Cuts to NIH, CDC, science, and other research programs would harm Massachusetts universities, hospitals, innovation economy
Washington (May 23, 2017) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement on the full FY 2018 budget document, “A New Foundation for American Greatness”, released today by the Trump administration. In March, when the Trump administration released its so-called “skinny budget”, Senator Markey released an analysis, “Massachusetts Last: The Impacts of the Trump Budget on the Commonwealth”, of its impacts on the Massachusetts economy. Senator Markey is a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Foreign Relations, and Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
“This travesty of a budget punishes need and rewards greed,” said Senator Markey. “Cutting $800 billion from Medicaid, nearly $200 billion from food assistance, and $72 billion for disability benefits, all to give $5.5 trillion in tax breaks to billionaires and special interests isn’t just a reflection of bad values, it’s bad budgeting.
“Cuts of $9.2 billion to education programs will mean our children will get left behind. Cuts of $12.7 billion to health care will mean more Americans will get sick and die. Eliminating the LIHEAP and Community Development Block Grant programs will mean greater insecurity for working class families. This budget is all about providing even more comfort to the comfortable in the form of massive tax breaks and Defense spending increases, all financed by cuts from the most vulnerable segments of our society – the poor, the sick, students, and Grandma and Grandpa.
“Reduced funding for the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will have harm Massachusetts disproportionately. This budget takes direct aim at our universities, hospitals, research institutions and their scientists and staff working on the cures to cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other deadly diseases.
“Scientific research and development will be hobbled under this Trump budget, endangering America’s global competitiveness. The Trump budget represents a full-scale retreat from American leadership in the global clean energy race. Without investments in new and innovative energy technologies at the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Trump administration will hand over clean energy jobs to China, India and the European Union. And this budget calls for turning over public lands that belong to all Americans, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to Big Oil.
“The Trump administration may call its foreign policy ‘America First’, but this budget makes clear its economic policy will make ‘America Last’. I will continue to fight for a budget that protects hard working families and our most vulnerable, while making the wealthiest pay their fair share.”
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