Family receiving food stamps speaks out about Trump's budget proposal

Deep cuts to social safety net programs highlight Trump budget proposal

CAPITOL HILL -- Vice President Mike Pence and Republican leaders met Monday afternoon to go over the administration's first major budget proposal, due out Tuesday.

The White House wants to balance the budget in 10 years, partly through deep cuts to social programs.

For starters, the proposal embraces the $800 billion in Medicaid cuts outlined in the House Obamacare replacement bill -- despite candidate Trump's promise not to touch Medicaid.

"Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it!" Mr. Trump said on the 2016 campaign trail.

President Trump's budget would reportedly cut funding for subsidized school lunches and programs like Habitat for Humanity.

Food stamp funding would be slashed by about 25 percent, with a new work requirement imposed on some recipients.

Myra Young is a nurses' assistant who gets $100 in food stamps a month. Her son relies on Medicaid.

"I'm a working mom so it's not like I'm welfare recipient sitting home not doing nothing," Young told CBS News.

"My tax money pays for my food stamps and you don't even give me enough to feed my children," she added.

Myra Young with her son. CBS News

The White House budget does add funding to one social program: a new nationwide paid parental leave initiative proposed by Ivanka Trump. But the other cuts go deeper than most Republicans in Congress have proposed, and will likely meet with resistance from both parties.

Democratic leader Chuck Schumer addressed the issue.

"All of these programs are favored by the American people," Sen. Schumer said. "They've been favored by my friends across the aisle."

The White House budget will propose additional funding for military and for infrastructure spending. But for any of these changes to take effect the budget would need to garner significantly more support from Republicans than an initial draft received two months ago.

f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.