DeGette: President Trump’s Budget Proposal Is Heartless and Short-Sighted

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), Chief Deputy Whip, said President Trump's budget request for Fiscal Year 2018 is heartless and short-sighted, crippling important domestic and international programs to create needless tax breaks for the wealthy.

"The President's heartless budget proposal amply shows his lack of concern for Americans' health, financial struggles and hopes for a better life for their kids," DeGette said. "It punishes the most vulnerable while propping up the wealthy and making preposterous assumptions about the country's economic growth. And it guts funding for diplomacy and development at a time when we should be investing more in our country's leadership in an unstable world – a short-sighted approach that will leave us weaker."

Among President Trump's health-related changes that will harm the middle class and the poor are a $610 billion cut to Medicaid over 10 years, a steep reduction in the Children's Health Insurance Program, and a $6 billion decrease in the budget of the National Institutes of Health. The President's proposal would slash the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency by 31.4 percent and the State Department and related programs by 29 percent. It also eliminates Health and Human Services support for Planned Parenthood and funds for international family planning.

DeGette is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.