Cuts Will Hurt Kids

St. Paul Pioneer Press | June 12, 2017

To the Editor:

President Trump’s recently released budget proposal slashes programs that millions of Americans rely on for food, housing and health care. The administration justifies these cuts as pushing individuals toward economic self-sufficiency, but children will be hurt the most. Kids make up three-quarters of TANF (welfare) beneficiaries and almost half of those aided by SNAP (food stamps) and Medicaid, which is set to be cut by $1.4 trillion despite Trump’s promises not to touch it. The proposed budget also targets other health, education and disability assistance programs that provide essential services to disadvantaged kids.

Children bear no responsibility for being poor or sick and can’t provide for themselves. Rather than harming them to finance hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the economic elite, as Trump’s budget would, we should invest in our kids to ensure they have the food, housing, health care and education they need to succeed.

Steven Jessen-Howard, Woodbury
Steven is an intern at Every Child Matters and studies politics at the University of Notre Dame.