3/12/2019

BUDGET/DEMS/HOUSE OF REPS/MEDICARE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “House Democrats on Tuesday [3-12-19] zeroed in on ‘malicious’ proposed cuts to health care and other social programs, reviving their winning midterm message in a first attack on President Donald Trump’s proposed $4.7 trillion fiscal 2020 budget proposal. Cuts by the Trump administration to programs like Medicare and Social Security, student lending and nutritional assistance for low income families drew attention from Democrats at a House Budget Committee hearing on the White House proposal released Monday [3-11-19]…The Trump administration included a 5% boost in defense spending in its third budget, the largest in history — along with request for $8.6 billion to build a wall along the Mexico border. That’s offset with a total of $1.9 trillion in cost savings from mandatory safety net programs, like Medicare, breaking a repeated promise by the President not to cut those services. His budget reduces spending in Medicare, a federal health program for the elderly, by $845 billion over 10 years, from current law. On Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden, who is eyeing a possible 2020 presidential bid, sharply criticized the Trump administration’s plan to cut health care, arguing the proposal hurts middle-class families in order to help pay for a tax cut scripted for the country’s super wealthy.”

Donna Borak and Tami Luhby, “House Democrats zero in on Trump’s proposed Medicare spending cuts,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, March 12, 2019 5:38 pm