Democrats Widely Panned The Proposal Which They Said Would Hurt Low
The White House on Monday proposed a $4.8 trillion election-year budget that would slash major domestic and safety-net programs, setting up a stark contrast with President Trumps rivals as voting gets underway in the Democratic presidential primary.
The budget would pursue hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid and also seek reductions in the Childrens Health Insurance Program, while wringing some savings from Medicare despite Trumps repeated promises to safeguard the program for older Americans.
The budget is a proposal to Congress, and lawmakers have mostly rejected the White Houses proposed cuts in the past. Still, the budget plan sets up the Trump administrations policy priorities heading into the November election and is likely to draw scrutiny in Washington and on the campaign trail. Trump has in the past not shown much interest in pursuing the budget cuts his aides have offered, and he didnt make any public comments about the plan Monday.
Instead, one of his top advisers defended the proposed cuts, even as Democratic presidential candidates blasted the reductions.
The plan would target the Education Department for a nearly 8 percent cut and the Interior Department would be cut 13.4 percent. The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development would be cut by 22 percent.
Tracy Jan contributed to this report.
Did Trump Try To Cut The Cdc’s Budget As Democrats Claim: Analysis
The allegations come amid the emergency over the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Bipartisan concern grows over federal response to coronavirus outbreak
President Donald Trump is taking heat from Democrats for proposing budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid growing fears about a new coronavirus outbreak in the United States, but administration officials say CDC funding has steadily increased since Trump took office.
An ABC News analysis of the presidents budget proposals compared to the congressionally approved spending plans ultimately enacted show both claims are true.
The president introduced his fiscal year 2021 budget proposal on Feb. 10, just 11 days after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concerns. The spending plan included a 16 percent reduction in CDC funding from the 2020 spending levels.
In fact, all of Trumps budget proposals have called for cuts to CDC funding, but Congress has intervened each time by passing spending bills with year-over-year increases for the CDC that Trump then signed into law.
During the Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina Tuesday, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg accused the president of defunding the CDC, claiming the result is that we dont have the organization that we need.
A Clear And Present Danger
There is no wall high enough to keep virulent pathogens from crossing national borders, and when they emerge there is a potential for widespread illness and death. Containing the first major Ebola epidemic in 2014-2016, which killed 11,000 people in West Africa, required an enormous global effort. Only 11 patients were treated for Ebola in the U.S., but that was because President Obama took the threat seriously, appointing an âEbola czarâ to coordinate U.S. preparedness and assistance.
Now that the White House has evicted the NSCâs global health security experts, it is not clear who in the Trump administration will be responsible for coordinating U.S. efforts in the event of a global pandemic.
The new coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, has already spread to 25 countries. The CDC has confirmed that person-to-person transmission has occurred in the U.S. It will take a large-scale effort to contain this outbreak, and battling the virus requires money.
Although the Gates Foundation and other charities give away billions of dollars to promote public health, such gifts are no substitute for the kind of specific, targeted scientific research into emerging diseases that the CDC and other federal agencies are uniquely designed to conduct. Fighting epidemics also requires planning to prepare and coordinate with hospitals, medical professionals, pharmacies, airlines, local government and the general public, which also requires funding.
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The White House Proposed To Cut Cdcs Overall Spending By 9% In The Next Fiscal Year
WASHINGTON U.S. House lawmakers resoundingly rebuffed a Trump administration request to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid the coronavirus crisis.
The CDC director testified Tuesday before the House Appropriations Committee, where Republicans and Democrats alike said Congress wont comply with the budget cuts requested in Trumps fiscal year 2021 spending plan. The White House proposed to cut CDCs overall spending by 9% in the next fiscal year.
This subcommittee will not be pursuing the administrations proposed cuts. To cut from our public health infrastructure during an outbreak is beyond consideration, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro , the chairwoman of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the CDCs budget.
Instead, Congress will aim to funnel more money into the CDC and the nations public health system, she added. We will not lurch from crisis to crisis and lapse into complacency in between. We cannot. This coronavirus outbreak makes that clear.
Rep. Tom Cole , the top Republican on the subcommittee, agreed. Im quite sure that we wont be cutting the CDC anytime soon. I suspect quite the opposite, Cole told the CDC director.
CDC Director Robert Redfield defended the administrations budget request on Capitol Hill at the Tuesday hearing, saying that smart investments in CDCs core capabilities and facilities enable us to protect U.S. citizens from a host of domestic and international health threats.
Did Trump Leave America Unprepared For The Coronavirus
As coronavirus continues to spread, the Trump administration has declared a public health emergency and imposed quarantines and travel restrictions. However, over the past three years the administration has weakened the offices in charge of preparing for and preventing this kind of outbreak.
As coronavirus continues to spread, the Trump administration has and imposed quarantines and travel restrictions. However, over the past three years the administration has weakened the offices in charge of preparing for and preventing this kind of outbreak.
Two years ago, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates warned that the world should be preparing for a pandemic in the same serious way it prepares for war. Gates, whose foundation has invested heavily in global health, suggested staging simulations, war games and preparedness exercises to simulate how diseases could spread and to identify the best response.
The Trump administration has done exactly the opposite: It has slashed funding for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its infectious disease research. For fiscal year 2020, Trump proposed cutting the CDC budget by US$1.3 billion, nearly 20% below the 2019 level.
Cutting funds and staff
Congress reinstated most of this funding, with bipartisan support. But the overall level of appropriations for relevant CDC programs is still 10% below what the U.S. spent in 2016, adjusting for inflation.
A clear and present danger
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Massive Cuts To Science And Medicine In Trump Budget
The budget proposed by United States President Donald Trump calls for massive cuts to spending on medical and scientific research, public health and disease-prevention programs, and health insurance for low-income Americans and their children. It has drawn intense criticism from many corners, including scientists, physicians and politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties. The only good thing about this horror of a budget, according to one pundit, is that it will likely get eviscerated in Congress.
Under the proposed budget, formally delivered to Congress yesterday, the National Institutes of Health would see its annual budget shrink 18% from $31.8 billion to $26 billion. This includes cuts to the National Cancer Institute , National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute , and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would lose 17% of its budget, a cut of $1.2 billion. This news prompted former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden to and rebuke this assault on science that will devastate programs that protect Americans from many deadly conditions, including diabetes, heart attacks and strokes. He noted that the cuts would give the CDC its lowest budget in 20 years and lead to an increase in illness and deaths.
Deep cuts to science and medicine in Trump budget draw intense criticism.
The Acting Director Of The Omb Seemed Unperturbed When Asked About If It Was Wise To Cut The Cdc During A Pandemic
By Matthew Rozsa
Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought presses the button that starts the machine that will print copies of US President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the U.S. Government for the 2021 Fiscal Year are printed at the Government Publishing Office ahead of its release next week on February 6, 2020 in Washington, DC. Once released, the budget will be debated in Congress before it becomes official.
President Donald Trump’s budget director stood by proposed budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention despite the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus.
Russ Vought, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., during a congressional hearing on Tuesday that the administration does not plan on amending its 2021 budget. That budget proposes reducing Health and Human Services funding by $9.5 billion, in the process cutting $1.2 billion from the CDC’s budget and eliminating $35 million from the Infection Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund.
Vought initially responded to Cartwright’s question by pointing to the $8.3 billion emergency supplemental package passed by Congress last week. That money would be spread out over many years, however, and had to be increased by Congress from the $2.5 billion initially required by the White House. It also does not impact the CDC’s long term spending priorities.
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Trump Budget Chief Holds Firm On Cdc Cuts Amid Virus Outbreak
Russ Vought, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, on Tuesday doubled down on proposed cuts to health services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , despite the coronavirus outbreak.
Vought came under intense questioning from Rep. Matt CartwrightDonald TrumpGraham opposes short-term debt hike, warns against being ‘held hostage’ to filibuster44 percent of Republicans want Trump to run again in 2024: surveyMOREs 2021 budget request. It proposed cutting Health and Human Services funding by $9.5 billion, including a 15 percent cut of $1.2 billion to the CDC and a $35 million decrease to the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund’s annual contribution.
The question I have is, are we prepared to fight pandemics if we cut from programs that are specifically designed to prepare for them, including the coronavirus? Cartwright asked.
Vought responded by saying Trump signed into law the $8.3 billion emergency supplemental package Congress approved last week.
That funding, a significant increase over the $2.5 billion emergency request the White House sent over, would be spread out over several years. The funding in question at the hearing was for next year’s spending. Cartwright pressed Vought as to whether he would amend the request.
Vought confirmed that the administration was sticking to its request.
If youre asking if Im sending up a budget amendment, no, Im not sending up a budget amendment, he said.
Overall Funding Has Increased Every Year
Hillary Clinton appeared on CNNs Fareed Zakaria GPS Sunday and claimed that President Donald Trump had cut funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Centers for Disease Control had been given the responsibility under the Obama administration to be vigilant and try to get ahead of where viruses like this were formulating, especially if they were animal-to-people transmission viruses, so there was a lot that was done under the Obama administration, said Clinton.
The Trump administration severely cut back the CDC budget, cut back on this program of overseas vigilance, but I don’t think it’s a time to point fingers whether it’s from the past or from the present.
Hillary Clinton is hardly the first person to make this claim. Other Democratic politicians, including the partys frontrunner for presidential nominee Joe Biden, have made the same assertion. Michael Bloomberg accused Trump of slash funding of the CDC and other essential health agencies, Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted that The Trump Administration has slashed CDC funding, and Sen. Brian Schatz claimed Trump cut CDC by 9 percent.
However, while Trump has attempted to cut funding to the CDC, overall funding to the agency has increased under the Trump administration.
If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at . If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email
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See Cuts To Prevention And Public Health Fund Puts Cdc Programs At Risk
Other science agencies, such the Food and Drug Administration and NASA, would see a growth in funds. The budget would give the FDA $3.3 billion, approximately $460 million more than it received in 2017, and NASA $19.9 billion, or a 1.3 percent increase. The proposal also allocates funds to fighting the opioid crisis, The New York Times reports: The Drug Enforcement Agency would receive an extra $41 million for this purpose and another $43 million would go toward fighting the opioid epidemic in schools.
Whether the proposal will pass through Congress remains to be seen. According to The New York Times, The blueprint is largely a political statement and is unlikely to influence lawmakers, who control the federal pursestrings.
Six Of The Worst Cuts In Trumps Budget
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a former Marine Corps general, said recently, America has two fundamental powers, the power of intimidation and the power of inspiration.
We couldnt agree more. Weve spent our entire careers on the hard power side of the ledger. Yet we know that U.S. humanitarian assistance, the keystone of the U.S. power of inspiration, is critical to U.S. national security. Americans understand that the U.S. military acts as a deterrent to those who would otherwise do us harm, but they should also understand that the United States extraordinary history of alleviating suffering and fighting extreme poverty around the globe is a major asset in securing our nation.
Yet the Trump administration has inexplicably proposed a package of extreme budget and staffing cuts to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development that would lay waste to many humanitarian and development programs. The administrations budget proposal would cut overall development funding in half, slash international disaster assistance by 43 percent and completely eliminate the leading U.S. food-aid program.
Make no mistake, these deep cuts are not about making programs more effective or rooting out inefficiencies. These actions are not actions of reform. They are a wrecking ball. Congress must soundly reject this proposal.
Michael G. Mullen
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2007 to 2011
Michèle Flournoy
Tom Frieden
Emily Fishman
Henry Cisneros
Terri Ludwig
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