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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
WEDNESDAYS • May 24, 2017
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INSIDE
Climate science is forefront in Va. - 4 An evangelical ‘crisis of authority’ - 8 Artist’s exhibit in RVA seeks to uplift - 10 Hepatitis B & C on the increase - 13
Richmond & Hampton Roads
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Huge cuts to food stamps part of Trump’s budget proposal FROM WIRE REPORTS
President Donald Trump’s budget would drive millions of people off of food stamps, part of a new wave of spending cut proposals that already are getting panned by lawmakers in both parties on Capitol Hill. Trump’s blueprint for the 2018 budget year includes a wave of cuts to benefit programs such as Medicaid, federal employee pensions, welfare benefits and farm subsidies. Cuts include a whopping $193 billion from food stamps over the coming decade — a cut of more than 25 percent — implemented by cutting back eligibility and imposing additional work requirements, according to talking points circulated by the White House. The program presently serves about 42 million people. The food stamp cuts are several times larger than those attempted by House Republicans a few years back and comprise the bulk of a 10-year, $274 billion proposal that’s labeled as welfare reform. The fleshed-out proposal follows up on an unpopular partial release in March that targeted the budgets of domestic agencies and foreign aid for cuts averaging 10 percent — and made lawmakers in both parties recoil. The new cuts are unpopular as well. “We think it’s wrongheaded,” said Rep. Mike Conaway, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, when asked about looming cuts to farm programs. “Production agriculture
Cuts comes as part of a wider welfare reform initiative worth $274 billion over the next decade. is in the worst slump since the depression — 50 percent drop in the net income for producers. They need this safety net,” said Conaway, R-Texas. Trump’s budget plan promises to balance the federal ledger by the end of a 10-year window, even while exempting Social Security and Medicare retirement benefits from cuts. To achieve balance, the plan
by White House budget director Mick Mulvaney relies on optimistic estimates of economic growth, and the surge in revenues that would result, while abandoning Trump’s promise of a “massive tax cut.” Instead, the Trump tax plan promises an overhaul that would cut tax rates but rely on erasing tax breaks and economic growth to end up as “revenue neutral.” It would
create three tax brackets — 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent — instead of the current seven. Trump is also targeting the Medicaid health program that provides care to the poor and disabled, and nursing home care to millions of older people who could not otherwise afford it.
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