Schakowsky Statement on President Trump's FY18 budget proposal

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky released the following statement after President Donald Trump unveiled his full budget proposal earlier today.

“Today’s proposal is a budget of broken promises, and a cruel betrayal of Donald Trump’s own supporters. This budget would give massive tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy and large corporations while ripping funding away from vital programs that give the rest of Americans a leg up. If enacted, President Trump’s proposals would leave Americans poorer, sicker, less educated, and less able to achieve a decent standard of living. Despite candidate Trump’s promises to leave Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security alone, President Trump’s budget slashes them.

“President Trump’s budget is a clear outline of his Administration’s twisted priorities. Speaker Paul Ryan and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney have used words like compassion and mercy to describe their plots to take away food assistance, health care, and disability insurance from those who need them. Clearly they don’t understand what those words mean.

“This budget fails to invest in the creation of good jobs and slashes critical scientific and medical research. Local governments would be forced to end vital community efforts like Meals on Wheels. Money would be taken away from great neighborhood schools like the ones I attended and handed to private schools. Our air and water would be threatened as well – this budget would end successful clean water efforts like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. In his budget, President Trump gives a helping hand to his old boardroom cronies, and leaves everyone else to fend for themselves.

A few weeks ago, my colleagues in the Progressive Caucus and I provided an alternative budget – The People’s Budget. Where President Trump and the Republicans take health care away, we propose building on the Affordable Care Act with a public option and a solution to the prescription drug cost crisis. We demand that millionaires, billionaires, and multinational corporations pay their fair share so that we can invest in the future of the middle class and those who aspire to be middle class. Ours is not just an alternative budget; it’s a roadmap for the resistance.”