Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called Trump dishonest and his budget immoral as he dropped the stone cold truth on what Donald Trump’s budget would mean for the wealthiest and most vulnerable Americans.
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Sanders explained how the Trump budget helps people like Donald Trump:
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This is a budget which says that if you are the richest family in America, the Walton family, you can get up to a $53 billion tax break through the repeal of the estate tax. $53 billion tax break. But at the same time, it says that if you are a lower income senior citizen you will not be able to get the one nutritious meal a day you now receive through the Meals on Wheels program, or the help you desperately need if you are disabled.
This is a budget that says that if you are the second wealthiest family in America, the Koch brothers family – a family that has contributed many hundreds of millions into the Republican Party – you may get up to a $34 billion tax break. But at the same time, if you are a working class student trying to figure out how you could possibly afford college, your dream of a college education will evaporate because of major cuts to student financial assistance programs.
This is a budget which says that if you are a member of the Trump family you may receive a tax break of up to $4 billion, but if you are a child of a working class family you could well lose the health insurance you currently have through the Children’s Health Insurance program and massive cuts to Medicaid. At a time when we remain the only country on earth not to guarantee health care to all, this budget makes a bad situation worse in terms of health care.
Sanders called out the dishonest rhetoric of Trump, “When Donald Trump campaigned for president, he told the American people that he would be a different type of Republican. That he would take on the political and economic establishment. That he would stand up for working people. That he understood the pain that families all over this country were feeling. Well, sadly, this budget exposes all of that verbiage for what it really was – just cheap and dishonest campaign rhetoric that was meant to get votes. Nothing more than that.”
This budget makes the Republican priorities clear. The Trump budget may not pass in Congress, but many of its ideas are very popular with congressional Republicans. Don’t think that the defeat Trump’s budget will be the end of the assault on programs for poor and the disabled.
In the House, Speaker Paul Ryan has been dreaming up these kinds of budgets for years. The Trump budget may not pass, but something very close to it will.
Sanders and the Democratic leadership are painting the picture of immoral upward redistribution of wealth.
The Trump budget is the first shot in the battle to save programs that benefit millions of Americans, If Democrats are going to take back Congress, they need to educate voters on the reality of the Trump budget and Republican economic ideology.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
