“These proposed cuts… come when many key programs need more money, not less. America’s middle class already struggles with slow wage growth and meager savings, as the recent government shutdown poignantly illustrated… [This is part of] a trend of policies that undermine middle-class economic security at the expense of boosting the incomes of the richest Americans through massive tax cuts.”
Christian Weller, Forbes

“This is the first Trump budget that has come after [the] public verdict on Trump/GOP rule. Yet on one front after another, it blithely ignores that verdict… Trump is seeking an additional $8.6 billion for his border wall… after losing a government shutdown battle… Trump is seeking to block-grant Medicaid, impose work requirements and zero out the Medicaid expansion — after an election in which Democrats routed Republicans in districts across the country by campaigning on a vow to protect Obamacare, which of course includes an open-ended expansion of Medicaid in states that have opted in.”
Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, Washington Post

“What Democrats are offering right now is a clear vision of how they think medical care should be in the United States: easily affordable and accessible to all Americans… [By contrast] the future the Trump budget lays out is one in which richer Americans can do just fine buying their own health care. There aren’t big changes for those who get insurance at work, as higher-income Americans typically do. But it’s a future where, if you’re poor, seeking care gets a lot harder.”
Sarah Kliff, Vox

Many also worry that “our ballooning budget deficit reflects an unhealthy democracy… In a healthy democracy, the budgeting process reflects a reasonable balance between the resources available and policy priorities, both present and future. Leaders persuade voters to accept trade-offs in the public interest. In an unhealthy democracy, leaders pretend that resources are unlimited and compete for voter favor by promising the moon. They engage in magical thinking. They opportunistically abandon their party’s supposed fiscal principles, as the Republicans have done under Mr. Trump.”
Editorial Board, Washington Post

“For the past 30 years Democrats have been more responsible — or perhaps less irresponsible — than Republicans on budgetary matters. The last time the budget was balanced was during the administration of President Bill Clinton. Now some Democrats have given up on trying to fight fire with water and have turned to fighting it with gasoline… Many Democrats are pushing have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too spending plans that almost perfectly mirror Republicans' have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too tax cuts. It has apparently become a race for who can show the most bad faith and callous disregard for America's future economic well-being. This race will not end well.”
Editorial Board, USA Today