Trump’s Budget: Tax Cuts for the Rich, Cuts for Everyone Else

A $7 Trillion Plan That Slashes Food Aid, Medicaid, and Education While Rewarding the Top 1%

At roughly 940 pages, the Trump budget bill makes for dry reading—charts, numbers, projections. Yawn. But if you understand what those numbers actually mean, it’s anything but boring. In fact, it tells a revealing story about what matters to President Trump and Congressional Republicans: a tale of the very rich getting richer, while poor kids and working families are left behind.

Officially, the budget has been dubbed—somewhat absurdly—“One Big Beautiful Bill.” Its centerpiece is more than $4 trillion in tax cuts. According to independent estimates, the top 1% of earners will receive around 20% of the benefits, or about $700 billion. Supporters argue that these tax cuts will stimulate economic growth by encouraging job-creating investments. But study after study—going back decades—has failed to show that trickle-down tax cuts produce the promised results.

While wealthy Americans stand to gain, working-class and low-income families—especially children—will be hit hard by cuts to the social safety net. One of the most significant blows comes from deep cuts to Medicaid, which is projected to result in more than 10 million people gradually losing coverage. That includes an untold number of children. If their families can’t afford private insurance—and most who rely on Medicaid can’t—they’ll be left hoping they don’t get sick.

The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides nutritional support to low-income mothers and young kids, also faces major cuts. Under the proposed budget, monthly fruit and vegetable benefits would fall from $26 to $10 per child. Pregnant and nursing mothers would see their benefits drop from $47 to $13. The estimated federal savings? Around $100 billion—taken straight from vulnerable families.

Food aid more broadly is a major target. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps, would be slashed by over $300 billion. SNAP has been shown to reduce food insecurity by nearly 30%—and kids who are food insecure typically struggle more in school. When they’re well-fed, their test scores improve. This isn’t guesswork—it’s established fact.

Education programs are also on the chopping block. The budget would eliminate or severely reduce funding for 17 different federal education initiatives, including Pell Grants for low-income college students and after-school programs for younger children. The maximum Pell Grant would drop from $7,400 to $5,700—even as the average cost of a year at a public college tops $22,000. That gap could price many students out of higher education entirely.

In K–12 education, the budget calls for a 15% cut in federal funding—around $12 billion. In the context of a $7 trillion federal budget, it’s a drop in the bucket. But for the schools that rely on this funding, especially in underserved areas, the impact will be devastating. And the long-term plan appears even more extreme: the White House has floated the idea of eliminating the Department of Education altogether.

So why is this happening? First, Trump and many Republicans remain ideologically committed to tax cuts—especially for high earners and large donors. It’s a religion. Second, with defense, Medicare, and Social Security considered untouchable, social programs are the only place left to slash spending in order to offset revenue losses. And finally, there’s raw political fear: members of Congress worry that if they oppose the plan, Trump will back primary challengers against them. Just ask Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina—after Trump threatened to support a challenger, Tillis announced his retirement.

On a human level, the budget is a statement of values. And the values it expresses are deeply unpopular. According to five recent polls, public opposition to the plan ranges from -19 to -29 percentage points. In one survey, 49% of Americans said they believe the bill would hurt them personally, while only 23% believed it would help.

Despite warnings from party elders that this bill could cost Republicans control of Congress, the House, Senate, and President are plowing ahead. And if the polling is any indication, they don’t seem to care who they hurt—including themselves.