The United States has always had a large sum of money that it collects from citizens to fund different agencies that perform tasks for the country. Different Presidents have had different priorities and shifted the budget in different directions. However, no president in recent history has been as extreme as Donald Trump’s new proposal. Trump’s proposal states how he wants to increase defense spending by $54 billion dollars and cut on 19 other agencies. There will be serious issues if Trump’s proposal goes into plan as it will hurt many people.
One major issue for many people is security. People hear more about major news such as terrorism and possible threats from other countries. As a result, people believe the world is in a state of constant danger and begin holding prejudice against certain races. An example of this was the travel ban from the Middle East that happened earlier this year. Trump has used this fear and pushed for more defense spending to fight these terrors of the world. The issue with this is that the United States already spends the more on defense than China, Russia, United Kingdom, France, Japan, and India combined. However, the world has actually been in one of its longest eras of peace as diplomacy is much more cost effective for different countries. Also, there are less reasons to start a war now. In the past, wars were fought for border disagreements and natural resources, but globalization have pretty much eliminated these issues. As a result, increasing the defense budget would not be used in an efficient manner. Even reducing the defense budget in half would still have the United States with the largest defense budget in the world. However, the cuts have more severe consequences.
There have been cuts to 19 different agencies which each have vital roles in maintaining the country and the world. One significant cut is to the EPA, which had a 31% cut as Trump has stated “we will be fine with the environment, we can leave a little bit, but we cannot destroy businesses”. However, as stated by the overwhelming majority of scientists and the population, this is simply not true as global warming will lead to many severe consequences. Another cut that they made was to the Department of Transportation, which will remove airports from more rural areas which could not fund an airport otherwise. This is not just affecting the current generation though, it will also affect the younger generations. Wings for Kids is a free after school program for families who need to work and cannot stay at home taking care of their kid. It is essential for the kids to go to school at all, but with Trump’s new proposal, all funding for this program will be eliminated. Many more cuts are being made that will decrease funding for research, energy, and agriculture. Each one of these cuts will have a major negative effect, but the scariest part about this proposal is the support it has from leaders despite all this information.
Once people create something, most people have a bias towards what they have made. As a result, many Republicans are saying that they support this bill and that “they can ask people to pay money for defense but they cannot ask people to pay for other agencies such as the Department of Public Broadcasting”. They also state how they need more money for nuclear weapons and defense to defend from the world. This view of the world is not supported by the fact and statistics presented though, meaning that these leaders are uncappable of seeing that their bias towards their proposal is clouding the facts. This is concerning because it means that they will continue to listen to Trump and his cabinet regardless if what they are proposing is right or wrong. This leaves the citizens to speak up so the United States moves backwards due to the new administration’s “pride”.
This whole post has been very liberal and I will admit I have a very liberal mindset. I try to be open to other opinions and on many issues regarding Trump, I try to understand how the other side views this issue. However, this proposal does not show any benefit and hurts both people who support and do not support Trump. While I understand people will still not listen to what I have said because of my views, I encourage all to try to start talking about these issues and figure out what is truly best for the United States because this administration has already shown that we cannot sit passively anymore.
Works Cited
Federal Budget: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). Perf. John Oliver. HBO. HBO, 19 Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
Friedman, Benjamin H., and Justin Logan. “Why the U.S. Military Budget Is ‘Foolish and Sustainable’.” Orbis 56.2 (2012): 177-91. Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
Soffen, Kim, and Denise Lu. “What’s Getting Cut in Trump’s Budget.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 16 Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.