High moral stakes of proposed cuts to federal programs
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A new report commissioned by faith leaders outlines the high moral stakes at play as the Trump administration pushes to cut federal programs to pay for extending tax cuts passed in 2017.
Karen Dolan, criminalization of poverty project director at the Institute for Policy Studies and the report's co-author, said the budget resolution recently passed by the U.S. House would eviscerate Medicaid, the single largest source of health coverage in the U.S., by cutting $880 billion.
"The proposal could result in a loss of coverage for 36 million people," Dolan pointed out. "In Colorado alone, there's over a million enrollees in Medicaid."
Republicans have long argued tax cuts boost the economy and allow people to keep more of the money they earn. They also say their budget resolution does not include the word Medicaid a single time. But according to a nonpartisan watchdog group, it would be virtually impossible for the Energy and Commerce Committee to meet its $880 billion without cutting Medicaid.
Extending tax cuts would amount to less than a dollar per day in savings for the bottom half of U.S. families. But the richest one-tenth of a percent of Americans would receive more than $314,000. Corporations promised to use windfalls from tax cuts in 2017 to raise wages, but Dolan noted the bottom 90 percent of workers have seen no benefits at all.
"When corporations get huge windfalls, in the form of tax breaks and tax loopholes, that money does not trickle down to worker's wages or to the economy," Dolan emphasized. "All it does is enrich that corporation."
The report outlined how mass deportations will raise consumer prices and harm immigrant families, including those with U.S. citizen children. The GOP also plans to cut food assistance by $230 billion and increase work requirements. Dolan stressed the majority of people who receive assistance are already working and many who work multiple jobs still need assistance because the minimum wage is so low.
"Ninety-two percent of people who receive Medicaid work either full-time or half-time, or have disabilities, are over age 65, are taking care of children or elderly adults, or are attending school."
