18
COMMENTARY
March 20, 2018 | The Valley Catholic
Trump’s Budget – Stealing from the Poor to Give to the Rich
By Tony Magliano
Internationally syndicated social justice
and peace columnist
[email protected]
Robin Hood, the legendary hero of English folklore
who took from the rich to give to the poor – whose
very name conjures up thoughts of fairness, justice
and love for the oppressed – stands in stark contrast
to President Trump who wants to take from poor and
give to the rich.
The recent congressional Republican-sponsored
tax legislation signed into law by Trump gives huge
tax cuts to wealthy individuals and profi t-rich cor-
porations. And as a result the federal defi cit will
astronomically increase.
So in order to help pay down the defi cit, in his 2019
fi scal year budget proposal Trump is urging Congress
to drastically cut funding to numerous domestic and
international anti-poverty programs that are literally
saving lives and helping millions of impoverished
fellow human beings experience basic humane liv-
ing standards.
What is being proposed here is Robin Hood in
reverse.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities (http://bit.ly/2og3PnG), if adopted by
Congress, the Trump budget would seriously reduce
funding for Medicaid – which provides medical
coverage for millions of low-income citizens of all
ages including poor seniors, people with disabilities,
children and pregnant women. The result would
provide less coverage for fewer needy people – and
probably be a signifi cant contributing factor leading
to more abortions.
Additionally, the Supplemental Nutrition As-
sistance Program (SNAP) which helps unemployed,
elderly and low-income working families and in-
dividuals purchase food, would suff er signifi cant
funding cuts.
“You are not making a gift of what is
yours to the poor man, but you are
giving him back what is his. … The earth
belongs to everyone, not to the rich.”
According to international poverty-focused ad-
vocacy and aid organizations like Catholic Relief
Services (www.crs.org) and Bread for the World
(www.bread.org), the Trump proposals to completely
eliminate Title II/Food for Peace programming and to
severely slash the Emergency Food Security Program
means that approximately 20 million people in crisis
would likely lose access to lifesaving food assistance.
It’s important to note that even without the pro-
posed cuts the U.S. currently only gives 0.2 percent
of its income to international development assistance;
ranking it 22 nd in comparison to other more economi-
cally developed nations.
These proposed cuts are nothing short of heartless.
Saint Ambrose taught, “You are not making a gift
of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving
him back what is his. … The earth belongs to every-
one, not to the rich.”
And our Lord Jesus warns each of us that “Much
will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person en-
trusted with more.” This warning not only applies to
each one of us individually, but also to us collectively
as a nation.
Blessed Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical letter Popu-
lorum Progressio (“On the Development of Peoples”)
teaches, “The same duty of solidarity that rests on
individuals exists also for nations: ‘Advanced nations
have a very heavy obligation to help the developing
peoples.’ ”
It’s important that you email and call your two U.S.
senators and congressperson – Capitol switchboard:
(202) 224-3121, urging them to reject President Trump’s
proposed cuts to anti-poverty programs, and instead
urge them to robustly increase funding for both do-
mestic and international poverty-focused programs.
This can easily be done by signifi cantly cutting the
astronomical and dangerous military budget.
With over 40 million Americans living below the
poverty level, and over 800 million desperately hun-
gry people around the globe, the world needs a real
American Robin Hood – not a Robin Hood in reverse.
Tune into Tony on Relevant Radio’s Bay Area Catholic,
KSFB 1260 AM, Saturday, March 24 at 3 p.m. (Divine
Mercy Hour).
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