Large-scale cuts to social safety net programs have emerged as one of the more controversial parts of the budget proposal the Trump administration released Wednesday, which Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called “a taxpayer first budget.” …
Mulvaney argued in an op-ed that the cuts mark a shift from past budgets that “focused on how we can help Americans receive taxpayer-funded assistance” and previous administrations that “mistreated and disrespected those hard-working taxpayers.”
The argument suggests a transaction-based split of the country into hard-working taxpayers and nonworking beneficiaries of government assistance, with working people presumably supporting cuts to such programs that don’t benefit them. But how well does that picture match up to reality? CONT.
Scott Clement, Washington Post