now. The rest of us are saying I told you so.
Vince, imagine yourself in a pension fund that assumed 7-8% percent each year. Very few government pensions assume that each year. Bernie Maddoff guaranteed that to his client. Mr. Murphy is doing that as well.
Jason (post 1):
Trump doesn’t seem to be preserving Medicare. His AHCA (“Trumpcare”) cuts Medicare taxes (but only for people making at least $200,000 in wages and salary).
Specifically, Trumpcare removes the second (top) bracket from the Medicare tax. Right now, all wages above $200,000/$250,000 (single/married) pay a Medicare tax of 2.35%. AHCA cuts that to 1.45%. (Medicare taxes for everybody else—those making less than $200k/$250k remain at 1.45%—this tax break is ONLY for the wealthy).
CBO estimates that this fat-cat tax cut siphons $117 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years—about $2,000 per Medicare recipient.
It’s hard to see how Medicare can withstand a reduction this big without benefit cuts.
What about Trump Jason, you know, the actual subject of this piece? He ran on screwing poor white people and those living in rural America right? Cause that’s what this budget does.