WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) today released the following statement on President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint for FY2018:
“Budgets demonstrate priorities. And once again, President Trump- though, light on details- clearly demonstrates regressive priorities that will have an extreme impact on working families.
“If Congress adopts President Trump’s proposed budget, agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, and the State Department face large cuts. Smaller agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting stand to be eliminated under President Trump’s plan. The President’s proposal also calls for the elimination of key economic development agencies including the Minority Business Development Agency and the Economic Development Administration.
“This budget fails to address our economic problems by slashing funding that supports our long-standing commitment to increase economic opportunities through investments in education, infrastructure, affordable housing, and job training. Many of these programs sustain older Americans and so many in eastern North Carolina.
“I am outraged by the President’s call to drastically cut funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This will be devastating to programs that support public housing in low-income communities and, quite frankly, keep a roof over people’s heads. Under the President’s proposal, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) will be cut entirely, significantly impacting small, rural communities like the ones in my congressional district. More than 88,000 households in North Carolina benefit from LIHEAP, and the very threat of this program’s elimination could push these families beyond the tipping point. The CDBG program has been a successful means of helping communities secure federal funding for local neighborhood revitalization, housing rehabilitation, and economic development activities.
“I cannot and will not support measures that take a wrecking ball to programs that have long supported low and moderate-income Americans.
“President Trump calls his proposal the ‘America First’ budget, but this plan puts many Americans last.”
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