May 23,2017

Wyden: Trump's Budget is an Unprecedented Attack on Workers and Their Families

Cuts to Safety Net Programs Like Medicaid and Social Security Break Trump’s Core Promises to the American People

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued a statement following the release of the administration’s fiscal year 2018 budget.

“This is the budget you write if you think working families have it too easy,” Wyden said. “Trump’s first budget slashes Medicaid by over $600 billion beyond the damage done by Trumpcare, further threatening kids’ health care, seniors’ ability to pay for nursing home care, special education in schools, and other health care like substance misuse treatment. It would throw kids off the Children’s Health Insurance Program and cut state funding for this traditionally bipartisan priority. It cuts over $33 billion from Medicare, contrary to reports that the program remains untouched. And the budget is deafeningly silent on bringing down the cost of prescription drugs, despite the President’s loud and repeated commitments to do so.

“The budget showcases Republicans’ dangerous and damaging strategy to destroy our safety net – to ‘block grant’ or place a cap on critical programs only to cut or eliminate them when they don’t fully deliver on their oversold promises. If Republicans truly thought block grants worked, it is puzzling that they are now proposing to eliminate or cut block grants like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families or the Social Services Block Grant.

“Trump’s budget breaks his promise not to touch Social Security, which at its core is lifeline insurance for Americans who can no longer work, not just in retirement, but also due to a disability.

“If Trump’s administration has its way, workers who have paid into Social Security for years will have to jump through more hoops and receive less support from the benefits they have earned.  The budget penalizes individuals with severe disabilities who want to keep working and subjects Social Security beneficiaries to untested program changes without their consent. It would hurt families struggling to care for children with disabilities and make it harder to care for those children at home.

“Here’s the bottom line: this budget is more than numbers on a ledger – it’s an assault on the fundamental idea that Americans should be there for one another when it counts.”

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