(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) today released the following statement regarding President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget request:
“Who wrote this budget--Vladimir Putin or Steve Bannon? It will bring about financial, environmental and medical devastation for millions of Americans and destroy the progress we’ve made over a century. The President’s budget must be defeated so we can focus on the real needs of the country and continue to make progress for the American people.
“The budget request submitted by President Trump today cannot be serious. It is a thinly-veiled plan to deliver hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to the President’s billionaire buddies and the nation's largest corporations while inflicting sweeping harm on working families, seniors, the sick, federal workers, people with medical disabilities, the hungry and homeless, the unemployed, students, this nation, and indeed the future of our democracy.
“Further, President Trump is bizarrely punishing federal workers for their years of public service by eliminating cost-of-living adjustments for current and future federal retirees. This is a savage cut that will erode the security of those people who are serving our federal priorities as scientists, engineers, doctors, park rangers, letter carriers and workers of every type. He is also jeopardizing the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans with a nearly $6 billion proposed cut to the National Institutes of Health, major reductions at the Food and Drug Administration, and the elimination of critical programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which works to control outbreak of deadly diseases. Trump also seeks a freakish 31% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency, which protects our health and our environment, and has proposed totally eliminating the Chesapeake Bay Program, which has done vital work to restore the Bay and protect clean water and marine wildlife.
“President Trump promised to put ‘America First’ on the campaign trail, but he must have meant something else by that because this budget clearly puts Americans last. It brutally slashes funding for Medicaid, which tens of millions of Americans depend on; the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); crucial anti-poverty programs like Meals on Wheels, SNAP, and TANF; Social Security disability insurance benefits and senior work force funding; public education; low-income housing and infrastructure programs; clean energy programs; the Highway Trust Fund; and on and on.
“A budget is an ethical document and this budget tells us of a deranged ethical compass.”
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Congressman Jamie Raskin represents Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, which includes Montgomery, Frederick, and Carroll counties. He is the Vice Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, a Senior Democratic Whip, and Freshman Representative to the House Democratic Steering & Policy Committee. He also serves on the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee and the Committee on House Administration.