Pelosi: I don’t see how Trump’s budget will ‘survive the light of day’

Pelosi told reporters during her weekly news conference that she cannot see how the budget will “survive the light of day” and ran through a cavalcade of cuts to various departments and agencies, including the National Institute of Health (NIH), the State Department and toward education, specifically through cuts to Pell Grants. She also reiterated her earlier claim that the budget “does not value the future of our children.”

“Remember this — nothing brings more money to the treasury than investment in education. So when the Republicans say, ‘we need to reduce the deficit and so therefore we must cut education,’ that is a stupid economy,” Pelosi said of the education cuts.

“I can’t see how this budget can survive the light of day,” Pelosi said, pointing again to the NIH, which would have nearly 20 percent of its funding cut under the Trump budget. “I say there’s a moral responsibility when we see scientific opportunity to honor the biblical power to cure that the National Institute of Health has, we have a moral responsibility to honor it. In this case, we’re not only adding, but subtracting 1/5 of the budget.”

Overall, the budget, which was released Thursday morning, $54 billion from federal agencies to fund defense spending. The Pentagon is slated to see a 10 percent increase in funding — $52.3 billion, while the Department of Veterans Affairs would see a 5.9 percent uptick in funding ($4.4 billion). Pelosi said that she hopes her Republican colleagues in the House and Senate shoot Trump’s budget down.

“I don’t know how that can be justified by anyone. I think they should ask every Republican, ‘do you agree with this?'” Pelosi said. “You have to talk to them about what this means to them. While it may be a statement of President Trump’s values, I hope it’s not the statement of our colleagues’ values.”