President Trump's New Budget Would Slash These 10 Federal Programs. Here's What They Cost (and Actually Do)
President Trump ran on, among other things, cutting wasteful spending in Washington. On Monday, he proposed a $4.4 trillion 2019 budget that calls for steep cuts to many popular government programs.
The budget, which essentially amounts to the White House's annual spending wish list for Congress, calls for increasing spending in some areas, such as the military. But the proposal sharply curtails or eliminates other discretionary items—including many perennial Republican bugaboos like foreign aid and the National Endowment for the Arts.
President Trump's 2019 priorities would conflict with the two-year budget deal that Congress passed last week, which called for increases in both military and other domestic spending.
The White House says it is calling for a total $48.4 billion in reduced spending on discretionary programs. Here are some of the major programs that would be slashed under the president's budget, along with their current cost—and the amount that would be saved by individual Americans on a per-person basis:
21st Century Community Learning Centers
Academic enrichment for low-income children outside of school
- 2017 budget: $1.192 billion
- 2019 (proposed): $0
- Per person savings: $3.65
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Subsidized heating for low-income families
- 2017: $3.39 billion
- 2019 (proposed): $0
- Per person savings: $10.37
State Dept. and USAID Development Assistance
Foreign aid
- 2017: $2.835 billion
- 2019 (proposed): $0
- Per person savings: $8.67
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Supports public radio, television, and other public media
- 2017: $495 million
- 2019 (proposed): $15 million
- Per person savings: $1.47
National Endowment for the Arts
- 2017: $150 million
- 2019 (proposed): $29 million
- Per person savings: 37 cents
National Endowment for the Humanities
- 2017: $150 million
- 2019 (proposed): $42 million
- Per person savings: 33 cents
Federal Work Study
- 2017: $990 million
- 2019 (proposed): $200 million
- Per person savings: $2.41
Grants to Amtrak
- 2017: $1.495 billion
- 2019 (proposed): $738 million
- Per person savings: $2.31
Energy Star and Voluntary Climate Programs
Provides energy efficiency labels for products like clothes dryers
- 2017: $66 million
- 2019 (proposed): $0
- Per person savings: 20 cents
Superfund
EPA program for cleaning up environmentally contaminated sites
- 2017: $1.089 billion
- 2019 (proposed): $762 million
- Per person savings: $1