February 28, 2017

Today Brings Us the Most Trumpian Budget Cut Ever

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A big target for President Trump’s budget cutting turns out to be foreign aid:

The Trump administration is proposing to cut spending by 37% for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development budget, according to a person familiar with the budget deliberations….One U.S. official said that the State Department is looking at development assistance to other countries as a significant source for the cuts.

….“That is definitely dead on arrival,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) told reporters Tuesday, saying the proposed State Department budget “puts our diplomats at risk.”

This is the perfect Trump budget cut. Congress will turn down these cuts almost instantly, and anyway, there’s not even much money there (foreign aid accounts for about 1 percent of federal spending). However, the American public has long been convinced that foreign aid is a huge part of the budget, so Trump’s base will view this as a bold action to rein in our spiraling federal debt. It’s cynical, ignorant, futile, and makes for brilliant PR. What could possibly be more Trumpian?

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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