SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Trump's Budget: Feeding One Kid, Starving the Family
Imagine a parent who starves his children and fails to do any number of basic parental duties, but then buys one of his kids a healthy meal.
Well, that's good. Great, really. But it's not enough. An act of goodness directed at one child cannot feed an entire starving family.
That's essentially what Trump has done by donating his first paycheck, $78,333, to the National Park Service.
Apr 12, 2017
Imagine a parent who starves his children and fails to do any number of basic parental duties, but then buys one of his kids a healthy meal.
Well, that's good. Great, really. But it's not enough. An act of goodness directed at one child cannot feed an entire starving family.
That's essentially what Trump has done by donating his first paycheck, $78,333, to the National Park Service.
Don't get me wrong. Our national parks sorely need the money, and I believe this might be the very first thing Trump has ever done that I approve of.
But consider the bigger picture.
The National Park Service is one starving child among many. Trump's paycheck will go to maintain our nation's historic battlefields, and they alone are $229 million behind in overdue maintenance.
In other words, Trump's paycheck covered 0.03 percent of their needs for old battlefields alone. He'll get some praise and a nice tax rebate for his trouble. Meanwhile, his budget proposal advocates cutting some $1.5 billion from the Interior Department, which houses the National Park Service.
His budget metaphorically starves other government agencies too, and quite literally starves homebound seniors who rely on Meals on Wheels, which he wants to eliminate.
Trump's budget slashes funds for nearly every government department except for three: Veteran Affairs, Homeland Security, and Defense.
The Environmental Protection Agency alone loses nearly one-third of its budget if the plan passes Congress. The State, Agriculture, Labor, Justice, Health and Human Services, Commerce, and Education Departments are also big losers.
What will go away if these departments are forced to operate on the limited funds allocated by Trump?
Will the Department of Agriculture reduce food stamps to hungry families? Or will it cut conservation programs? Or agricultural research? Which of those would you eliminate if you had to choose?
And here's the thing: Although the cuts in these departments are large in percentage terms, they're quite small (by government budget terms) in dollars.
The Environmental Protection Agency's 31 percent budget cut only saves $2.6 billion. The largest savings come from cuts to Health and Human Services, with a budget reduction of $12.6 billion.
That may sound enormous, but it pales in comparison to the massive $54 billion Trump wants to add to our military, which already spends over $600 billion a year.
Imagine our nation with one-third less environmental protection. What will those cuts mean? What would you sacrifice? Clean air or clean water? Which pollutants are you willing to live with in the environment?
A memo from the Environmental Protection Agency outlines what the cuts will look like. It's a long list. Say goodbye to the entire program for climate change, programs on indoor air quality, a program on radiation protection, and so on.
Gone with them are jobs. Hundreds of jobs. Didn't Trump say he was going to be "the greatest jobs president"?
In short, when you hear Trump applauded for donating his salary to the Park Service, be happy. He did a good thing. But then put it in context.
He's busy dismantling our government as we know it, and his donation is less than a drop in the bucket to make up for what he's destroying.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Jill Richardson
Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at UW-Madison, where she studies natural resources and the environment.
Imagine a parent who starves his children and fails to do any number of basic parental duties, but then buys one of his kids a healthy meal.
Well, that's good. Great, really. But it's not enough. An act of goodness directed at one child cannot feed an entire starving family.
That's essentially what Trump has done by donating his first paycheck, $78,333, to the National Park Service.
Don't get me wrong. Our national parks sorely need the money, and I believe this might be the very first thing Trump has ever done that I approve of.
But consider the bigger picture.
The National Park Service is one starving child among many. Trump's paycheck will go to maintain our nation's historic battlefields, and they alone are $229 million behind in overdue maintenance.
In other words, Trump's paycheck covered 0.03 percent of their needs for old battlefields alone. He'll get some praise and a nice tax rebate for his trouble. Meanwhile, his budget proposal advocates cutting some $1.5 billion from the Interior Department, which houses the National Park Service.
His budget metaphorically starves other government agencies too, and quite literally starves homebound seniors who rely on Meals on Wheels, which he wants to eliminate.
Trump's budget slashes funds for nearly every government department except for three: Veteran Affairs, Homeland Security, and Defense.
The Environmental Protection Agency alone loses nearly one-third of its budget if the plan passes Congress. The State, Agriculture, Labor, Justice, Health and Human Services, Commerce, and Education Departments are also big losers.
What will go away if these departments are forced to operate on the limited funds allocated by Trump?
Will the Department of Agriculture reduce food stamps to hungry families? Or will it cut conservation programs? Or agricultural research? Which of those would you eliminate if you had to choose?
And here's the thing: Although the cuts in these departments are large in percentage terms, they're quite small (by government budget terms) in dollars.
The Environmental Protection Agency's 31 percent budget cut only saves $2.6 billion. The largest savings come from cuts to Health and Human Services, with a budget reduction of $12.6 billion.
That may sound enormous, but it pales in comparison to the massive $54 billion Trump wants to add to our military, which already spends over $600 billion a year.
Imagine our nation with one-third less environmental protection. What will those cuts mean? What would you sacrifice? Clean air or clean water? Which pollutants are you willing to live with in the environment?
A memo from the Environmental Protection Agency outlines what the cuts will look like. It's a long list. Say goodbye to the entire program for climate change, programs on indoor air quality, a program on radiation protection, and so on.
Gone with them are jobs. Hundreds of jobs. Didn't Trump say he was going to be "the greatest jobs president"?
In short, when you hear Trump applauded for donating his salary to the Park Service, be happy. He did a good thing. But then put it in context.
He's busy dismantling our government as we know it, and his donation is less than a drop in the bucket to make up for what he's destroying.
Jill Richardson
Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at UW-Madison, where she studies natural resources and the environment.
Imagine a parent who starves his children and fails to do any number of basic parental duties, but then buys one of his kids a healthy meal.
Well, that's good. Great, really. But it's not enough. An act of goodness directed at one child cannot feed an entire starving family.
That's essentially what Trump has done by donating his first paycheck, $78,333, to the National Park Service.
Don't get me wrong. Our national parks sorely need the money, and I believe this might be the very first thing Trump has ever done that I approve of.
But consider the bigger picture.
The National Park Service is one starving child among many. Trump's paycheck will go to maintain our nation's historic battlefields, and they alone are $229 million behind in overdue maintenance.
In other words, Trump's paycheck covered 0.03 percent of their needs for old battlefields alone. He'll get some praise and a nice tax rebate for his trouble. Meanwhile, his budget proposal advocates cutting some $1.5 billion from the Interior Department, which houses the National Park Service.
His budget metaphorically starves other government agencies too, and quite literally starves homebound seniors who rely on Meals on Wheels, which he wants to eliminate.
Trump's budget slashes funds for nearly every government department except for three: Veteran Affairs, Homeland Security, and Defense.
The Environmental Protection Agency alone loses nearly one-third of its budget if the plan passes Congress. The State, Agriculture, Labor, Justice, Health and Human Services, Commerce, and Education Departments are also big losers.
What will go away if these departments are forced to operate on the limited funds allocated by Trump?
Will the Department of Agriculture reduce food stamps to hungry families? Or will it cut conservation programs? Or agricultural research? Which of those would you eliminate if you had to choose?
And here's the thing: Although the cuts in these departments are large in percentage terms, they're quite small (by government budget terms) in dollars.
The Environmental Protection Agency's 31 percent budget cut only saves $2.6 billion. The largest savings come from cuts to Health and Human Services, with a budget reduction of $12.6 billion.
That may sound enormous, but it pales in comparison to the massive $54 billion Trump wants to add to our military, which already spends over $600 billion a year.
Imagine our nation with one-third less environmental protection. What will those cuts mean? What would you sacrifice? Clean air or clean water? Which pollutants are you willing to live with in the environment?
A memo from the Environmental Protection Agency outlines what the cuts will look like. It's a long list. Say goodbye to the entire program for climate change, programs on indoor air quality, a program on radiation protection, and so on.
Gone with them are jobs. Hundreds of jobs. Didn't Trump say he was going to be "the greatest jobs president"?
In short, when you hear Trump applauded for donating his salary to the Park Service, be happy. He did a good thing. But then put it in context.
He's busy dismantling our government as we know it, and his donation is less than a drop in the bucket to make up for what he's destroying.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.