Rep. Bass Statement on Trump’s “Stop Deciding To Be Poor” Budget

“The President’s ‘stop deciding to be poor’ approach to the budget is a fundamental misstep that would permanently cripple the most vulnerable communities in the short run and erode our country’s international leadership in the long run. By proposing vicious cuts, budget director Mick Mulvaney and the rest of the Trump administration are baiting low-income Americans to look the other way as the administration sinks a knife into benefits needed to survive. No one chooses food stamps over a job. No one wants to be poor, but based on recent quotes from the budget director and the presentation of this budget, it seems like the President fundamentally believes otherwise.

“Among the litter of broken promises already dispersed en masse by this tragically inexperienced administration, perhaps most egregious are the violations within the document that was just released. Despite promises to protect Medicaid and other services, the proposed budget slashes $800 billion from Medicaid, $192 billion from nutritional assistance, $272 billion over all from welfare programs, and bars undocumented immigrants from collecting the child and dependent care tax credit all to make room for the president’s devastatingly unnecessary border wall.

“This is the President of the United States turning his back on our nation’s poor and daring them to survive on their own.”