When Donald Trump takes the podium to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, he is likely to deliver a long and loud list of lies and grievances.
Here is what journalists, voters, and lawmakers must remember as they listen:
- Ending birthright citizenship will hurt babies. It will also have long term negative effects on the U.S. economy and would cut into the workforce needed to support programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
- The President’s budget plan WILL cut Medicaid. The budget under consideration right now proposes $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which would decimate the program and endanger the lives of the 37 million children who currently rely on it.
- School vouchers will leave America’s children less educated. Public schools are struggling because as a nation we underinvest in them.
- Cutting USAID programs saves very little money — but will cost millions of children their lives. The U.S. spends less than 1% of the federal budget on humanitarian and development assistance. International children’s programs account for just 0.09% of the entire federal budget.
- A child has died of measles — a preventable disease. Vaccine skepticism, promoted by the President’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, has nurtured a measles outbreak that has spread to eight states: Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Texas. More outbreaks of measles and other previously eradicated childhood diseases such as polio are likely to follow. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has paused multiple vaccine projects.
- The cost of child care — which continues to outpace annual mortgage payments in 45 states and the District of Columbia — remains out of reach for many families. Candidate Trump suggested that his tariffs, which are set to begin the day he speaks to Congress, would be applied to those costs. Will they?
- Candidate Trump made taming food prices a central part of his platform. (“When you look at the cost of groceries — the cost of bacon!”) Yet eggs this week hit a record high: $4.95 per dozen. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the price of eggs will rise an additional 40% during 2025. Prices are rising at the same time the President is urging Congress to cut food assistance to millions of children.