President Trump’s $4.4 trillion budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 seeks massive cuts to critical programs that help children and families. It takes aim at all areas of life that impact kids: health, education, poverty, housing, nutrition assistance, and welfare. In spite of a recent bipartisan deal by Congress to boost non-defense discretionary spending to $597 billion, the Trump budget includes only $540 billion in such funding, combining with $647 billion in defense discretionary funding for a total of roughly $1,187 trillion in discretionary spending. In so doing, it slashes education, health, and child welfare funding. On the mandatory side of the ledger, the budget uses various policy proposals to effectively gut funding for housing and nutrition assistance, health programs, and income support. Below is a summary of numerous proposals in the president’s FY 2019 budget request that will impact the health and well-being of children and families.
The President’s FY 2019 budget does not incorporate the Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2018, passed on February 9th, 2017, though the Office of Management and Budget does provide a short addendum with directives for that law’s changes to discretionary spending limits. It also uses estimates for FY 2018 levels as Congress has yet to pass legislation appropriating funds for the full fiscal year. As a result, this analysis uses FY 2017 funding levels for comparison.