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'Despicable on Every Level': After Massive Gift to Rich, Trump Demands $7 Billion Cut to Child Health Insurance

President Donald Trump, flanked by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and House Speaker Paul Ryan applaud in the Rose Garden of the White House. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

'Despicable on Every Level': After Massive Gift to Rich, Trump Demands $7 Billion Cut to Child Health Insurance

"This proposal is a shameful betrayal of children. This administration and congressional Republicans passed a massive tax giveaway to their donors and big corporations, and now they want vulnerable children to pay for it."

Months after ramming through deficit-exploding tax cuts for billionaires and large corporations, President Donald Trump and the GOP are now looking for programs to slash to make up the difference--and they're starting with children's healthcare.

According to a Washington Post report late Monday, Trump is "sending a plan to Congress that calls for stripping more than $15 billion in previously approved spending," $7 billion of which would come from the broadly popular Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

"Not much surprises me anymore in American politics. But this is despicable on every level," wrote Rep. Barbara Lee in response to Trump's proposed cuts. "But this is despicable on every level."

Described by one Trump administration official as "the biggest rescission request that has ever been sent to Congress," the proposal needs a mere majority in both the House and Senate to pass.

Speaking with the Post on Monday, Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) said the Trump administration has assured Republicans that this package of spending cuts is just the first of many.

As the Post reported, CHIP and is just one over over 30 programs the White House is moving to slash.

"This proposal is a shameful betrayal of children," Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.) wrote in response to reports of Trump's proposal. "This administration and congressional Republicans passed a massive tax giveaway to their donors and big corporations, and now they want vulnerable children to pay for it."

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