President Trump’s budget director Mick Mulvaney on Thursday justified cuts to funding for programs like Meals on Wheels on the grounds that the government can no longer spend money on programs that sound good but are not effective.
“We can’t do that anymore,” the Office of Management and Budget director said at a press briefing at the White House. “We can’t spend money on programs just because they sound good.”
Mulvaney was asked specifically about Meals on Wheels because his budget, released Thursday, would eliminate community development block grants, awarded to local governments around the country by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for different projects, and it was asserted by a journalist that home-delivered meals to vulnerable people would be cut as a result.
Mulvaney asserted that spending on the block grants, totaling $150 billion since 1974, has proven to be ineffective. Ending the program would save $3 billion next fiscal year.
As it happens, Meals on Wheels gets government funding through a different program, administered by the Department of Health and Human Seruvices, that the budget did not single out for elimination, although the department is slated for general spending reductions.
Pressed on the same point with regard to after-school programs and school meals, Mulvaney responded that the programs were not effective and not worth taxing people to fund.
“There’s no demonstrable evidence they’re actually doing that, there’s no demonstrable evidence they’re actually helping results — helping kids do better in school,” he said.
On broader spending reduction proposed for HUD, Mulvaney said that housing for poor people would be protected.
“Nobody’s going to get kicked out of their houses,” he said.
Physical infrastructure, he explained, would be addressed in an infrastructure package coming this year. HUD secretary Ben Carson coordinated with the OMB on moving building funding to that legislation, Mulvaney said.
