In March, I wrote about the negative impacts on our nation’s health, economy and security that would result from implementation of the President’s budget outline for the next fiscal year, FY18.
That initial budget outline has now been expanded to a full proposed budget for FY18, which was released today. The cuts to science, health care and other investments in our national prosperity are even more draconian – and more harmful – than those proposed in the original outline.
If implemented, this budget would cut federal investments in everything from work-study programs for low-income students to deep cuts in scientific research and its applications, including environmental mitigations and treatments for cancer and heart disease. That’s on top of drastic cuts to Medicaid, which would have devastating impacts on our ability to serve patients at UW Medicine’s hospitals and clinics.
Although the budget is unlikely to pass Congress in its current form, the ideas to cut support for human health, economic growth and national security are very real threats to people’s lives and livelihoods and to the principles upon which our nation’s public institutions stand. We will continue to work with our federal delegation on behalf of our students and all those we serve, advocating for policies and budgets that invest in our nation’s long-term success.
As I wrote in March, budgets are values made real. The values demonstrated by this budget are a repudiation of decades of bipartisan commitment to education, innovation and discovery. Millions of Americans, across every sector of the economy, rich, poor and in between, benefit from investments in those values. This budget would do a disservice to all of us.