Trump budget plan: End SNAP and deliver boxes of food

[CKwi88]

As Trump ideas go, it's not the worst thing I've ever heard of. I spent a good amount of time in a country that had both food stamps as well as "care packages" of staple foods offered to families in need.

I think that the two ideas complement each other, rather than substitute one another. Nutrition is not a ône-size-fits all^ sort of deal. Giving people the basic needs while still allowing them freedom to choose would be fine by me.

[Benton]

(02-13-2018, 03:04 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, I guess I wouldn't expect for them to utilize a government agency to do this. Instead they will outsource it to Amazon or something.

Amazon? Why, when you've distribution experts in subsidiaries like Quixtar and other Amway companies? Just roll nutrition in with education so we only have to go through one automated corporate system for all your needs.

"Thanks for calling Amway! Our menus recently changed after the 2018 midterm elections. Press 1 for English, or 2 for Spanish."

...


"You pressed 1. Thanks! Now help us help you. Press 1 for [students loans]; Press 2 for [getting a school voucher]; Press 3 for [finding out how much you owe on your current student loan]; Press 4 for [hungry people in need of Amway delivered food service boxes]; Press 5 for [taking part in our Quixtar pyramid scheme]; Press 6 to [pay your local school tax directly to Amway]; Press 7 for [all other offices]."

[Belsnickel]

(02-13-2018, 06:55 PM)Benton Wrote: Amazon? Why, when you've distribution experts in subsidiaries like Quixtar and other Amway companies? Just roll nutrition in with education so we only have to go through one automated corporate system for all your needs.

"Thanks for calling Amway! Our menus recently changed after the 2018 midterm elections. Press 1 for English, or 2 for Spanish."

...


"You pressed 1. Thanks! Now help us help you. Press 1 for [students loans]; Press 2 for [getting a school voucher]; Press 3 for [finding out how much you owe on your current student loan]; Press 4 for [hungry people in need of Amway delivered food service boxes]; Press 5 for [taking part in our Quixtar pyramid scheme]; Press 6 to [pay your local school tax directly to Amway]; Press 7 for [all other offices]."

As someone who has done research work on public-private partnerships like this, I am going to be thinking about this far more than I should for the next few days.

[fredtoast]

And don't forget.....

[fredtoast]

(02-13-2018, 03:04 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, I guess I wouldn't expect for them to utilize a government agency to do this. Instead they will outsource it to Amazon or something.

[GMDino]

Rather than start another thread on all the programs Trump wants to cut funding for I'll leave it here:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/13/trumps-budget-what-he-wants-eliminate-plain-english/331147002/

Quote:President Trump's budget proposal reflects his biggest priorities, putting funding behind initiatives like a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. It also calls to completely eliminate funding for initiatives that are, well, smaller priorities.


Those include after-school programs, public broadcasting and a NASA space telescope. The budget now goes to Congress, where last year even key Republican lawmakers rejected many of the same cuts.

Here's a list of 64 proposed eliminations from the budget's Major Savings and Reforms document, described as "an aggressive set of actions to redefine the proper role" of the federal government.

And it's not all cuts: Here's where the president wants to spend bigly.

Savings noted below are in comparison to 2017 funding, as listed in the document:

Department of Agriculture
Funding for land acquisition by the Forest Service: $56 million 

A program that donates to school feeding programs in foreign countries: $202 million 

Economic opportunity programs for rural America: $103 million

Grants for rural water and wastewater programs: $509 million

Rural single family housing direct loans funding: $68 million

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Department of Commerce
Economic Development Administration, which provides grants to distressed communities: $251 million

Funding for [url=https://www.nist.gov/mep]a program aiding small and mid-sized manufacturers: $125 million

Funding for several National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration programs: $273 million

Department of Education
A program establishing before- and after-school learning centers for academic improvement: $1.19 billion

Grants for improved K-12 literacy instruction: $190 million

Need-based grants to help undergraduates attend college: $733 million

Grants to prepare low-income students for college: $340 million

Payments for the education of connected children: $69 million

Programs to develop experts in foreign languages and international studies: $72 million

Grants to service families in distressed communities: $73 million

Program to help states use and analyze student data: $32 million

Funding to help colleges serve low-income students: $87 million 

A program to support well-rounded education and digital literacy for students: $400 million

A program to increase the quality of teachers and school leaders: $2 billion

Four grant programs to increase effective teaching in K-12 schools: $323 million

Technical assistance programs to improve student achievement: $104 million

Department of Energy
An office that supports energy projects: $305 million

Loan programs to support advanced technologies: $18 million

Project to dispose of surplus U.S. weapons-grade plutonium: $56 million

Department of Health and Human Services
An research agency to improve healthy systems (consolidated): $324 million

Community Services Block Grant that funds approximately 1,000 non–profits, local governments and other organizations: $715 million

Health professions training programs: $451 million

Program to assist low-income families with energy costs: $3.4 billion

Department of Homeland Security
Reimbursement funding for state and local law enforcement at airports: $45 million

Department of Housing and Urban Development
Canceling balances for a program that develops public and assisted housing: $276 million

Funding for the Community Development Block Grant program that supports 1,250 organizations in community and economic development: $3 billion

A program that helps expand the supply of affordable housing for low-income households: $950 million

Funding for grant programs to aid low-income homebuyers who contribute "sweat equity": $54 million

Department of the Interior
Funding for reclamation of abandoned coal mines: $105 million

National Park Service funding infrastructure improvement projects: $20 million

Funding to conserve significant areas outside the National Park System: $20 million

Funding for the National Wildlife Refuge Fund: $13 million

Department of Justice
Reimbursements to local governments for incarcerating "illegal criminal aliens": $210 million

Department of Labor
Program that provides jobs training for low-income Native Americans: $50 million

Program that provides job training and employment to migrant farmworkers: $82 million

Grants for occupational safety and health training programs: $11 million

Program to provide seniors with part-time community service work: $400 million

Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development
Foreign development assistance (with select programs consolidated): $2.8 billion

Appropriations for twoorganizations promoting relations in Asia: $34 million

Global Climate Change Initiative and funding to address climate change: $160 million

Emergency and development food aid: $1.6 billion

Department of Transportation 
Infrastructure funding for projects with localized benefits: $500 million

Department of the Treasury 
Funding for twoprograms developing agriculture in poor countries: $53 million

NASA
Five earth science missions: $133 million

Office of Education: $100 million

Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope: $105 million

Other agencies
A board that investigates chemical facility accidents: $2 million

An agency that funds and promotes service opportunities: $907 million

Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports PBS and NPR: $480 million

Grants to help D.C. residents afford college: $40 million

Institute of Museum and Library Services, which supports museums and libraries across the country: $208 million

Consolidating twoagencies that support development in Latin America and Africa: $44 million

A non-profit that promotes civil legal assistance for low-income people: $367 million

Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, which promotes access to art nationwide: $121 million

Funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which promotes the humanities nationwide: $108 million

Support for a NeighborWorks, a non-profit that funds, manages and trains local housing and community development organizations: $113

Regional development commissions in Alaska, Mississippi and New Hampshire: $41 million

Funding for an agency that supports U.S. companies in foreign infrastructure projects: $63 million

Funding of the Wilson Center, a non-partisan policy forum and research institute: $4 million

[BmorePat87]

(02-13-2018, 09:09 PM)GMDino Wrote: Rather than start another thread on all the programs Trump wants to cut funding for I'll leave it here:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/13/trumps-budget-what-he-wants-eliminate-plain-english/331147002/

Can't afford tax cuts for the wealthy unless you take education programs away from poor kids. 

[StLucieBengal]

(02-13-2018, 09:09 PM)GMDino Wrote: Rather than start another thread on all the programs Trump wants to cut funding for I'll leave it here:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/13/trumps-budget-what-he-wants-eliminate-plain-english/331147002/

I’m good with these cuts. Some tough ones in there but we need cuts a lot of no brainers

[GMDino]

(02-13-2018, 11:16 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: I’m good with these cuts.    Some tough ones in there but we need cuts a lot of no brainers

Absolutely!  Always cut from the smallest programs that help the general public!  Only way to increase the military budget AND the deficit at the same time. 

Rubes.

[BmorePat87]

(02-13-2018, 11:20 PM)GMDino Wrote: Absolutely!  Always cut from the smallest programs that help the general public!  Only way to increase the military budget AND the deficit at the same time. 

Rubes.

We can't afford $200m to teach kids how to read when there's a wall to build that costs $20b. 

[GMDino]

(02-13-2018, 11:25 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: We can't afford $200m to teach kids how to read when there's a wall to build that costs $20b. 

No doubt!

But, to be fair, with less focus on education folks like Trump and his ilk will have more of the "less educated" to fill the positions they are creating with their create anti-immigration movement.

For lower wages of course as the hires are less killed and less educated.

Of course.

[BmorePat87]

(02-13-2018, 11:30 PM)GMDino Wrote: No doubt!

But, to be fair, with less focus on education folks like Trump and his ilk will have more of the "less educated" to fill the positions they are creating with their create anti-immigration movement.

For lower wages of course as the hires are less killed and less educated.

Of course.

I guess that's why we don't want immigrants from places like shit hole Nigeria. Being more educated than the average America is a bad thing when we prioritize walls over the education of children and housing for impoverished Americans.

[Benton]

(02-13-2018, 11:16 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: I’m good with these cuts. Some tough ones in there but we need cuts a lot of no brainers

I’m fine with most of the cuts... but it’s a couple million dollar drop in a billion dollar bucket when we keep military presence overseas.

[*bfine32*]

Remember when this thread was about the revamping of the SNAP program?

As to that: I'm for anything that ensures the funds are used for that which they are intended.

[GMDino]

(02-14-2018, 12:26 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Remember when this thread was about the revamping of the SNAP program?

As to that: I'm for anything that ensures the funds are used for that which they are intended.

That would be a wonderful ideal!

If only your fellow compassionate, pro-life conservatives applied it to their sacred cows like the military budget.  I'd bet we could almost finance all of the programs being cut from the waste in that budget alone.

[BmorePat87]

(02-14-2018, 12:26 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Remember when this thread was about the revamping of the SNAP program?

As to that: I'm for anything that ensures the funds are used for that which they are intended.

Damn it! There's a whole three posts in which GMDino and I were critical of other cuts included in the same budget.

[GMDino]

https://thinkprogress.org/white-house-budget-cut-deficit-da5a74234c51/

Quote:White House tells $7 trillion lie about Trump’s budget proposal
The White House wants you to believe its budget will cut the deficit.


Deputy White House Press Secretary Raj Shah appeared on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning to defend President Trump’s 2019 budget.
“So it’s a great plan, but it also has serious deficit reduction […] It has over $3 trillion dollars in deficit reduction, which is the largest deficit reduction of a budget in terms of a 10-year outlay that we’ve ever seen,” he said. “It lays down a path toward fiscal responsibility, it allows us to keep this booming economy growing, and it funds this president’s priorities that he campaigned on and the American people voted for in support.”

The reality is far less rosy.


Trump’s budget proposes running a $900 billion dollar deficit into 2022, with the hope it would also reduce the deficit by more than $3 trillion dollars over the next decade, eventually bringing it down from 4.4 percent of GDP this year to 1.1 percent by 2028.

The budget will cut spending, specifically in non-defense discretionary spending, which helps fund everything from education programs to food stamps to public broadcast. It doesn’t, however, cut nearly enough to balance the budget within the traditional 10-year budget window. 


The proposal would add $7.2 trillion more to the debt over 10 years. The projections in the budget also envision very robust economic growth, so if the economy cools, the budgetary picture will get even worse.


This is, of course, made even more difficult by the trillion dollar hole left by the Republican tax plan and the half a trillion in increased spending Trump approved when he signed the two-year budget deal last week.


But the problem really isn’t the deficits. Running a deficit is fine, as long as the rich pay their fair share of taxes and social programs remain intact. Neither of which is true under the Trump administration. As HuffPost’s Zach Carter puts it, “Deficits are only scary if they threaten an amorphous crisis of unknowable proportions.”


The problem is running a deficit while Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House. The GOP will likely use large deficits as an excuse to later make further cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and social security to save money. Trump has already promised to make cuts to these programs in his budget.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) also hinted at “entitlement reform” on the Fox Business Network Tuesday morning.
[/url]

Quote:[url=https://twitter.com/FoxBusiness]FOX Business

@FoxBusiness

.@SpeakerRyan: "We have to get our other partners in government to be willing to do the kind of entitlement reform that we're willing to do in the House."
8:30 AM - Feb 13, 2018

Republicans have had their eyes on cutting funding for these programs since before their trillion dollar tax plan was passed last year.


“We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit,” Ryan said in December of 2016. “… Frankly, it’s the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt, so we spend more time on the health care entitlements — because that’s really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking.”

It's a GOP wet dream: Cut taxes, raise spending for their buddies projects then claim it's grandmas' SS and medicare that caused the huge rise in the deficit and go after those.

The rubes that vote for these guys must REALLY be happy now. 

[Belsnickel]

According to Trump's own OMB wesbite tables (which are current with this released budget proposal), deficits will increase through FY2020, then decrease through FY2023 to levels still higher than FY2013-2017. It should be noted that one big reason for the massive jump in FY2009 is not only recession spending, but also because from FY2003-2008 the excess spending on the War in Iraq was not included in the budget process as it was done through supplemental appropriations.