Congresswoman Barbara Lee: This Budget Is a Recipe for Greater Instability, Hunger and Hopelessness

Statement

Congresswoman Barbara Lee released the following statement on the release of President Trump's budget outline:

"As a social worker and a senior member of the House Budget and House Appropriations Committees, I know that the federal budget is a moral document. Sadly, President Trump's budget outline once again confirms that his priorities and values are deeply out of step with the American people.

"This budget would offer massive handouts to defense contractors while gutting lifesaving programs for the poor and middle class. Despite the rampant waste, fraud and abuse at the Pentagon, this budget funnels even more taxpayer money into the pockets of defense contractors. Rather than make us safer, this budget outline is a recipe for greater instability, hunger and hopelessness around the world. By cutting the Department of State and USAID by more than $10 billion, the Trump Administration is undermining our global leadership and sentencing families around the world to poverty and illness.

"Finally, by slashing lifesaving programs, including job training, work-study aid, public health research, and housing assistance, the Trump Administration's plan would wreak havoc on our communities. Turning our backs on working families, seniors, the disabled and the sick is both cruel and counterproductive. Nowhere are President Trump's misplaced priorities clearer than in this budget's outrageous request for more than $2 billion to construct his un-American wall on the southern border.

"I urge my colleagues to reject this morally bankrupt budget and invest in the programs that make us safer, healthier and more prosperous."

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