Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer Call Out Trump On Spending Cuts
Earlier this week, the Trump administration had requested a package of $15 billion in spending cuts from Congress. This including $7 billion from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), an initiative championed by Democrats.
The proposed cut to the CHIP drew a rebuke from U.S. Senate Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.
Schumer criticized President Donald Trump for going after the money that’s allotted for a children’s health care program.
“It appears that sabotaging our health care system to the detriment of middle-class families wasn’t enough for President Trump and Republicans; now they’re going after health care dollars that millions of children rely on, especially during outbreaks of the flu and other deadly illnesses,” he said in a post on Facebook.
He added that this move by the GOP is to make up for the tax scam and “appease the most conservative special interests.”
Meanwhile, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Nita Lowey, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member, have written to Speaker Paul Ryan in response to Republicans’ proposed rescissions package. Pelosi, in the letter, pointed out that the legislation that seeks to cut billions of dollars from the children’s program also cuts key government functions that help create jobs and grow the economy in rural communities.
“By the Trump Administration’s own admission, this legislation is the first step in a process that is designed to break a carefully negotiated, bipartisan agreement on federal spending just two months after it was signed into law. It has already begun to erode the trust that is necessary for the timely completion of work on the fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills, which the Appropriations Committee has already begun to mark up,” the letter stated.
Democrats made lowering the cost of prescriptions drugs a central pillar of our #ABetterDeal agenda. If you hear @realDonaldTrump's rhetoric, it sounds like he's with us. But talk is cheap.
Watch here: https://t.co/4XCKZ7TzUE pic.twitter.com/55VMoUtKLo
— Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) May 10, 2018
The Democrats pointed out that the Republicans are trying to escape public scrutiny by ramming bills through the House.
“A rushed process deprives both the House and the American people of the opportunity to understand the true impacts of the rescission legislation,” the letter stated.
The duo also criticized Republicans’ approach of “voting now and understanding what is in the bill later.” It is an insult to the people we serve, they said.
