[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8251]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      BUDGETS ARE ABOUT PRIORITIES

  (Ms. PLASKETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, today the President put forth his budget 
proposal. The budget includes roughly $2.5 trillion in cuts to programs 
that help struggling families and elderly and disabled people afford 
the basics, like putting food on the table, keeping a roof over their 
heads, and affording healthcare.
  The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, would be cut by 
$192 billion over the next decade. Medicaid, the health program for the 
poor, would be cut by $800 billion. TANF, Temporary Assistance for 
Needy Families, would be cut by $21 billion. In 2014, 20 percent of the 
population of my district, the Virgin Islands, received SNAP. SNAP 
feeds primarily poor children. In 2013, 19 percent of Virgin Islands' 
children were covered under Medicaid. Another 27 percent went without 
any health coverage at all.
  Mr. Speaker, budgets are about priorities. Unfortunately, our 
President's priorities are clear: more tax cuts for the wealthy taking 
precedence over ensuring that poor children have enough to eat, that 
people with physical and mental disabilities can make ends meet, and 
that low- and moderate-income Americans have access to healthcare. The 
budget would make inequality and poverty significantly worse, while 
allowing deficits, when honestly measured, to soar. Mr. Speaker, we 
must reject this budget.

                          ____________________