22 May 2017 — 0606 mdt
President Trump taking budget axe to means tested programs
A fine, sunny, spring day in the Flathead — with chilling news out of Washington, D.C. According to the Washington Post, President Trump’s budget, scheduled for release tomorrow, calls for huge cuts in means tested anti-poverty programs. Social Security and Medicare are, for the moment, mostly being spared. I’ll explain why below.
Medicaid, which provides health insurance for millions, would be cut $800 billion over the next decade, kicking as many as 10 million people out of the program.
The nation’s primary anti-hunger program also is in the administration’s crosshairs:
The White House also is expected to propose changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, though precise details couldn’t be learned. SNAP is the modern version of food stamps, and it swelled following the financial crisis as the Obama administration eased policies to make it easier for people to qualify for benefits. As the economy has improved, enrollment in the program hasn’t changed as much as many had forecast.
An average of 44 million people received SNAP benefits in 2016, down from a peak of 47 million in 2013. Just 28 million people received the benefits in 2008.
And Trump, Pence, Ryan, and the Republican zealots who want to cut taxes on the wealthy are taking aim at more than food stamps and Medicaid:
The proposed changes to Medicaid and SNAP will be just some of several anti-poverty programs that the White House will look to change. In March, the White House signaled that it wanted to eliminate money for a range of other programs that are funded each year by Congress. This included federal funding for Habitat for Humanity, subsidized school lunches and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates the federal response to homelessness across 19 federal agencies.
Social Security and Medicare mostly are being spared — for now:
Trump has instructed his budget director, former South Carolina congressman Mick Mulvaney, that he does not want cuts to Medicare and Social Security’s retirement program in this budget, Mulvaney recently said, but the plan may call for changes to Social Security Disability Insurance, seeking ideas for ways to move people who are able out of this program and back into the workforce.
Earned benefits vs. means tested benefits
Social Security and Medicare, financed by a working lifetime of paying Social Security taxes, are hugely popular among Trump’s supporters because the programs are earned benefits. Medicaid and other means tested programs, however, are considered handouts that transfer wealth from hard working, church going, middle class Americans to feckless inner city neerdowells who deal drugs and lack the character and self-discipline to hold down a job and take personal responsibility for their lives. The Affordable Care Act is a means tested program, and that’s one reason it’s not popular with everyone.