The Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal would slash roughly $2.5 trillion over the next decade from anti-poverty programs that help struggling low-income families. These programs provide access to nutritious food, keep a roof over their heads and allow access to affordable health care. Congress must reject this proposal.

The Administration’s budget proposal cuts approximately $2.5 trillion in federal funding from anti-poverty programs that serve as a lifeline for millions of Americans, according to a recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Over the next decade, the budget would:

• Cut $1.85 trillion in Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) funding, exceeding the cuts in the legislation passed by the U.S. House by more than $500 billion. These cuts come from slashing the ACA’s subsidies that help low- and moderate-income families afford private health insurance coverage, repealing the ACA Medicaid expansion and altering the financial structure of Medicaid into a per capita cap or block grant program.

• Cut $193 billion in food assistance for children, the elderly, the unemployed and poor working families.

• Cut $72 billion in programs that serve poor seniors and people with disabilities.

The Florida Policy Institute has written extensively on the negative impact of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the U.S. House. The AHCA would severely threaten access to vital health care services for more than 4 million Floridians, including children, seniors and adults with disabilities. It would increase the state’s already high level of uninsured residents and shift $7 billion in Medicaid costs to the state over the next decade. The President’s budget would only compound Florida’s problems under the AHCA. It would expose Floridians to prohibitively expensive out-of-pocket medical expenses, including the risk of over-reliance on emergency rooms in lieu of physician visits.