Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday spared almost no analogy in calling President Trump’s budget proposal “comic-book villain bad” that “relies on fantasy to make the numbers work.”
Trump’s budget proposal, released Tuesday, would slash social programs while boosting defense spending. It has been heavily rejected by Democrats, and Republicans have called it “dead on arrival” in Congress.
“The Trump budget takes a sledgehammer to the middle class and the working poor, lavishes tax breaks on the wealthy and imagines all of the deficit problems away with fantasy math,” Schumer said, speaking on the Senate floor. “The Trump budget exists somewhere over the rainbow where the dreams of Mick Mulvaney, Paul Ryan and the Koch brothers really do come true. Of course, these dreams are a nightmare for the average working American.”
He blasted the administration’s proposal to make deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which awards public health grants to fight and prevent disease and infectious outbreaks, as well as planned cuts to Medicaid and rural healthcare. He accused Trump of seeking to cut programs that benefit the working class and middle America in exchange for “more handouts for the rich.”
“And to make all the math work, the Trump budget makes entirely unfounded assumptions about economic growth,” he said.
The budget document projects an economic growth of 3 percent a year, rather than the 1.9 percent that has been projected by the Congressional Budget Office. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called the CBO estimate “pessimistic.”
Schumer predicted during his floor speech that the proposal would be rejected by both houses of Congress. The president’s budget represents the administration’s priorities, but spending decisions are made by Congress.
“The Trump budget, hopefully, will not see the light of day,” he said.
