[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 24, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3116-S3118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         The President's Budget

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, on Tuesday President Trump sent his 
proposed fiscal year 2018 budget to Congress. A budget is supposed to 
reflect the President's priorities and the values our country holds 
dear. Unfortunately, President Trump's full budget shows how much 
disdain he has for supporting American families here at home, how 
little he values America's strong leadership around the world, and how 
much he misunderstands the essential role the Federal Government has in 
keeping our air and water clean, roads and bridges functioning, and the 
public safe from deadly diseases and other threats.
  This President's budget shows how much he values corporate profits 
and polluters over children's health and demonstrates an irrational 
ignorance of basic principles that have worked for and against the 
American economy throughout the years. The budget wastes money on a 
border wall and deportation force that will not make America any safer 
and will tear apart families and communities.
  President Trump fails to uphold the promise he made as a candidate to 
protect American workers and seniors, and he breaks new ground in the 
level of uncertainty he is willing to inject into our economy, our 
local communities, and relationships with our historical allies and 
economic partners. More than any other Presidential budget in recent 
memory, this budget must be considered dead on arrival.
  President Trump's full budget for fiscal year 2018 is an exercise in 
extremism. President Trump wants to ax $610 billion from Medicaid--the 
program that lifts up America's veterans and the most vulnerable men, 
women, and children, capping the funding in order to finance tax cuts 
for big businesses and the wealthiest among us. The budget further 
slashes the social safety net by cutting the food stamp program and 
eliminating critical social services programs. It directly hurts 
children by cutting $6 billion from the Children's Health Insurance 
Program. The President wants to choke off funding for essential 
scientific research at the National Institutes of Health and infectious 
disease detection and response at the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, while also slashing funding for key global health 
initiatives that ensure economic stability.
  Further demonstrating his misunderstanding of the ripple effect 
Federal investments can have, the President inexplicably wants to end 
the economic development assistance programs to rural and economically 
distressed communities. I was particularly disappointed that he would 
eliminate the Appalachia Regional Commission, which is very important 
to the people in the western part of my State as an economic tool that 
can bring badly needed jobs to Appalachia country.
  He wants to put the American dream out of reach for would-be 
homeowners and seekers of safe and affordable housing with the 
elimination of HUD's rental assistance and homeowner partnership 
programs. The President calls for shifting more than $143 billion in 
additional student loan payments to hard-working students and their 
families. And he recommends ending a vital program that helps first 
responders, law enforcement, teachers, nurses, librarians, public 
safety, and military have a chance to reduce the burden of their 
student loans so that they can continue to serve their communities. The 
President also continues the ill-conceived Republican assault on 
Federal workers and retirees with his proposal for wholesale slashing 
the programs and staff, such as the economic and environmentally 
important EPA and Chesapeake Bay Program, making it nearly impossible 
for many departments to carry out their basic mission.
  I want to talk a few minutes about the foreign assistance budget. I 
have the privilege of being the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee. In terms of our Nation's foreign policy, if the 
budget is a reflection of values, then what the Trump administration 
values is an American retreat from the world that would make the United 
States less safe and secure. The numbers speak for themselves in the 
narrow-minded budget release we have received.
  What is most perplexing about the administration's combined 31.7 
percent gutting of international affairs spending--as Secretary Defense 
Mattis has said: If you don't fund the State Department Diplomacy 
Center, you had

[[Page S3117]]

better give the Defense Department more bullets and soldiers. This is 
counterproductive to making the world a safer place for America.
  America is safer when the United States helps feed millions of 
starving people in Africa and the Middle East, helps Europe defend its 
democratic institutions from Russia interference, helps support 
countries and international organizations caring for vulnerable refugee 
populations, helps train farmers and other technical workers, helps 
lead the world in fighting climate change and promoting global health, 
and helps fund programs to protect human rights and promote democracy. 
In each of these areas, the administration has taken a penny-wise and 
pound-foolish approach that will cost lives abroad and endanger 
Americans here at home.
  Each of the programs I mentioned are either eliminated or there are 
significant cuts, making it impossible for our dedicated Foreign 
Service officers to carry out the critically important missions they 
undertake.
  As I look at the massive spending cuts put forward by the White House 
for vital national security, it is impossible to conclude that this is 
anything but an ``America alone'' budget--one that, if enacted, will 
have disastrous effects on our standing in the world.
  Luckily, the majority of Members of Congress know this budget is dead 
on arrival. I look forward to working with like-minded Republican 
colleagues to make sure nothing remotely close to this budget is 
enacted.
  Fortunately, our Founders developed a system of checks and balances 
with the Constitution providing that Congress appropriates public 
funds. It is our responsibility to pass the appropriations bill. I 
intend to do everything within my power to work with Republicans, using 
the model of the fiscal year 2017 Omnibus appropriations, to prevent 
enactment of this outlandish executive branch attempt to cripple our 
economy and do lasting damage to our Nation's global leadership. 
Congress has a responsibility to ensure that we have a more realistic 
budget that helps the American public, contributes to genuine economic 
growth, and furthers America's true values.
  I want to cite some examples in some areas as to how detrimental this 
budget is. First of all, there are economic assumptions made by the 
President's budget that are just not realistic. He assumes there is 
going to be a 3-percent economic growth rate, which economists tell us 
is simply not realistic. What does that mean? That means there is about 
$2 trillion that is being used by economic assumptions which have no 
justification, meaning that we are going to see significant budget 
deficits increase if this budget were to become law. The budget double 
counts some of these gains in order to offset tax reductions. He is 
putting our economy at risk.
  In healthcare, the President's budget continues the administration's 
misguided and ill-conceived efforts to jeopardize the health and well-
being of our constituents under the Affordable Care Act. Make no 
mistake about it, President Trump is trying to make sure that the 
healthcare system in this country does not work. He is deliberately 
putting at risk the cautionary provisions that are in the Affordable 
Care Act, which ensure that many of our constituents have affordable 
health rates without outrageous deductibles or copays. The Trump 
administration is jeopardizing that.
  The Trump administration is jeopardizing the Medicaid system--$610 
billion cut in the Medicaid system, which is critically important for 
some of our most vulnerable people. There are 280,000 Marylanders who 
gained essential health coverage through the Medicaid expansion who 
will be left without access to care. There are an estimated 1.25 
million Maryland Medicaid enrollees who will no longer be able to 
depend on benefits like mental health and substance abuse, pediatric 
dental services, or maternity coverage.
  Our President is recommending a $6 billion cut in the Children's 
Health Insurance Program, the CHIP program. That is absolutely 
outrageous. There is a bipartisan effort in Congress to make sure the 
children of America have the health they need.
  Then there is a $7 billion--22-percent--cut in the National 
Institutes of Health. Democrats and Republicans have come together, 
recognizing that America has provided the true leadership and basic 
research to deal with the mysteries of illness, and the President wants 
to reverse that trend. That will not only cost us in terms of our 
health advancements, but it will also hurt our economy.
  The President cuts the funds to the National Institute on Minority 
Health and Health Disparities. I thought we had made a commitment that 
we are going to narrow the gap of discrimination in our healthcare 
system. The President's budget moves in the opposite direction.
  In Social Services and Social Security, the President, on his 
campaign trail, promised not to cut the Social Security system. He 
broke that promise with this budget. These cuts are a ``Robin Hood in 
reverse'' budget. His cuts in the Supplemental Security Income Program 
and Social Security Disability Insurance Program will be devastating 
for low- and modest-income individuals, as well as persons with 
disabilities and those over 65 years of age.
  So we have seen cuts to programs the President claimed he would not 
cut when he was a candidate. The budget cuts nearly $200 billion from 
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, or food stamps, 
which helps low-income Americans with food purchases. He also cuts the 
TANF Program, which helps people who are in need of assistance. The 
budget eliminates the LIHEAP, Low Income Home Energy Assistance 
Program, the Weatherization Assistance Program, and State Energy 
Program. I guess Donald Trump wants low-income Americans to freeze in 
the dark. This is shameful and reprehensible.
  Yes, there is money for some advancements--the advancement of the so-
called border wall with Mexico. I visited Mexico just a few months ago. 
I visited the U.S.-Mexico border. I couldn't find one border security 
guard, security personnel, who felt that building a wall made any 
sense. It will not keep out the illegal flow of people or drugs, and it 
will compromise our ability to work with our neighbors in the south to 
control immigration and to control drugs. The President's Executive 
order on immigration and the President's fiscal year 2018 budget ramp 
up deportation forces inside the United States, which will do more to 
harm our national security and public safety than to help. We shouldn't 
be moving in that direction.
  Legal Services is one of the areas I worked on for a long time with 
my Republican colleagues to make sure we fund the Legal Services 
Corporation. The Trump budget completely eliminates that funding. The 
late Justice Antonin Scalia said at Legal Services Corporation's 40th 
Anniversary Conference in 2014: ``LSC pursues the most fundamental of 
American ideals, and it pursues equal justice in those areas of life 
most important to the lives of our citizens.''
  We believe in equal justice under the law. If a person cannot get 
legal help, they cannot get equal justice under the law. And the 
President says there is no Federal role for this. I hope that we will 
soundly reject that.
  The President's budget eliminates the Community Development Block 
Grant Program. That is very troubling. Here is one of the more flexible 
programs we offer the local government in order to be able to make 
their own decisions, and the President's budget eliminates that 
program.
  The President's budget eliminates many of our programs under 
agriculture, which will hurt our rural areas and hurt our farming 
community. The budget proposes to eliminate new enrollment in the 
Conservation Stewardship Program and funding for the Regional 
Conservation Partnership Program. I am very familiar with the Regional 
Conservation Partnership Program. It was put in the last farm 
reauthorization bill. It was done as an effort to help deal with 
conservation in critically important areas, including the Chesapeake 
Bay watershed. It is a very important program to preserving our bay and 
preserving farm land so that we can have both a healthy bay and healthy 
agriculture. The President eliminates those programs. I could go on and 
on about agriculture--the many programs that are either severely 
restricted or eliminated under the President's budget.
  In education, the fiscal year 2018 budget released by President Trump

[[Page S3118]]

may be entitled ``A New Foundation for American Greatness,'' but 
President Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have severely 
undercut our students, educators, and public schools. The budget 
proposes to eliminate the Preschool Development Grant Program, a 
program that has successfully placed more than 2,700 additional 4-year-
olds in high-quality preschool programs across my State. The vulnerable 
children in this program get a boost that helps them to lower the 
achievement gap among students of color, low-income children, and 
children with disabilities across my State. We should be expanding 
these programs, not reducing them. And 85 Members of this body voted in 
favor of the Every Student Succeeds Act and the Student Support and 
Academic Enrichment Grant Program. That progress is jeopardized by the 
President's budget.
  Yes, he finds money for a new program to help school choice programs, 
which will undermine the progress we have made in public education. Mr. 
President, 95 percent of our students get their education through the 
public schools, and that is jeopardized by the $1.25 billion the 
President has included in his budget for school choice programs.
  Maryland families understand the value of higher education. For too 
many, the cost of higher education means that it is difficult, if not 
impossible, for their children to have the higher education they need. 
Yet the President's budget takes away some of the tools we have in 
order to afford higher education. That is just not right. We should be 
making higher education more affordable, not less affordable.
  In the environment, the President's proposed budget would eliminate 
the Chesapeake Bay Program. The Chesapeake Bay Program and related 
efforts are delivering encouraging results throughout the watershed and 
have built a tremendous movement forward. Yet President Trump has still 
targeted them for elimination. The local governments are doing their 
job in stewardship of the bay. The States are doing their job. Our 
stakeholders are doing their job. We depend upon the Federal Government 
to monitor and make sure that the programs are there--that all 
stakeholders are doing their fair share. The elimination of the 
Chesapeake Bay Program would jeopardize all of that progress. We cannot 
let that happen.
  The President's budget would cut the EPA budget by 31.4 percent, the 
most severe cut of any major Federal agency. The investment in our 
Nation's water and waste water infrastructure has been flatlined 
through this budget proposal.
  What in the world makes President Trump think that our Nation's 
drinking water infrastructure shall be kept at status quo? Don't we all 
remember what happened in Flint, MI? We have discovered similar things 
in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In Baltimore, our public school system 
cannot connect their water fountains to the water supply because of 
lead contamination. We need to have a greater commitment to make sure 
that the water supply to America is safe.
  Under the budget, the Office of Compliance would be cut by one-third 
of its budget. That is EPA not being able to enforce the law. Aren't we 
a country of the rule of law? You would not think so under President 
Trump's budget.
  The President's budget also does not contain a critical 
infrastructure plan. We heard that during the campaign. But nowhere in 
this budget is he providing for that increase. Instead, it proposes 
cuts in some of the highway trust programs.
  Every day, civil servants perform countless tasks that help support 
and defend and protect America. Civil servants are saving lives, 
empowering small businesses, keeping America safe from harm, and 
otherwise ensuring a safe and prosperous future for our country, 
including our children and families. We know that our Federal employees 
often perform the type of work that no one else can do. It is a highly 
qualified Federal workforce. On May 5, Donald Trump issued a 
proclamation declaring May 7 through 13, 2017, as Public Service 
Recognition Week. He stated:

       Throughout my first 100 days, I have seen the tremendous 
     work civil servants do to fulfill our duty to the American 
     people. At all levels of government, our public servants put 
     our country and our people first.

  He has a bizarre way of showing his appreciation. Earlier this week, 
he released a budget that punishes Federal workers by making them pay 
much more for their pensions, an additional $5,000 for an average 
Federal worker, while making these pensions much smaller.
  The relentless assault on the Federal workforce must end. The 
civilian workforce was smaller last year than it was 40 years ago, 
according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. Federal 
workers increasingly have been asked to do more and more with less and 
less. They have already sacrificed financially, contributing $190 
billion to deficit reduction just since 2011.
  Workers hired in 2012 already are paying more for smaller pensions. 
Sequestration-related furloughs cost Federal workers $1 billion in lost 
pay, and there was a 3-year pay freeze from 2011 to 2013, and 
substandard rises since then. Salaries and wages have fallen 6.5 
percent since 2010, adjusted for inflation.
  Now comes the latest attack on the Federal worker's pension, on top 
of continued attacks on pay, healthcare and other benefits, collective 
bargaining, and due process rights. President Trump would eliminate the 
annual cost of living adjustments for people in the Federal Employees 
Retirement System, including current retirees, and reduce them by half 
a percentage point for people in the old Civil Service Retirement 
System, including current retirees.
  According to certified financial planner Art Stein, the annuity would 
lose one-third of its value over 20 years if inflation averages between 
2 and 3 percent annually, and nearly half of its value if inflation 
averages 4 percent. According to the National Active and Retired 
Federal Employees Association, the average FERS annuitant would lose 
$99,471 over 20 years, and the average CSRS annuitant would lose 
$60,576 over 20 years under the Trump budget.
  That is outrageous. That is outrageous. We are talking about people 
who are already retired. They can't reenter the workforce. They have no 
choice. Yet we are telling them that they are not going to get what we 
promised. It is important to understand that 85 percent of the Federal 
workforce is located beyond the Washington metropolitan area. Federal 
workers are in big cities and small towns across America, striving to 
make things better for their neighbors.
  Do we really want to engage in a race to the bottom with respect to 
our Federal workers? These are the people who make sure our parents' 
Social Security checks arrive on time. They make sure the air we 
breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat are safe. They are 
trying to find a cure for our spouse's cancer and our sibling's type 1 
diabetes.
  They support our sons and daughters in harm's way, and they care for 
the wounded warriors at home. They patrol our borders and discover and 
disrupt terrorist threats aimed at our community. They are working to 
ensure that our grandchildren inherit a habitable climate. When we 
punish Federal workers--30 percent of whom are veterans, by the way--we 
are not just harming them and their families, but we are harming each 
and every American.
  I intend to do everything within my power to work with Republicans, 
using the model of the fiscal year 2017 omnibus appropriations, to 
prevent the enactment of this dangerous executive branch attempt to 
cripple our economy and do lasting damage to our Nation's global 
leadership. Congress has the responsibility to ensure that we have a 
more realistic budget that helps the American public, contributes to 
genuine economic growth, and furthers America's true values.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Daines). The Senator from Utah.