The President's Budget: Winners, Losers, and What's Next

By MB -
From the NY Times http://nyti.ms/2nIUEtp
President Trump's budget plan released this morning shows sharp changes in spending compared to previous federal budgets, including the elimination of many programs for low-income people such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the Legal Services Corporation, and Community Services Block Grants.

Other programs to be eliminated include the Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs AmeriCorps and other community service programs, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,  and more than 50 programs in the EPA. You can read a full list via The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense are all seeing increases in their budgets under the new plan. The full budget blueprint is available here.

So what's next? Congress will begin holding hearings on the President's budget before drafting their own budget resolutions. They may follow the President's recommendations or set their own. Once the House and Senate come together on a budget (which is supposed to happen by April 15 but rarely has in recent years), Congress will introduce and pass appropriations bills based on their targets. (For a more nuanced description of how this works, take a look at The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities Introduction to the Federal Budget Process.

As the budget makes its way through Congress, we will continue to update you on ways to weigh in. For now, you can call your Congresspeople to share your initial thoughts on the legislation (in fact, you might want to go ahead and save their phone numbers in your phone to make future calls easier). Visit http://whoismyrepresentative.com/ to find contact information for your Representative and Senators, and give them a call today.

If you want to learn more, the Coalition on Human Needs will hold a webinar on Tuesday specifically around cuts to human needs programs. You can register here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overlooked and Undercounted: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in Pennsylvania

By -
Image
Census data tells us that 13% of Pennsylvania households live in poverty. In reality, even more households don’t have the income they need to reach self-sufficiency. One in four Pennsylvania households – over 846,000 – lack enough income to cover just the necessities. Since 1997, PathWays PA has worked with Dr. Diana Pearce and the University of Washington to calculate  The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Pennsylvania . Over the last 23 years,  The Self-Sufficiency Standard of Pennsylvania  has documented the continuing increase in the real cost of living, illuminating the economic crunch experienced by so many families today. Since 2010, PathWays PA and the University of Washington have also issued three versions of the  Overlooked and Undercounted  report, which looks at the number of households living above and below self-sufficiency. You can now use the interactive materials below to find out what it takes to be self-sufficient in your county. Click ...
Read more

Mini-Budget Update-Supporting the American Community Survey

By MB -
Image
(via The Census Project ) Next Tuesday, June 19 is an important date to mark on your calendar. The Congressional Joint Economic Committee is holding a public hearing on the economic impact of eliminating the American Community Survey (ACS) at 2:30 p.m., in Room 210 of the Canon House Office Building. Witnesses that will be speaking in opposition to the move to eliminate the ACS are Vincent Barabba, former director of the Census Bureau in two GOP administrations and Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Association of General Contractors and also representing the National Association of Business Economists. It is very important that we pack the congressional hearing room! If you cannot come, please urge your colleages to come. If you represent a non-DC organization contact your friends in Washington and urge them to attend. Also on Tuesday of next week some of our congressional supporters will be holding a noon press conference in the so-called House Triangle right outside the Cap...
Read more

Overlooked and Undercounted in the Media (#media)

By MB -
Image
Below are all of the places we've seen Overlooked and Undercounted in the month of May! If you know of anywhere else, please let us know! You can also listen to the audio from our May 11 Conference Call on our website . May 21, 2009 - New Report Says 1 in 5 PA Families Live in Poverty May 21, 2009 - LTE: Clarifying ‘Overlooked And Undercounted’ Study May 19, 2009 - Caught in a trap: State and federal governments must help working poor May 16, 2009 - Study: Local poverty estimates too conservative May 15, 2009 - Study: Pa. Families Above Poverty Level, But Still Struggling May 12, 2009 - Study: 1 in 5 PA Families Struggling to Make Ends Meet May 12, 2009 - Report: Many PA families struggling May 12, 2009 - PathWays PA Releases New Report on Self-Sufficiency Standard May 12, 2009 - Poverty worse in PA than reported: study May 11, 2009 - 1 in 5 PA Households Can't Make Ends Meet May 11, 2009 - Study: 1 in 5 PA residents can't make ends meet May 11, 2009 - 1 in...
Read more