Panetta Statement on President Trump's Budget Proposal

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) released the following statement today in response to President Donald Trump's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018, "A New Foundation for American Greatness":

"President Trump's damaging budget proposal would slash government programs critical to families, students, and businesses on the central coast of California.

"It would deny basic living standards for low-income families, seniors, and the disabled through massive cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, SNAP, and Meals on Wheels. It would disproportionately impact our rural communities, slashing funding for critical rural development programs while also failing to support our growers, shippers, and farmworkers who support our local economy. It would cut investments in job training and student loan programs. Millions of families would have a harder time putting food on the table, and thousands of working families would lose the opportunity to become home owners. It would cut environmental research programs and enforcement of clean air and clean water programs, threatening our environment.

"While it is important to have a strong defense and national security budget, it cannot come at the expense of cutting other programs on which Americans depend. I will not support these proposed cuts, and I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject this harmful budget. We must instead work together to advance a responsible budget that helps our constituents and strengthens our communities."

The President's budget slashes trillions of dollars from programs our families and communities depend on every day:

• $610 billion in cuts from Medicaid: in addition to the cuts made in the AHCA that passed the House of Representatives, impacting 283,229 of my constituents
• $9 billion in cuts to the Department of Education: halting investments for Title I, IDEA, as well as other K-12 public school programs that ensure student success
• $90 million in cuts to TRIO, flat-funding CAMP-HEP which help students achieve higher education goals
• Eliminates subsidized student loans and public service loan forgiveness programs that help students afford college
• $63 billion in cuts to federal employee retirement benefits
• $193 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): impacting over 61,000 individuals on the central coast
• Eliminates the $200 million Market Access Program that helps ensure export markets for our wine and strawberry growers and shippers
• Guts USDA's Rural Development programs, particularly eliminating business, housing, and wastewater programs that support rural communities
• Eliminates $30.2 million construction of the Agriculture Research Station in Salinas
• Reduces funds for the National Organic Program: eliminating programs that help producers transition to organic farming
• $26 billion (31.4 percent) cut to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• $129 million in cuts to clean water and clean air enforcement programs: endangering the health of Americans
• 11 percent cut to the Department of Interior: jeopardizing our Nation's public lands by eliminating and reducing conservation programs, endangering lands that are an economic driver for nearby communities
• Eliminates crucial environmental education programs such as the Bay Watershed Education and Training program, NOAA research outreach through our nation's top universities, and coastal resiliency grants
• Decreases funding for estuaries like Elkhorn Slough
• Eliminates Brand USA, the nation's destination marketing organization, which generates jobs that cannot be outsourced and revenue for the Central Coast tourism industry
• $40.4 billion in cuts to the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit: taking money directly out of the pockets of hardworking, low-income Americans through changes to the two successful anti-poverty programs that both encourage work and make it easier to raise a family
• Eliminates the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program: leaving thousands of cities on the hook for housing investments, public transportation improvements, economic development projects, and public services for seniors, youth, the disabled and employment training
• Eliminates the Legal Services Corporation (LSC): denying vulnerable communities including homeless veterans, farmworkers, domestic violence survivors, and seniors access to critically needed legal services
• Rounds down payment rates for veterans who receive disability compensation, resulting in a cut of $12 per year for each veteran
• Terminates Individual Unemployability (IU) upon reaching the minimum retirement age for Social Security purposes for veterans who are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits and receive additional disability compensation benefits through the IU program