By Mark Poloncarz
May 25, 2017
When a government issues a budget it is usually met with yawns from the public, if it is even noticed at all. However, if you ever want to understand what an administration’s priorities are and if it upholds its campaign promises, whether it is on the local, state, or national level, all you have to do is review its first budget proposal.
A budget is much more than spreadsheets on a page; it is a window into the administration’s goals. It symbolizes the administration’s view of the role of government – is it aspirational in nature by investing in the well-being of its people through targeted programs or, as President Ronald Reagan stated, does it view government as being the problem.
The release of President Donald J. Trump’s first proposed budget shows exactly what his priorities are: increasing military spending and reducing taxes on the wealthy paid for by significant cuts in almost every other part of the federal government. It is pretty much what everyone expected but is not what exactly he said on the campaign trail.
As he promised, Trump’s budget increased the Department of Defense’s budget by more than $50 billion, as well as the Departments of Veterans’ Affairs (a most worthy increase) and Homeland Security. It then cut just about everything else.
For example, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposed to be cut by an astonishing thirty-one percent ($8.2 Billion to $5.7 Billion); the Department of Labor is to be cut by nineteen percent ($12.1 Billion to $9.7 Billion); the Education Department is to be slashed by more than fourteen percent (from $68 Billion to $59 Billion); and programs to support refugee resettlement are to be cut by nearly ninety percent ($4.5 Billion to $500million). If you followed the president’s campaign none of this would surprise anyone.
However, based on his campaign promises you would be surprised to know what other programs the president cut: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP” and formerly known as Food Stamps), cutting the eligibility requirements for Social Security Disability eligibility and its corresponding Supplemental Security Income program, Medicaid, and even the Department of Transportation. On the campaign trail the president pledged not to cut Medicaid, Social Security and other important social welfare programs like SNAP. He also promised a huge increase in infrastructure spending, such as building new roads, bridges, train lines, etc.
Yet, when his final budget came out it included the aforementioned cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, SNAP, and a thirteen percent cut in the Department of Transportation (including elimination of the popular TIGER grant program which has been instrumental to restoring cars to Main Street in Buffalo).
You do not create thousands of more jobs for middle-class Americans by cutting funding to the federal department that pays for the projects. There is no magic economic formula to make that work. By cutting transportation funding the president is actually cutting jobs dependent on that funding.
This cut is in some ways more telling on what this administration stands for than others. While many expected cuts to programs that benefit the poor, or are considered more liberal in nature, transportation spending is one of the few spending programs (other than defense spending) promoted by Republicans. It is the type of program “middle America” likes – everyone enjoys driving on a new road, even if they do not like paying for it.
Yet instead of honoring his campaign pledge to increase infrastructure spending President Trump significantly cut it. In effect, President Trump lied to a vast portion of those who voted for him based on the promise of job growth from the increased investment in repairing our infrastructure. This first budget proves for all his campaign rhetoric of investing in the heart of America President Trump’s priorities lie elsewhere.
We knew he was going to cut programs that assist the poor and those most in need, but now he has proved he will not even invest our tax dollars in job growth programs that could benefit many of his own supporters. Instead of investing in the people who voted for him, Trump’s priorities are increasing defense spending and “investing” in the wealthiest Americans who will benefit from a big tax cut if this budget was passed.
It turns out candidate Trump’s promise of investing in middle-class America through the creation of thousands of new construction jobs is as real as the degree offered by Trump University – it is not worth the words on the paper – and President Trump just proved it by issuing this budget.
Mark Poloncarz is the Erie County (NY) Executive and is responsible for preparing an approximately $1.7 Billion annual budget for the county.
Copyright Mark C. Poloncarz 2017