GOP wants to take $5 billion from health and education to build Trump's wall

Senate Republicans aren’t willing to give up on Trump’s border wall, and now they are aiming to divert funding from vital domestic programs — that millions of Americans depend on — to pay for it. 

Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) has written a 2020 fiscal year spending bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education “that is about $5 billion lower than it would have been to provide funding for the wall,” Roll Call reported.

It appears the congressional Republicans agree with the Trump administration that Mexico isn’t going to pay for the wall and that taxpayers will have to foot the bill. However, any spending bill would still need to be passed by the Democrat-controlled House, setting up a spending battle between the two parties.

While Shelby’s bill is likely to change, it shows where the GOP’s priorities lie. Such cuts are to be expected from Republicans, who have been trying to raid vital services that millions of Americans depend on for years, including just recently. 

Last month, the Trump administration proposed cutting more than 3 million low-income Americans off of food stamps to save the government some cash, as well as denying free lunch to a half-million school children. The administration has also taken aim at education as a whole, and has been looking to slash billions from the Education Department. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has called for cuts to vital safety-net programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which millions of Americans rely on. And in 2018, Republicans voted to cut $7 billion from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides health care for 9 million children. 

But these cuts aren’t just to pay for the wall. 

Recently Republicans senators demanded yet another massive tax cut for wealthy Americans that could cost taxpayers up to $200 billion over 10 years — because the GOP’s 2017 tax scam wasn’t enough. 

For Senate Republicans, it looks like funding a symbol of racism and bigotry, and cutting taxes for the rich, is more important than health and resources for millions of Americans.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.