“There’s this assumption in Washington, Jonathan, that if you get less money, it’s a cut.” — Sean Spicer
From some very eloquent writers:
Trump budget targets programs that help people get jobs, by Jennifer Golan, Reveal (Center for Investigative Reporting)
Key Quote: “I am struck by the heartlessness of these cuts,” said Chris Lu, the former deputy secretary of the U.S. Labor Department under President Barack Obama. “They’ve focused on seniors, people with disabilities and disadvantaged youth. All have high levels of unemployment.”
A Rundown of Proposed Labor Department Cuts, by Sharon Block, Democracy, A Journal of Ideas.
Key Quote: “For American workers who voted for President Trump because he ran on a promise to finally stand up for them, the outlines of the FY 2018 budget may come as a rather big shock (or at least one would hope). Although headlines today are focused primarily on the massive cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State Department, attention should also be paid to those at the Department of Labor (DOL). While anyone who voted for Trump could have anticipated from his climate change denial and nationalistic foreign policy that the EPA and State would be targeted, I am not sure that they would have anticipated that the DOL would be so high up on the budget chopping block.”
What Slashing the Labor Department Budget by 21 Percent Would Mean, by Elizabeth Grossman, In These Times
Key Quote: “Everyone, labor and management, believes that a workforce educated in safety and health is essential to saving lives and preventing occupational disease. That is the purpose of the Harwood grants,” said Michael Wright, director of health, safety and environment at United Steelworkers.The White House says eliminating these grants will save $11 million, a minuscule fraction of the $639 billion the Trump administration is requesting for the Department of Defense.
Clearly, Trump’s plan for making America great again is to kill off significant numbers of seniors, people with disabilities, disadvantaged youth and undocumented workers in dangerous professions. Because “Make America Great Again By Thinning the Herd” didn’t fit on a baseball cap.