Trump’s FY 2027 budget — coupled with his stunning remarks about Medicare and Medicaid this week — demonstrates a betrayal of his campaign promises and underscores this administration’s grossly distorted priorities. The president who cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and SNAP now demands an additional $1.5 trillion in defense spending for his undeclared war in Iran and other military misadventures.
The White House budget jabs a finger in the eye of American seniors by outright eliminating Community Service Block Grants, the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and Senior Employment Services – programs that provide older people with food assistance, home heating, and job opportunities.
After unleashing DOGE to decimate the Social Security Administration, Trump’s spending blueprint flat-funds the agency, providing less than even his own Social Security Commissioner requested. Trump proposes to cut some $15 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services, after slashing the workforce that administers Medicare and Medicaid.
Earlier this week, Trump made the outrageous statement that the nation “can’t afford” Medicare and Medicaid because “military protection” is the federal government’s only priority – and said that the states should take over both landmark social programs. This ludicrous pronouncement not only underscores Trump’s ignorance about two programs that a combined 140 million Americans rely on for health coverage; it further reveals his grossly distorted priorities. This is more proof that Trump’s campaign promises to “protect Medicare and Medicaid,” and to lower the cost of living for the American people were as hollow as his vow to stop “endless foreign wars.” – Max Richtman, President and CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
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