President Trump’s FY2021 budget proposal abandons millions of children and hard-working families across the country that rely on the programs that the White House proposes to cut or underfund.
This budget proposal demonstrates more clearly than ever this administration’s willingness to put children and families in harm’s way in order to fund increased military spending, anti-immigrant policies and tax breaks for wealthy corporations and individuals. Were it to move forward, this budget would be disastrous for the country because it fails to invest in our most precious and valuable resource: our children.
At a moment when the state of America’s children is dire, the cuts proposed in this budget are especially callous and short-sighted. Trump’s budget:
- Slashes a trillion dollars over ten years from Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Affordable Care Act despite nearly half a million children losing their health insurance in 2018
- Cuts funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while 1 in 6 children in America face food insecurity
- Makes deep cuts to the housing voucher program despite 1.4 million homeless children being enrolled in public schools in the 2016-17 school year
- Increases funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold more children and families in custody despite overwhelming research that shows how psychologically and emotionally harmful these conditions are for children
In announcing his budget, President Trump said: “We’re going to have a very good budget with a very powerful military budget, because we have no choice.” Nothing could be further from the truth. America does have a choice when it comes to how we invest our resources. The shameful state of our nation’s children is a direct result of the choices we have made, and that this administration proposes to reinforce in this latest proposal.
America neglects its children at its own peril. The Children’s Defense Fund will continue to fight against destructive budget and policy decisions that harm children and will advocate for investments in proven programs and policies that lift families out of poverty and set children up to thrive.
Earlier this month, the Children’s Defense Fund released the latest update of its landmark report, The State of America’s Children® 2020, which showed detailed data and stories of real children across the country who are disproportionately harmed by our nation’s failure to invest in them and protect their safety and well-being. We urge advocates, policymakers, parents and families, community and faith leaders, educators and others to use this comprehensive tool to make the case for greater investment in programs that help children and to end policies and dismantle broken systems that harm America’s children.