President Trump’s budget plan released this morning can only be described as an all-out assault on the wellbeing, financial stability, and educational opportunities of low-income Americans.
This draconian proposal goes after programs that support some of the most marginalized communities in our country, including:
- local anti-poverty programs;
- affordable housing programs and rental assistance;
- the “Meals on Wheels” program providing meals for low-income seniors;
- after-school programs for kids in high-poverty neighborhoods;
- initiatives to weatherize the homes of low-income families;
- a commission supporting economic growth in Appalachia;
- the council managing federal efforts to address homelessness;
- a federal grant supporting students facing the greatest financial hardships.
Apparently the Trump administration believes that we should balance the budget on the backs of those who are already struggling the most in our country. Going after meal programs for seniors or after-school programs for poor kids not only threatens to undermine any progress we have made in expanding educational opportunities and fighting poverty, but it also represents a betrayal of the very people whose interests Trump has been claiming to represent.
Coming from an administration of billionaires who want to line the pockets of their Wall Street friends and who are disconnected from the realities of daily life for most Americans, it isn’t particularly surprising. But that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking.