Trump proposes $15 billion spending cuts, targets children's health program

[catbarf]

I had to go to the Washington Post to get some concrete info on the proposed cut:

The proposed cuts to CHIP would come in part from cutting $5 billion from the Children’s Health Insurance Fund, to help reimburse states for certain expenses. But the White House said the ability to use this money expired in September, meaning it can’t be legally used, even as it remains on the government’s balance sheet.

And:

The White House’s other proposed cut to CHIP is a $2 billion reduction would pare back the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund, meant to ensure states have access to funds if there is a higher-than-expected enrollment, the senior administration official said. States are not expecting to see a jump in enrollment, though, in part because the economy is improving.

So the cuts to CHIP are a fund that can't legally be spent (but is still on the books for the fiscal year), plus a contingency program that isn't actively in use. Then the rest of the cut is non-CHIP stuff like a tech development program that hasn't been used.

This is a drop in the bucket compared to Trump's increase in spending, and there are more pointless expenditures all over our military budget that aren't being addressed, but go figure that nobody would actually read into it before declaring that Republicans are stripping healthcare away from people.

[xfb]

These were funds that were available prior to Republicans letting the program expire.

This was money that was supposed to be spent that ended up not going to kids. They just didn't get dispersed in time and are now caught in a bureaucratic state of limbo. It's functionally still a cut.

[Kingof🅱east]

Not even functionally, it is literally still a cut. But, what's cut here are things that could not or would not have been used. Plenty of things surrounding this administration deserve hefty criticism, including the fact that they've let programs like CHIP go to waste in the first place. I'm just not sure most people here are actually taking this event for what it really is: unused money being pulled out of the budget.

You can tell people are applying their own biases/not reading the full article/not caring about the full article, because they make posts like what page 1 is splattered with that spell doom for people who in reality are no worse off than they already were a week before this. The cut at this point in time will have 0 effect on any children or their healthcare. That's just not a headline that gets traffic.

The fact that they're being cut potentially thanks to CHIP not being able to use them doesn't make the cut bad (it's quite logical actually, given that context); it's just a story that would be different or nonexistent entirely if other events hadn't taken place. That sounds like what your chief complaint really is, which is justified. But tell me how the funds being cut now is making anything worse?

I want to note that I'm not trying to sound insensitive with my post here; it's ridiculous that seemingly every day there's another bit of news out of our administration being generally terrible people who don't care for the wellness of anybody but themselves, and I honestly can't wait for them to leave. It's just, why doesn't it make sense to use money elsewhere if it won't be used here?

[HumanAbyss]

I think, for most people, it's the principle of the matter.

The most vulnerable in the US society have been systematically attacked, and had their services dismantled in the short, short time this president has done things.

Any complacency or acceptance of things that should be unacceptable, is seen in a very bad light in that context.