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Statement

Moms Leaders on Trump FY2021 Budget: Same Bad Ideas that Would Shred the Safety Net, Exacerbate Inequality, and Abandon Working Families

February 10, 2020
Paid Family & Medical Leave, Federal Budget

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement of leaders of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on the FY2021 budget the Trump administration released today:

“The budget the Trump administration released today will be dead on arrival in Congress, as it should be. These are the same bad ideas that we have seen throughout the Trump administration and it is high time these terrible proposals be relegated to the trash heap, where they belong. The President’s budget would exacerbate inequality by slamming shut the doors of opportunity to hard-working moms and families who are striving for economic security, and by making life immeasurably harder when illness strikes or job markets tighten. This budget is a painful reminder that, in Donald Trump’s America, moving up the economic ladder is impossible for more and more people, illness brings economic hardship or devastation, and hard-working immigrant families who struggle can expect no support.

“Ironically, mere days after President Trump touted his support for paid parental leave in his State of the Union address, his budget proposal contains the same fatally flawed paid leave plan he has offered in the past – a plan that leaves out the majority of people who need leave, and is funded through unacceptable cuts to unemployment insurance, which are unsustainable and set up families and states to fail.”

-Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO, MomsRising

“Moms are especially horrified by the Trump budget proposal which includes:

  • Deep cuts to Medicaid;
  • Further cuts to essential food and nutrition programs, including SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program);
  • Ballooning funding for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention centers and family separation;
  • Weak child care proposals that do little to address the needs of families and early educators;
  • Elimination of the federal afterschool funding stream and overall cuts and block-granting of federal education funding;
  • A huge, 27 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency; and
  • Cuts to housing, student loan assistance, and additional programs that support low-income families.

“It is especially galling to see Trump proposing cuts to life-saving programs after his tax plan cost the federal treasury trillions of dollars that now line the pockets of the wealthiest individuals and corporations. His tax plan created an unprecedented deficit that will destabilize our economy for generations and Congress should overturn it immediately.

“A bipartisan majority in Congress has rejected many of these cuts in the past and must do so again. This President’s values and priorities are not our values and priorities. Moms reject this budget proposal and we will demand that Congress instead pass a budget that boosts moms and families and makes our country stronger, more compassionate, and fair.”

-Statement of Donna Norton, executive vice president, MomsRising

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.