WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) called President Trump’s latest budget document ‘dead on arrival’ with Congress, particularly citing the deep cuts to key health care programs.
“The largest budget put forward by a U.S. president is one of the most fiscally irresponsible budgets I have seen in my time in Congress. In addition to burdening future generations with record-breaking debt, the cuts President Trump proposes to Medicare and Medicaid are dangerous to public health, and will cost our seniors and working families financially, along with their health care and possibly their health.
“It is impossible to fathom how the president thought it would be acceptable to Congress to eliminate nearly a billion dollars from Medicare, debilitating what is one of the most efficient and cost-effective programs run by the federal government, covering more than 15 percent of all Americans.
“The president not only attacks Medicare, but also Medicaid, by cutting $1.5 trillion from what is truly a lifeline to low-income working families across the country. Thirty-seven states have participated in Medicaid expansion and it is making a real difference in people’s lives. It is delusional to think Congress would allow the president to pull the rug out from these families just as they are finding their footing and getting the health care they need.
“With the previous, repeated failure of ‘repeal and replace’ gimmicks, I would have hoped that President Trump and the Republicans would understand that we need to work together to improve our health care system, not just allow it to be torn apart and destabilized.”