'Taxpayer First' Sounds Greedy

The Trump administration and Republican-led Congress endeavor upon a budget plan called "Taxpayer First." It might as well be called "Me First." The spirit and theme are from the implication that American's can't afford the number of needy people that they now support. It means that the nation must accept impoverishment and that children and low-income families are destined to a sorry life. Too bad for them.

From the perspective of a responsible citizen and government, this approach is unacceptable.

As authored in How to Select an American President by James A. George and James A. Rodger (c) 2017 Archway Publishing, poverty in America should be illegal. The required outcome for government is to ensure that all citizens who are able to work have the basic support to apply themselves and to become sustainable. Those with families and who are unable to support them must have the gap filled by citizen taxpayers. The reason being is that people living in poverty are a greater burden than the cost of assisting them and getting into better shape through personal development. That is the cost of citizens living in a developed nation.

Republicans are dead wrong in whacking assistance and accepting impoverishment.

White House To Release 'Taxpayer First' Budget Plan, With Cuts To Safety Nets
May 22, 20179:01 PM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
Scott Horsley 

The Trump administration says it can balance the federal budget within a decade. Its blueprint calls for significant cuts to social safety net programs and assumes more robust economic growth. 

The administration plans to release what it calls a "Taxpayer First" budget on Tuesday.
"This is, I think, the first time in a long time that an administration has written a budget through the eyes of the people who are actually paying the taxes," White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Monday. 

The plan was crafted with a skeptical eye toward programs that serve the needy. Over a decade, it calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits. 

President Trump's Budget Proposal Calls For Deep Cuts To Education 

"We are no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or the number of people on those programs," Mulvaney said. "We are going to measure compassion and success by the number of people we help get off of those programs to get back in charge of their own lives." 

Critics call the spending blueprint "Robin Hood in reverse." 

"The president is essentially abandoning many people the economy has left behind — a large number of whom voted for him — and is pursuing policies that would make their lives more difficult than they already are," said Robert Greenstein, president of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities." 

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/22/529567550/white-house-to-release-taxpayer-first-budget-plan-with-cuts-to-safety-nets?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20170522&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews

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