Watching Rome Burn

Remember when the president promised that no one was touching Social Security? Of course, that was when he was counting on the votes of conservative seniors. Now that he’s in office, will he go along with the $2 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending that is in the GOP’s budget resolution? That’s a silly question. The president is getting just what he wanted.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid make up about 75% of mandatory spending. Contrary to beliefs of the ill-informed, Social Security isn’t a giveaway; it’s a financial insurance policy that workers pay into. Medicare isn’t free. Seniors pay premiums.

Providing Medicaid is not only the right thing to do, it also saves lives and money. When the previously uninsured get access to preventive care, they can avoid the high costs of treating a full-blown disease, costs that often fall on healthcare providers. Medicaid seems to be the most likely to get chopped.

The IRS is also on the chopping block. What do the budget hawks have to say about the layoffs of IRS employees hired in the past year, workers hired to go after those who don’t pay their taxes? How do they feel about the spending bill’s $4.5 trillion in tax cuts? Remember that tax cuts spiked the deficit during the first Trump administration. Is anyone in the president’s party going to speak up?

The cuts to IRS will also affect those in the bottom tax brackets. They’ve removed the tool that lets people file their taxes online without a filing fee. A word of advice: don’t buy anything on credit, expecting a timely tax refund this year. Remember how long it took to get service at the understaffed IRS? Well, it’s back.

According to food and agriculture journalist Grace Yarrow, the House Agriculture Committee is planning cuts to supplemental nutrition programs. This, on top of tariffs that can have a negative effect on our farmers, doesn’t seem like a smart move. Neither does cutting funding that provides all children with access to an education.

When citizens are healthy and educated, they pay back into the system rather than costing the system. They are also less likely to run out of options and resort to crime. Using our taxes properly to benefit all citizens is what makes America a great and prosperous nation. Dismantling programs that help those in need and reward the thieves at the top is taking us in the opposite direction.