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Manchin: Trump’s budget ‘alarming’

Sen. Joe Manchin

PARKERSBURG — It’s clear where U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin stands on the $4.1 trillion budget offered by the Trump Administration.

The West Virginia Democrat Tuesday said the 1,200-page proposal was “alarming,” a “slash-and-burn type of approach” to budget making, “lacks compassion” and hurts the most vulnerable people in West Virginia and the nation.

“You name it and, by golly, we get hit,” Manchin, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told West Virginia reporters in a telephone conference call.

The Trump administration Tuesday unveiled its “A New Foundation for American Greatness,” which greatly cuts domestic programs while spending 10 percent more on the military and $1.6 billion for the Mexican border wall. It proposes tax reductions and no changes to Social Security or Medicare and makes substantial cuts in entitlement programs, reduces Medicaid by $800 billion over a decade, cuts $192 billion from nutrition programs and $272 billion from welfare programs, among other cuts.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Manchin said.

West Virginians will be impacted by cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Women-Infants-Children nutrition program, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Temporary Assistance For Needy Families, Manchin said. The S.N.A.P. cuts of $191 billion over 10 years will affect more than 357,000 residents, the WIC reductions will impact more than 40,000 West Virginians and cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program will affect nearly 35,000 children in the state, he said.

Manchin said it was “demoralizing.”

“This budget is a non-starter for me,” Manchin said.

According to information provided by Manchin, the proposed budget eliminates the Appalachian Regional Commission, cuts $9 billion from the Department of Education and shifts $1.4 billion from critical education programs to “school choice,” eliminates student loans subsidized by the federal government, reduces cost of living adjustments for federal retirees and eliminates the Title XVII Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program. It cuts the Essential Air Service program which helps providing commercial air service to rural airports including in Wood County.

Republicans have the same reservations, although they may not be as vocal, Manchin said. He said he looks forward to working with his Republican colleagues and doesn’t believe the budget as presented will be adopted.

“I do not believe this is what will happen,” he said.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., issued a press release and also took to Twitter about Trump’s budget proposal for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, was contacted by Capito, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, and other lawmakers about the importance of the office. The Office of Management and Budget restored funding.

“The Office of National Drug Control Policy plays an important role in combating the opioid epidemic affecting families and communities across the country. That’s why I made it very clear that eliminating (the office) would be unacceptable,” Capito said. “Having led the charge to convince the administration it should rethink its proposal, I’m happy to see OMB reversed course and included funding for the office in its budget. We still have a long way to go when it comes to the drug epidemic, and it is essential that we remain fully committed to fighting it. We need to be doing more — not less.”

Portman also issued a statement, saying he supports a balanced budget without raising taxes by “advancing pro-growth policies like tax and regulatory reform as well as restraining spending” and to “prioritize efforts to strengthen our national security and help protect the most vulnerable.”

“I appreciate the fact that the White House has changed course and will support the work of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,” said Portman, who will oppose the budget’s proposed elimination of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The budget from Trump was not unexpected, Manchin said. Mulvaney was a congressman and has taken the same course numerous times when he was in the House of Representatives, Manchin said. The budget lacks empathy and sympathy for the people it impacts, he said.

“…so this is not surprising for us to get this type of budget,” Manchin said.

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