President Donald Trump plans to propose $1.7 trillion in cuts to a category of spending that includes major social and entitlement programs for lower-income Americans, as part of an effort to balance the budget within a decade, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The White House will issue a formal budget request Tuesday that includes $274 billion in cuts over 10 years to means-tested anti-poverty programs, including food stamps. The upcoming budget request for fiscal 2018, which include dropping the top individual tax rate to 35 percent, is already attracting criticism from Democrats. Trump’s proposal will also call for $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the health program for the poor. Trump is proposing to cut $193 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, over the next decade. The cuts, which would amount to an approximate 25 percent reduction, would be achieved in part by limiting eligibility for food stamps and by requiring work, according to the document. Spending on the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit would also be reduced by $40 billion, in part by requiring proof that recipients are authorized to work in the U.S. Traditional welfare payments, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, would be cut by $21 billion. The budget is also expected to propose major domestic discretionary spending cuts; an earlier version of the budget called for $54 billion in such cuts next year alone, although Republicans in Congress have already rejected many of them.
