Making America Great Again the Donald Way

Trump’s budget proposal shows how he plans to shape the nation.

Image: Ygreck

(SAN FRANCISCO) - While the media is focusing on Trump's connections with Russia before the election and his claim that the Obama administration — without proof — spied on him, this is what he and the Republicans in Congress were doing while we weren't watching close enough.

Trump with help of the Republicans in Congress is selling out his supporters for corporate America.

Consider the following proposed legislation:

• HJR 69: Repeal Rule Protecting Wildlife
• HR 83: Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Bill
• HR 147: Criminalizing Abortion (“Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act”)
• HR 354: Defund Planned Parenthood
• HR 370: Repeal Affordable Care Act
• HR 610: Vouchers for Public Education
• HR 785: National Right to Work (this one hurts unions)
• HR 808: Sanctions against Iran
• HR 861: Terminate the Environmental Protection Agency
• HR 899: Terminate the Department of Education

In addition, Trump used executive actions to:

• Advance both the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and the equally contested Keystone XL pipeline
• Froze all pending regulations until they are approved directly by his administration or by an agency led by Trump appointees
• Seeking bids to build a wall on our southern border with Mexico
• Issued a revised Executive Order banning travelers from six Muslim-majority countries

Trump’s budget proposal shows how he plans to shape the nation. He proposes a 10% hike in military spending to be paid for in sharp cuts on state department funding on diplomacy and aid, and $54 billion in cuts to most federal agencies.

The EPA is a major target with a budget cut of 24% and staff reduction by 20%. Some of the EPA's programs are facing potential elimination, including initiatives aimed at improving water and air quality as well as a number of regulations tasked with reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.

Trump proposes more than $6 billion in cuts at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which would squeeze public housing support and end most federally-funded community development grants like meal assistance and cleaning up abandoned properties in low-income neighborhoods. As HUD Secretary Ben Carson opined, dependency on HUD programs could become “a way of life” for recipients.

Also, Trump is considering deep cuts in the budgets of the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay for additional agents for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to pay for erecting a wall along the border with Mexico.

Who knows what mischief lies ahead. Thus, we must spend more time concentrating on, and fighting against, what his administration and Congress are doing, and less time on Trump's distracting bluster. Not even two months into his administration, it’s clear that the American people will bear an even greater cost under Trump.

"Make America great again" indeed. Are you frightened yet?