Third Way Statement on President Trump’s “Skinny” Budget Blueprint
WASHINGTON—Third Way issued the following statement from Matt Bennett, Senior Vice President for Public Affairs:
"Forget making America great; this budget says one thing: “Make America Second-Rate Again.” This budget keeps one promise the President made—to build a senseless wall—and it breaks almost all of the others.
"This budget hurts the people who can least afford it, by cutting things like Meals on Wheels. It hurts communities struggling to create jobs, by eliminating the Economic Development Administration and Community Development Financial Institutions. It hurts kids trying to get the college degrees they will need to succeed by slashing financial aid programs like Federal Work Study and raiding $3.9 billion from Pell Grant funds. It hurts the sick by cutting National Institutes of Health by almost $6 billion and eliminating training programs for nurses. It hurts our ability to fight pollution. And it hurts our economy, our national security, and our climate leadership by cutting funding to critical technologies like advanced nuclear energy and carbon capture.
"While gutting programs necessary for the country to thrive and families to have a shot at a middle class life, the President’s budget also pumps up security in the wrong places. Instead of empowering local first-responders, it spends $4 billion on a wall when even the Secretary of Homeland Security said “a physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job." It also prioritizes preparation for yet another ground war in the Middle East that Americans don’t support, and it does so by cutting institutions and diplomats who can help avert war in the first place and programs to stop global threats that could come to America’s shores.
"This budget won’t drain any swamps. But it would drain our ability to keep our country safe, prosperous, and clean."