Photo Courtesy of the White House
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand characterized President Trump’s first budget proposal as “irresponsible.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
A chorus of elected Empire State officials has been loudly lambasting President Donald Trump’s preliminary 2018 budget proposal since the borough native released it last Thursday.
“The President’s budget is irresponsible and will short-change middle class New Yorkers, seniors, and students alike while doing harm to a fragile economy,” said U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). “I will do everything I can to fight these harmful cuts and protect funding that helps build our roads and bridges, supports our students and seniors, and makes smart investments to help grow the New York economy.”
In Trump’s plan, “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,” the Commander-in-Chief takes a scythe to nearly every government agency’s budget – severing a total of $54 billion in order to offset a massive augmentation in Defense spending.
“In these dangerous times, this public safety and national security Budget Blueprint is a message to the world—a message of American strength, security, and resolve,” Trump said. “This Budget Blueprint follows through on my promise to focus on keeping Americans safe, keeping terrorists out of our country, and putting violent offenders behind bars.”
The president insisted that the significant cuts across the board are necessary, characterizing them as “sensible and rational.”
“We are going to do more with less, and make the government lean and accountable to the people,” Trump added. “This includes deep cuts to foreign aid. It is time to prioritize the security and well-being of Americans, and to ask the rest of the world to step up and pay its fair share.”
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) said “there is absolutely no way” she can support Trump’s request as it stands.
“His budget claims to put “America First,” but I fail to see how slashing funding by $54 billion for our most vulnerable citizens is patriotic,” Meng said. “The budget calls for a complete elimination of essential programs such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps low-income families, particularly those with children or senior citizens in the home, with energy costs during cold winter and hot summer months. This program provides critical heating and cooling support to over 1 million New York households. Other programs will have their funding restricted, such as the Meals on Wheels program, which provides food to impoverished older and disabled Americans who can’t leave their homes.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer ripped the president’s plan for making “dramatic and ill-advised” reductions in federal funding that supports NYC anti-terrorism programs.
“Cuts like the ones proposed by the Trump budget would not only weaken the security apparatus of this city, but they could turn a weak link into something far more serious,” Schumer said.
“Every single American would be negatively impacted in some way by this budget,” Meng added, “whether it be through the elimination of community development programs that assist at-risk communities both rural and urban; deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health, which conducts research to find cures for devastating diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease; continued exposure to toxic waste due to slashed funding for the Environmental Protection Agency that cleans up these waste sites; or the termination of before- and after-school programs, particularly in high poverty areas.
“My constituents deserve better than this budget. America deserves better than this budget,” she continued. “And I will not stop until I see something workable on the table.”
